[diospyros]

I have just thought of growing peas up fennel.  Either living fennel, or dead stems used as peasticks.  Will probably try both. I have several large clumps out the front still with their dead stems on which are taller than me (5'5"), and I was planning on having at least one clump up the allotment as an attractant for beneficial insects.  I am very attracted by the idea of polycultures and I have these mangetout Shiraz I couldn't resist in the 50p sale... just imagine purple podded peas growing through bronze fennel!  And at the end of the season the whole lot can go through the shredder instead of disentangling pea stems from netting.

Has anyone tried this and who are the permaculturists on here anyway?

[Snoop]

Are you talking about the herb fennel? If so, I have lots round my vegetable patch. The dead stems tend to rot off at the base eventually. If you're using them as a pea support, you might find them less than satisfactory, especially if your plot is windy.

[allotmentann]

Check before you do. I will try and look it up in my book later, but it is usually recommended to grow fennel away from other plants, as whilst it is a great attractor of beneficial insects, it is also a bad companion plant for most things, being alleopathic to many. I am not sure about peas though.

[DD.]

Don't forget, peas don't climb.

What ever to grow them up will have to be strong enough and dense enough to hold them in position, or you will have to tie them in or use additional netting.

[sunshineband]

The idea of growing something up the fennel stalks sounds great (not peas unsupported though as DD has explained) but you could try achocha, as they climb well and do not have very dense foliage either.

[diospyros]

That's interesting, I hadn't heard that about fennel (or it hadn't made any impression!)  I have half a dozen really big clumps of it in the front garden, and there is no appreciable difference at this time of year in the vigour of things growing around and right up to them.  It's a bit of a free-for-all out there with campanulas, wild strawberry, violas and that sprawling stuff with silvery narrow leaves and starry white flowers.  In the summer the fennel certainly holds its own, but I wouldn't say it was killing anything.

There are some stalks which are about as branched as traditional pea sticks.  I might have to cut selected ones in the autumn though so they stay more solid for longer.

Thanks for the input!