How to Grow Saffron

How to grow saffron (in pots and in the garden) More 'about: saffron vegetable garden vegetable garden on the balcony

We know saffron (Crocus sativus) as one of the most expensive spice and more delicate flavor of the world. Its high price mainly concerns the mode of its production and collection, which must be done manually in order to obtain a high quality product. Precisely because of the high cost of production, the European saffron cultivation is declining. In the world saffron is grown primarily in India and Iran. There are however some crops of saffron in Italy, affecting mainly the regions of Abruzzo, Sardinia, Marche, Umbria and Tuscany. In some cases takes place in our country the production of saffron DOP. The collection of saffron takes place in the month of December and its cultivation requires a very careful work, especially as regards the arrangement of the bulbs and the choice of the ground. E 'possible to grow saffron in the garden or in pots? Of course you can try, keeping in mind that you will have a small production, enough for the family. In the case of saffron cultivation in pots, you can enrich your balcony with beautiful plants from the flowers of purple color and the characteristic red stigmas, which when dried in the sun and ground into a powder will give rise to the spice we know. The home cultivation of saffron, in short, allows you to enjoy the beauty of its flowers and prepare some good risotto saving a little .

Cultivate saffron in vase

Saffron is grown from the bulbs, as is the case for the flowers of tulip or iris. The saffron bulbs can be purchased online or at a nursery of trust. The cultivation of saffron can be done for pleasure, in pots or in the garden. In this case you just need a handful of bulbs, depending on the space you have available. You can create decorative jars planting a bulb of saffron in each of them. Or you can plant more bulbs in a larger pot, at a distance of at least 5 inches apart and 5-10 inches deep. Saffron fears the stagnant water in flower vases. Always remember to empty it. To grow, the flowers of saffron need little water, but a lot of light, so choose well the position of the vessels.

Cultivate saffron in the garden

With regard to the cultivation of saffron in the garden, you can think about creating a little patch or form with flowers of saffron borders  that will be very decorative. Consider that the cultivation saffron in Italy, as is done in the fall with the collection now towards the winter, far above the central regions and climate milder, such as Umbria and Tuscany.

Professional cultivation of saffron

The cultivation of saffron instead is made from  by at least 400 bulbs  in order to obtain a more consistent production. With a good number of saffron bulbs you can create a small plant. the file must be spaced at least 50 centimeters, the distance of the saffron bulbs on each row is at least 5 centimeters. the depth to plant the bulbs of saffron is 15-20 centimeters. The ground  should not be clay.

Sowing: bulbs Saffron should be planted between late August and early September - this is considered the ideal time.
Yield:  the harvest of saffron takes place in December.
Benefits:  saffron unaffected by frost, needs little water (as, for example, in the case of tulips), does not fear even the drought, not require irrigation, but if you live in rainy regions you will need to pay attention to the stagnant water, which can make the bulbs to rot.

Collect and store saffron

As for the majority of the flowers grown from the bulbs, saffron does not require special care with regard to the growth. The difficulty at the moment the crop . The flowers of saffron hatch only for a few days and quickly wither. For this reason the collection of stigmas of saffron  should take place already at first day of flowering.

After collecting the flowers, the red stigmas  must be removed very gently, with the help of a tweezers . Then you put them in a small container or on a paper towel  and let them dry before you place it in a jar or in a glass tube, to be kept tightly closed to preserve the aroma  saffron.

It has been calculated that, for a family of 4 you will need to grow 16 saffron bulbs, in order to have available a sufficient amount of spice to the preparation of 4 dishes seasoned with saffron for each within a year. For cooking, you can also use fresh saffron - it will do very small amounts. To get a tablespoon of saffron threads, you will need to grow at least 40 bulbs..