Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-608
Caraway
Carum carvi
Caraway is a biennial spice plant that gives three crops from one sowing: seed for flavoring bread and confectionery and for chewing after a meal to freshen breath and settle heartburn, a root cooked much like parsnip, and a young leaf with a mild parsley-dill flavor for salads. It flowers in its second year, and those flowers are worked by bees and attract the parasitic wasps that control aphids, making it a good companion for most plants - especially shallow-rooted ones, since its own root runs deep. It resents having its roots disturbed, so it is sown straight into the ground, and it self-sows freely enough to keep a stand going without resowing. It dislikes growing near fennel or wormwood.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 4.8–7.6
- Plant type
- Biennial
- Mature height
- 12–24 in
- Mature spread
- 10–12 in
- Plant spacing
- 6–9 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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