IME, fennel will grow just about anywhere on any soil as long as it has good drainage. In fact, bronze fennel is considered a noxious weed in my area! Does prefer some moisture, specially in hot dry summers.

It also has some allelopathic properties so distance it sufficiently from greens or other veggies.

In my garden, I grow regular green fennel, bronze fennel and Florence fennel. They all grow equally well in the well-amended clay in the raised beds in the interior of the garden or at the far northern edge of the garden at grade level in sandy loam where I grow a variety of other herbs. It is not very picky about anything, though you will get better Florence fennel bulbs in dry years if you irrigate some to make up for the lack of rainfall. Fennel reseeds all over the place for me if it gets a chance to go to seed before the swallowtail caterpillars devour it. I mostly grow the fennel for them as we really don't use it much in the kitchen.

Thank you both!

Dawn, could I ask a question... bout tomatoes. I'm starting some seedlings and have these wonderful tomato seedlings growing. As you know, I'm in love with purples and blacks. I would like to make pizza sauce and also spaghetti sauce to can. I noticed I have mostly purple and black. Thinking I need more red, but what ratio of red to black is best for these types of recipes? For all other cooking Ilove the deeper flavors, but for italian sauces the milder is probably best. A general figure is mighty fine. I have no idea!

bon