How to Grow Fenugreek | Complete Growing Guide

How to Grow Fenugreek | Complete Growing Guide

Learn how to grow fenugreek step by step. 

Fenugreek or ‘Methi’ is native to Southwest Asia and widely cultivated for its medicinal and culinary uses. It is an all purpose plant. Seeds are used as spice, dried leaves as herb and fresh small leaves as vegetable. It tastes like spinach or even better.

Difficulty: Easy

Growing Season: Spring and summer (year round in tropics)

Other Names: Trigonella foenum-graecum (botanical name), methi, samudra methi, shanbalile, abesh, hilbeh, hilba, helba, halba

Growing fenugreek is easy, whether you live in a sub tropical or tropical part of the world or in temperate or colder part. It can be grown both on grounds or in containers. You can also grow it on windowsills in small pots, on a balcony or terrace.

How to Grow Fenugreek

Create Fenugreek bed with cilantro or grow it alone. You can cultivate it from seeds. It’s easy even for beginners.

Sow seeds ¼ inches deep in a good potting mix or soil. 

Remember, fenugreek hates to be transplanted. Leave 2 inches of space for each plant while sowing seeds. They’ll sprout quickly and you’ll see seedlings just within 2 – 4 days.

*Buy best quality seeds from garden center or online. You can also buy it from grocery stores or spice shops as its seeds are sold as spice but beware of poor germination rate.

*You can directly sow seeds but if you’ve bought them from grocery stores, soak them overnight to increase germination rate before sowing.

Growing Fenugreek in Container

You can grow fenugreek in containers. It’s similar to cilantro or parsley. Take a shallow wide planter at least 6 inches deep (fenugreek has shallow roots) with good drainage. Fill it with good potting mix. You can use compost, sand and soil too. Sprinkle seeds all over it and add a thin quarter inch layer of soil over them.

Growing Climate

Fenugreek grows well in warm and hot climate, when temperature ranges from 50 to 90 F (10 C to 32 C). If you’re planting it for seeds, grow it in spring. If you’re cultivating it to use as a vegetable or herb then you can plant it anytime between spring to mid fall.

Requirements for Growing Fenugreek and Care

Fenugreek prefers neutral soil with pH level around 6 – 7. Plant it in a spot that receives at least 4 hours of sun with shade in afternoon. Do regular watering, let the soil dry out between watering sessions and care not to over-water the plant to save it from root rot. Fenugreek does not require fertilizer however, you can mix manure or compost in soil while planting.

Pests and Diseases

Fenugreek does not have many pests and diseases. Some pests that attacks it are aphids, powdery mildew, charcoal rot and root rot. You can easily save your plant from these problems by using organic pesticides regularly and watering properly.

Harvesting Fenugreek

Within 20 days fenugreek will be ready for first harvest, chop up its leaves to use as green leafy vegetable and prepare delicious recipes or air dry it to use as herb. Leave the twigs, which will grow up again within 15 days, you can do this up to four times. To harvest fenugreek seeds you’ve to wait for 2-4 months, depending on the growing conditions.

Uses

It’s sweet and hot aroma like pepper and crunchy sour taste somewhat like spinach ,creates a magic. It is popularly used in Indian, Persian, Egyptian and Ethiopian cuisines, to prepare tastiest recipes. Fresh seeds used to sprinkle on salad and dried seeds in pickles.

Planting Strawberry | Growing Strawberries

Planting Strawberry | Growing Strawberries

Sweet, sharp and crisp; strawberry is the only fruit you can grow everywhere: In hanging baskets, borders, in upside down planters, window boxes, pots, and garden beds. Plus, ‘Planting strawberry’ is easy too, so why not grow your own and enjoy it fresh.

Difficulty: Easy

Soil pH: Slightly acidic, around 5.5 – 6.8 pH

Choosing right variety

Choose whether you want to grow strawberries as annual or perennial. 

There are three types of strawberry varieties: 

June bearer or summer fruiting, which bear fruits once in a year in summer and grown as annual. This type of varieties produces juiciest and biggest strawberries. Everbearing varieties bear fruits twice in summer and fall. The third type of varieties are called day-neutral, this type of strawberries are hybrids and grows well all year round if right growing conditions are provided.

Planting Method

Basically, there are four methods to plant strawberries.

Runners: These are thin pieces of roots with a few leaves; runners are the cheapest source to plant strawberries.

Misted Tips: Plant grown from misted tips are less prone to disease and grows better, actually misted tips are the tips of the mother plant.

Cold-stored runners: Runners stored in cold store for a long period are used for planting after winter.

Potted plants: You can buy potted plants from garden centers; this is the easiest method to grow strawberries.

Soil Preparation

Find out whether your soil is alkaline or acidic; amend your soil if it is alkaline. Strawberry prefers rich loamy soil, make it more loam using compost or manure, rotted sawdust and organic matter. You can also use coffee grounds and compost tea to increase soil acidity and fertility.

Planting Strawberry

Choose a planting method that suits you and buy a plant from a reputable source. Prefer less windy, frost free and fertile spot with good drainage that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight for planting.

Plant strawberries on raised beds in rows leaving space of 15’’ – 18’’ between plants and 3 – 4 feet between rows because most of the strawberry verities develop many runners.

If you’re growing a day-neutral or everbearing strawberry variety then only leave 6 inches space between plants and allow only two runners to grow from the mother plant, because everbearing and day-neutral varieties have fewer runners and small fruits, this will allow the mother plant to grow more vigorously.

Make sure while planting that you don’t plant it too deep so that its crown (the point where the stem and root of the plant join) or leaves won’t be covered in soil. After plantation, add mulch to prevent weed and keep up moisture.

Strawberry planting is the key for a healthy upright plant, take special care that you plant it at the correct depth.

Watering and Fertilizing

Water deeply and frequently without letting the soil dry out completely, avoid overwatering. When plants are establishing, forming flowers and fruits, water requirement should be increased. *Don’t water from overhead as this can cause crown rot and loss of the plant.

Strawberry roots are shallow so they need moisture frequently in growing season, drip irrigation method is favorable.

Feed the plants with 10-10-10 fertilizer twice, once when the growth begins and after the last harvest. Use half of pound (230 Gm) for every 100 feet rows. You can also feed plants with potassium-rich liquid fertilizer every other week during the growing season.

Care

Don’t allow your plant to bring out so many runners, for better yield.

After every growing season cut back the plants’ foliage to one inch, this will not only refresh the plants but also discourage the possible fungal diseases.

Strawberry plants after the third year of cropping produce fewer fruits and become more susceptible to diseases and pests. After this period rotate your strawberry crop and grow new plants.

Avoid planting strawberries on the site where plants of Solanaceae family (egg plants, tomatoes, peppers) were previously planted.

If you’re growing strawberries as perennial, pick off the flowers to discourage fruiting in the first growing season to encourage better yield in the next seasons.

Mulch heavily around the bedding in the winter when the temperature reaches the freezing point, as the temperature below 30 F is damaging for the strawberry plant.

Harvest

After a month of blossoming, fruit is ready to be picked. Pluck off a fruit only when you see it red and ripe, harvest regularly because once a fruit is ripening, it rots quickly.

Pests and Diseases

Birds are the main predators, they love berries, use fruit cages or nets to get rid of them. Powdery mildew, gray mold, spider mites, and slugs are the common pests that infect the plants.

Strawberries are also subject to fruit rot, root rot, and fungus. *Use row covers to protect plants from pests and temperature drop.