1. Grandma’s [b.1858] saying: ‘Sow fennel, sow sorrow’ [Cinderford, Gloucestershire, November 1993].

2. Sprigs of fennel are placed in horses’ harnesses to keep flies away. It is also used in a sauce eaten with the locally caught and popular mackerel [St Saviour, Jersey, May 1993].

3. A local farmer tells me that fennel was once cultivated in the Padstow (north Cornwall) area it, but it spread to pastures where it was found to effect the taste of milk. It now grows wild in some coastal regions [St Ervan, Cornwall, February 1993].

Image: Flanders Field Community Garden, East Ham, London Borough of Newham; July 2014.