Anise

Anise is an annual and cold-sensitive. It does not survive a Central European winter outdoors and dies after the seeds have ripened in autumn. In late summer, harvest ripe seeds from the umbels as they turn brown, dry them well and store them cool and dry; next spring you sow directly outdoors after the Ice Saints (mid-May · week 19/20), because anise transplants poorly.

You propagate anise exclusively by direct sowing outdoors, since the plant forms a taproot and tolerates transplanting poorly. Sow from mid-April to mid-May, as soon as the soil is at least 10 °C and no more night frosts are expected; after the Ice Saints you are on the safe side. Draw shallow drills about 1 cm deep with a row spacing of 25 to 30 cm and sow thinly. Cover the seeds only lightly with soil and keep the bed evenly moist until germination. Anise germinates rather slowly: in warm soil, expect about two weeks; in cooler weather it can take a good three to four weeks, so be patient. Thin the young plants to a spacing of 10 to 15 cm in the row as soon as they can be handled. If you want to start earlier, you can raise them from March in individual pots (peat pots are ideal because you do not disturb the root ball) at around 18 to 20 °C and plant the little pots out with their root balls after the Ice Saints. If possible, use fresh seed, since germination ability drops markedly after just one to two years. Mind crop rotation: plan several years of break before anise and other umbellifers on the same plot.