Dill and Fennel: What's The Difference

Dill fronds

 SPICE IT UP

Dill versus Fennel

How well do you know your herbs?
Have you ever used fresh dill in any recipes?
Perhaps a dill sauce, with smoked salmon or in a potato salad, but what about fennel.?

Those feathery fronds of dill, (Anethum graveolens) have a similar smell to fennel, so can they be used interchangeably? Dill is pictured here but it looks similar to the feather fronds of fennel doesn't it?

So how can you tell the difference between dill and fennel fronds?

Florence fennel bulb and fronds

Dill fronds are slightly finer and a darker green than fennel fronds.

Dill has a higher anise or licorice note when you crush the leaf.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) or Florence fennel, has the same level of anethole (active enzyme) but tends to be sweeter.

• Seeds or both dill and fennel are used in cooking and are referred to as a spice.
  

• Seed flavour profiles differ from the fresh plant. 
• Dill fronds are sometimes referred to as 'dill weed' in recipes.
  
  Dill seeds are used a lot in pickles, but don’t have magical properties.
  
  Ian’s great tip was when using fennel seeds, dry roast them which by the way gives satay sauce that special flavour. 

• My favourite use of fennel seeds is in home-made sausage rolls.  

I mix 150 grams of beef mince with 300gms of pork mince, 1 grated carrot, 1 grated potato (raw), w teaspoons of chopped sage leaves, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds,  salt and pepper to season. Divide mixture onto puff pastry sheets and roll up with join side down onto baking trays. Bake for 15 minutes at 220 C until golden.

Don't confuse fennel with the roadside fennel weed. Completely different plant growing to 2.5 m in height. This weedy fennel produces yellow flowers most of the year. A very tough plant, tolerant of frost, drought, water logging and dry conditions. Mature plants have a large deep taproot with many lateral roots but unlike Florence fennel, there is no bulb. Florence fennel is a much smaller well behaved vegetable.

Dill or Fennel flowers?

Let’s find out by listening to the podcast.

I'm talking with Ian Hemphill from www.herbies.com.au 

 
If you have any feedback email 

realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675

Slime Mould in the Garden: Friend or Foe?

 PLANT DOCTOR

Slime Mould: What Is It? 

Part 1

What do the words slime mould conjure up in your imagination?
Is it that black stuff growing in the grout and on the tiles in your bathroom?
Or is it that green stuff on your paths on the south side of the house?
You may be surprised to find that it’s neither one of those so where is it lurking?
There are a lot of other moulds that live in the garden some of which are very useful.

Wolf Milk Slime mould

Slime moulds are in the kingdom:Protista.

Did you know that slime moulds have a life cycle, and when you are able to observe them, is only part of their lifecycle?

They're usually brightly coloured -reds, vivid greens, yellow and purple. 

They can grow on grass, logs and pretty much anywhere where the environment is conducive.

Slime moulds are not very well known in Australia, but Tasmania has around 100 species of slime moulds one of which is called 'dog vomit.' 

Slime moulds are highly useful in that they break down materials, 80% of which is made available to plants.

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast.

I'm talking with Steve McGrane, horticulturist and agriculturist.

Slime Moulds part 2

The podcast continues with the topic of slime mould but particularly, about the slime mould called phytophthora. 

Did you prick up your ears?
Yep, that’s the root rot known as phytophthora which gardeners dread.

Gardeners are often told that phytophthera, in particular Phytophthera cinnamomi,  is a fungi but it's actually a water mould. You may have even heard it called 'root rot.'

• Phytophora is a particular slime mould that belongs to a group or Phyllum called Oomycota 
• This group are moulds that can only move in water columns.
  

Phytophthora cinnamomi lives in the soil and in plant tissues, 

During drought or prolonged dry periods , the organisms become dormant chlamydospores which is just a resting spore of Ascomycota. 

When environmental conditions are suitable, the chlamydospores germinate, producing mycelia (or hyphae) and sporangia. 

The sporangia ripen and release zoospores, which infect plant roots by entering the root behind the root tip. 

This organism is very resistant to most chemicals that gardeners can throw at it and doesn't die with soil disturbance..

Dieback of branches of whole shrubs or trees is often seen in the Australian bush.

Should you ever see branch dieback in your trees or shrubs or stem dieback in your tomatoes, it just may be due to a problem called root rot that is actually a slime mould. 

The best way Botanic gardens have dealt with it is by fencing off affected beds within the gardens so horticulturists and the public don't transfer the spores around the the gardens or indeed, back home to their own gardens.

Drainage was also improved in garden beds so that the organism wasn't able to stay 'live' or active.

Compost is then added to soil to improve the soil so the microorganisms can combat this slime mould.

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast.

I'm talking with Steve McGrane, horticulturist and agriculturist.

PLAY: Slime mould pt2_10th November 2021


So know you know the facts and myths about Phytophthora and how to deal with it in your garden.

If you have any questions about slime mould or some feedback why not email us realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644

Grafting Techniques: What You Need To Know.

 THE GOOD EARTH

Grafting Techniques part 1 & 2

If you’ve ever grown a tree from it’s seed, such as an orange lemon or avocado, you probably were disappointed by the result. 

I daresay, that firstly, it took a long time for it to fruit, and when it did, it was nothing like the fruit that the seed came from. 

After all apart from the novelty factor of  being able to grow a tree from a tiny seed, the time involved isn't really worth the effort. So what to do instead?

Lemon tree

• Switch to grafting methods.

Grafting is a method that would vastly improve the result all round but the word itself sounds terrifying if not complicated! 

There is after all the possibility that you'll end up slicing of the tip of your finger with the super sharp budding knife, or at the very least drawn blood from the deep wound that resulted from a slip of the wrist. 

I confess to having done that.

Practice makes perfect and I would recommend wearing gloves before attempting to do any type of grafting.

So What is Grafting?

Grafting is a swag of techniques that involves having a root stock that is happily growing in the ground or in a pot, whose upper part you will cut off completely.

Next, you attach a scion, a piece of plant whose features you really like, such as fruit size and flavour.

• The scion has to be a particular size and be related botanically speaking to the rootstock. That means you can't graft an apple onto citrus rootstock, because apples are in the family 'rosaceae' and citrus are in the plant family 'rutaceae.'

There are of course plenty of other reasons why you want to try your hand at grafting.

Some of these are to improve disease resistance such as for roses or fruit trees or dwarfing.

Dwarf  trees are the result of grafting a scion from a tree of full size fruit onto dwarfing root stock.

• Margaret describes cleft grafting where the scion's base is cut as a 'V' and inserted into the same length slit into the rootstock. The cambium (green wood) of each must be aligned.
  

TIP:If you’ve never tried grafting, make sure you get the right tools before you start.

You’ll also need the correct root stock.

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast. I'm talking with Margaret Mossakowska of www.mosshouse.com.au

GRAFTING TECHNIQUES Part 2

Approach grafting is an alternative method for citrus.

In part 1 of grafting techniques Margaret Mossakowska and I talked about how growing from a tree such as an orange or lemon from seed isn’t all that successful unless you graft it onto hardy rootstock.

In this segment, we refresh some of those points and take you onto more grafting techniques.

There are many types of grafting that are available to be used, some more complex or more exacting than others.

My Take On Grafting

Cleft grafting I find is quite straight forward and easy to get right. 

I've tried grafting Camellia reticulata scions onto Camellia sasanqua rootstock with a 100% success rate.  Camellia reticulata has huge flowers, a feature I wanted growing in my garden.

Camellia 'Red Crystal' is a cross between C. reticulata ‘Crimson Robe’ and C. japonica ‘Wildfire,’ however, both are slow growing. and don't grow so fast in temperate Sydney.

I find this is a faster alternative, plus Camellia sasanquas are very hardy and less prone to root rot.

Camellia 'Red Crystal'

• Grafting citrus is essential in Australia because the table citrus that we love to eat are not native to Australia, and so are prone to many diseases.  

The grafted union in most cases needs to be above the ground. There is one exception and that is with lilacs(Syringia vulgaris.). Lilacs tend to sucker if grown on their own rootstock so they are grafted onto privet rootstocks.

Things to Watch Out For.

Once you've successfully grafted your desired planted, whether it's a citrus or camellia or some other favourite, there's still room for failure.

• At first the graft union may seem all fine and dandy, but  if you see shoots from below the graft union, you may have a problem Houston.
• Shoots from below the graft union could signal failure of the graft and the rootstock is trying to take over.
• Keep on rubbing off these shoots and hopefully it's only a minor abberration.
• If this persists, you may find the top part or scion is slowly dying, so time to start all over.

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast. I'm talking with Margaret Mossakowska of www.mosshouse.com.au

NB:If you’ve never tried grafting, make sure you get the right tools before you start.
You’ll also need the correct root stock.

If you have any feedback email realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675