Anise: growing and care in the open field, planting and reproduction, varieties, photos

People have known Anise for a long time. The cultivation of anise began in the Ancient East - it began to be used as a seasoning and as a plant with medicinal properties in medicine. At the moment, people all over the world are growing anise.

Description of anise and its uses

Anise is an annual belonging to the large celery family. Anise grows up to 50 cm in height. It has a rod-shaped root, a thin stem branching in the upper part and small white flowers, collected in umbellate inflorescences up to 6 cm in diameter. Anise is somewhat like dill. Anise bloom lasts a long time, from June to mid-October. After flowering, small two-seed fruits are formed, which are of great interest for medicine and cooking.

The inhabitants of ancient Arab countries, India, anise was well known even one and a half thousand years ago. He came to Russia in the 19th century. It is impossible to name the exact homeland of this plant. Someone claims that it is Egypt, others are sure that anise came from Asia Minor.

At the moment, anise, or rather its fruits, is widely used in various industries, mostly in medicine and cooking. Anise oil with a specific smell and sweetish taste is very popular. It is often used to repel mosquitoes.

Medicinal properties of anise have been known for a long time. It is often used in the treatment of diseases of the upper respiratory tract as an expectorant, in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. It is believed that the smell of anise has a calming effect on the nervous system and promotes rapid falling asleep, sound sleep, which explains its frequent use in aromatherapy. In folk medicine, various infusions and teas are prepared from anise seeds. Decoctions obtained from aniseed seeds are used to treat depression and mental disorders.

Another area of ​​use of anise seeds is in the manufacture of various alcoholic beverages. The most famous alcoholic drink based on anise seeds is anise vodka.

Very young anise leaves are often added to salads as a seasoning. Anise fruits are used in cooking, most often they are added to various baked goods. The umbrellas of this plant are put in all kinds of pickles.

Growing anise: planting

Light soil will do for planting anise. It is desirable that it be non-acidic. Despite the fact that this plant is very resistant to cold, you need to choose a sunny place for planting it, anise loves warmth very much. The place for its planting must begin to be prepared in advance, in the fall. The land must be well dug up and all weeds removed. Then you need to apply fertilizer, manure or compost is most suitable for this purpose. In the spring, before planting anise, the soil must be dug up again.

Anise grows very slowly, this should be borne in mind when growing it. Anise seeds germinate too slowly, as they have a too hard shell. Pre-soaking and germination will help speed up their germination. Before planting, the seeds should be soaked in lukewarm water and left for one to two days. After that, the seeds must be laid out on a saucer without drying and covered with a film. So the seeds should be left until they begin to germinate. When the first germinated seeds appear, planting can begin. Seeds are planted in the ground only when the threat of frost is over, and the weather outside becomes stably warm. The seeds are planted in rows.There should be a distance of about 20 cm between them. The seeds are planted to a depth of 3-4 cm. The higher the temperature, the sooner the seedlings will appear. At low temperatures up to 7 degrees, it can take up to 3 weeks before the anise rises. If the temperature is above 7 degrees, then the seedlings will appear faster. Anise fruits ripen only in autumn.

Anise care

Anise cannot be called a capricious plant; you need to care for it as well as for other garden crops. Everyone can grow this wonderful plant in their own garden. While the plant is small, you need to carefully remove the weeds and loosen the soil so that its growth is not inhibited. The first time after planting, until strong shoots appear, the seeds must be watered abundantly. If the seedlings are very dense, it is necessary to thin them out. There should be a distance of at least 15 cm between the plants. Thinning will help to get a bountiful harvest, ensure good growth of plants and protect them from diaper rash. Young shoots of anise removed from the garden can be used to prepare various salads. Thinning is desirable in the morning or evening. To make the plants more lush, pinch the tops of the shoots.

When the plants are large enough, regular watering is no longer necessary. It will be enough to water the anise in a very severe drought.

A bountiful harvest of anise can be obtained even without using a large amount of fertilizer. It is important that the soil is fertile enough. Fertilizing it with superphosphate will be enough. If you wish, you can fertilize the soil with nitrogen fertilizers every two weeks.

Growing anise for seeds

If anise is grown for the purpose of obtaining seeds, then the inflorescences are not cut off, leaving them until August. Seeds can be harvested when the stems of the plant turn yellow. And the fruits will change their color from greenish to brown. Harvesting is uneven. The umbrellas are cut as they mature. The ripening of the seeds must be closely monitored, they quickly crumble, delaying their harvesting, you can lose the harvest. The cut umbrellas of anise are left for a while in a dark, well-ventilated place to dry, then they are threshed.

The collected anise seeds remain viable for three years. For culinary and other purposes, you can use seeds and older age. Store anise seeds in an airtight container or cotton bags. Anise leaves and stem tips are harvested before they even bloom.

Growing anise: pest control

Anise is quite resistant to various diseases and pests. But still, some pests can cause significant harm to it.

The bug can damage leaves, stem tips and fruits. This can cause the plant to dry out. There are many methods for the destruction of this pest. The safest are folk remedies. They are made easily and quickly and do not harm the future crop and soil. You can get rid of bedbugs anise with onion infusion. To do this, onion peels at the rate of 250 grams per bucket of water must be insisted for 5 days. Then the resulting infusion must be filtered through cheesecloth and sprayed with the plants.

Coriander seed damages anise fruit. The quality of the fruits deteriorates, the amount of useful essential oils in them becomes less, the germination rate decreases. To eliminate this pest, you can treat the fruit of the anise with mothballs. If after some time the seed-eater reappears, you can apply metaphos to combat it.

Another insect that can harm anise is aphid. She prefers to live in anise umbrellas and on its stems. She feeds on the sap of the plant, which ultimately leads to its death or, at best, a decrease in yield. A solution of ammonia or soap can make the aphids go away.

Neighborhood with other plants

Anise can coexist with many plants.It can be planted after radishes, potatoes, onions, Chinese cabbage. You should not plant anise after coriander or cilantro, because these plants have the same diseases. Also, you can not plant any plants of the umbrella family next to anise, with the exception of carrots.