Anyone grow Fennel?

[cone9]

I am growing fennel for the first time this season.  One has gone to seed without a bulb forming.
A couple more of various sizes look like the one I pulled out, pictured below.
 
 Is there a trick to getting them to form the thick bulb at the base?
 

 

 

[Nigel]

Keep them watered and watered some more. You don`t want them to bolt and form flower umbrels, as one they do you can`t save them. The flowers are nice and the pollen is delicious. The feathery leaves are good in salads, too.
 
Use lots of mulch to keep the roots cooler and retain moisture. I think there are bolt-resistent varieties, but I`m not sure. It grows wild all over the place around here, so we collect the flowers and leaves occasionally. 

 

[CAPCOM]

Fennel doesnt form a bulb. you use the stalks as you would celery in cooking

 

[mushroombob]

it also depends on the variety. make sure you have one that swells up at the base

 

[teejay]

I planted Fennel earlier this year and found it grew nice and fat when I put a number in together, but those in isolation didn't fare so well. Thus, as Nigel has suggested, soil temp may have significance, i.e. close together = shading of their respective bases and root systems.
 
Regards,
 
Tim

 

[Indiana_Jesse]

Not all fennel cultivars grow the "bulb". There are specific types that do, looks like you have the ones that don't. I just grow the bronze fennel mostly to feed/host Black swallowtail butterfly larvae.