![\"Alexanders04\"](\"http:\/\/www.chickenfish.cc\/bio\/wp-content\/media\/Alexanders04.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt grows mainly in cold weather and loves water and having a constantly moist soil much like celery and parsley, but it is\u00a0less likely to suddenly bolt to seed within only a day or so of dry weather as celery does. So ongoing maintenance is less of a problem.<\/p>\n
Self seeding is the ideal way to grow it – by leaving it to seed and drop around the base of a plant. I think from my observations that it does need a period of cold and wet to get the seed germinating well in autumn but each plant produces so much seed it is not a problem to experiment with germination methods. It can be very slow to germinate so don’t expect a huge crop the first year. It is likey that it needs a long soak in water before sowing\u00a0to\u00a0get it moving.<\/p>\n
I usually grow a small collection in the ground to let them self seed at the appropriate time and also in pots to make it\u00a0easy to move them around and harvest as needed. They never really excel in pots but they grow enough foliage to harvest and tend to stay small and tender. It’s usually easier to take this approach – let them self seed and then you can simply transplant them from the ground into pots in autumn when they get big enough.<\/p>\n
Here’s some at the beginning of winter in the ground after about three months growth from seed.<\/p>\n
And the plant in this pot is a second year regrowth.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.pfaf.org\/user\/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Smyrnium+olusatrum<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n