Fennel as a companion plant

[Peggy Sue]

I heard recently you can use fennel at the end of rows to help prevent problems- ofcourse I instantly forgot which veg and what problems- does anyone know?

[howie]

We have interplanted our fennel with carrots and it seems to have stopped the dreaded carrot fly this year. Only thing is, most of the fennel seems to have bolted despite having lots of water.

[Peggy Sue]

They do say bolting is a problem, I'm going for the late planting to see if I can avoid that.

I guess for me the carrots have been interplanted with onions so I've steered clear of carrot fly so I'm wondering what the most sensible place to put my Fennel is. If it can be of companion use, great, if not then I'm not even sure which family it belongs to fro rotation! The books are a bit short on info for fennel.

[Andy Hamilton]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I always thought that fennel was a rubbish companion plant. About as good a companion as a rattlesnake in a bad mood. It inhibits growth, I planted some next to my beetroot one year and hardly any grew. I had a whole row of bronze fennel for 2 years and in that time hardly anything grew next to it.

[Peggy Sue]

ooh! Perhaps somewhere remote then!

[Cheezy]

Fennels OK , but you have to be careful what you plant it with. Apparently Beans are a big no-no. Can't remember what it's oK with!.