Grow Fenugreek

Fenugreek is a Mediterranean herb used for cooking, spice, cosmetics, soaps, healing inflammation, and even improving digestive problems and lowering cholesterol. Although you can buy fenugreek capsules containing the ground seeds at most health food stores, this herb may not be commonly found in your local grocery store. By properly preparing your garden area and then planting and tending to your fenugreek, you can have an abundant and cheap supply of fenugreek.

Steps

Preparing for Planting

1. Get fenugreek seeds. Before you can grow fenugreek for yourself, you will need to obtain the seeds from which the plants grow. If you know someone who already grows this herb, you could ask them for some, but most likely you will need to buy some. Because fenugreek is commonly used in Indian curries and homeopathic medicine, you can try an Indian grocery store or an herb shop. You can also try online stores like Amazon.com, Foodtolive.com, or Nuts.com.
   • Depending on where you buy from and whether or not you buy organic seeds, it will cost anywhere between 25 cents to $1 for an ounce of fenugreek seeds.
2. Pick a space to grow your fenugreek. Although some plants are particular in that they must be planted in tightly controlled conditions, fenugreek can be planted in the soil in your yard, a twelve inch planter, or even an aluminum tray filled with dirt. Ideally you want an area with full sun, but partial shade or even filtered sunlight will also work.
   • Fenugreek does not do well when transplanted, so either plan to plant your fenugreek in the area where it will mature from the beginning, or try using a biodegradable pot that you can plant into the ground later.
3. Check the soil conditions. You will want the soil you use to have a well-drained, loamy texture. It should also have a slightly acidic pH balance. 6.4 pH is considered ideal, but anything between 6.0 and 7.0 pH is generally considered acceptable, so test it before you plant your seeds.
4. Schedule to plant around early spring. Fenugreek prospers in warm soil, so any time from spring to early autumn will work for most places. If you live in a colder place, or you want to start growing your fenugreek before spring, you can start it off indoors as early as 5 weeks before the last frost.
5. Prepare your soil. Fenugreek seeds must be continually kept moist, but you also have to make sure they don't become overwatered. For that purpose you will need to make sure that the water can easily drain away by breaking up any large chunks of soil. You can also mix in river sand to make it drain better, and add organic compost material and manure to help fertilize it better. You'll also need to make sure that there is space to cover your seeds with more potting soil.
   • If you are planting your seeds in an outdoor garden, you'll want to dig the ground up to 25 cm down to break up soil.
   • If you are using a container (like a pot or an aluminum pan) with loose potting soil instead, you probably won't need to break any of the soil once you've poured it into the container. Be sure to leave some space between the top of the soil and the edge of the container to fill in more soil on top of the seeds once they have been sown.

Planting Your Fenugreek

1. Sow the seeds. Sprinkle seeds across the dirt in the areas you want your fenugreek to grow. Don't worry about making sure that the seeds are even or perfectly spaced. Fenugreek seeds don't have to be distanced a certain amount of space apart in order to grow properly like some plants.
   • Some people recommend soaking the seeds in water overnight before you plant them.
2. Cover the seeds with soil. Fenugreek does not need to be buried very deep in soil. In fact, only .5cm, or ¼ inch, of potting soil provides ample coverage for your fenugreek. You will want to be sure they're buried so that scavengers like birds will not eat them.
3. Water the seeds. In order for the seeds to germinate (that is, begin to sprout), you will have to water them in the soil. Make sure that the soil is evenly moist. The excess water should quickly drain away, but you will want to continue to keep it well-moistened over the coming days. Sometime between the third and fifth days they should start to bud.
   • Because of the rainy environment that fenugreek adapted to, it's advised that you maintain a steady slow drip watering method instead of pouring water on the surface periodically. Not only will this make water delivery constant and even, it also allows the water to penetrate the soil deeper and more effectively.
4. Wait for the seedlings to mature. It takes between 3-4 weeks for the seedlings to be ready to harvest. You will know that it's time by the height of the sprouts, which should grow to about 6 inches or 140 mm tall.
5. Harvest your fenugreek. Depending on whether you're trying to get leaves or seeds from your fenugreek you will want to vary how you harvest the plant. For leaves, cut the plant at the stem a few centimeters above the soil. For seeds, wait for the pods on the plant to turn yellow, signalling that they've fully ripened, and harvest the seed before the pod pops open.
6. Replant. Some varieties of fenugreek do not regrow after flowering. So if you want a constant supply of fresh fenugreek, you should plan to sow seeds every 2-3 weeks, as that is around the time the current set of plants will die. If you want to reuse the same area, especially immediately, you'll want to pull up the remains of the plants after harvesting and compost them.

Tips

• Sprouted fenugreek seeds are great in a salad.
• Store fenugreek seeds in an airtight container.

Warnings

• Beware pests like crickets, snails, and slugs which enjoy eating fenugreek sprouts. Other pests to watch out for include aphids, powdery mildew, charcoal rot and root rot. You can use an organic pesticide to protect your plants.

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Sources and Citations

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• Make Oregano Olive Oil
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• Use Ginseng Root
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• Eat Kudzu
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