How to Grow Fenugreek Seeds

Fenugreek is a small herbaceous plant grown both for its use as a vegetable and for its seeds. Many cultures value fenugreek seeds for traditional herbal remedies as well as for spicing pickles, curries and preserves. Fenugreek is easily grown in a home garden and you can use the fresh greens in salads, to make a the spinachlike Indian curry called Methi, or harvest the seeds for use in teas or as a culinary spice.

Garden gloves
Garden spade
Fenugreek seeds
Watering can
Large cloth sheet

Instructions

- 1
  Put on your garden gloves and use the spade to till the first 6 inches of soil in the garden bed. Till the soil into planting rows 10 inches apart. You should wait until early spring, when the chance of frost is past, to plant the fenugreek.
- 2
  Poke a 1/4-inch-deep holes every 4 inches along the planting rows, then place one fenugreek seed into each hole. Cover the hole with soil and gently pat down.
- 3
  Lightly water the fenugreek seeds. The seeds will germinate in around a week. Because fenugreek is a member of the legume family, it should not need fertilizers as it fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil.
- 4
  Harvest young plants for salads or use as a steamed vegetable or in stews within three weeks. If you want to harvest the seeds, the plants will have to reach full maturity, which can take up to five months. Once seed pods have developed and turned a golden yellow, harvest the plants and thresh them onto a large cloth sheet to collect the seeds. Do not leave the plants in the ground after the seedpods have turned yellow, as they will split and spill the seed.

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