Fenugreek
Photos
This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the coni…
Last edited on 29 Nov 2025. View history
Fenugreek
Trigonella foenum-graecum
Also known as
methi (EN)
How to sow fenugreek: Direct seed outdoors at 5cm, thin to 15cm
Sun requirement for fenugreek: Plant in Full Sun
Fenugreek is an annual herbaceous plant in the Legume family (Fabaceae) originally cultivated in the Near East. It is grown for culinary and medicinal purposes in semiarid climates. It's clover-shaped leaves can be used dried or fresh and taste similar to spinach. They can be grown as microgreens or sprouts. The seeds are used whole or powdered as a spice or to make tea. The plant has a maple scent and is sometimes used to create imitation maple syrups and flavor baked goods. The yellow or white flowers produce long yellow seedpods. Fenugreek prefers a warm, hot climate with temperatures between 10-32°C. Because it is a legume, it does not transplant well. If starting seeds indoors, use peat pots to reduce the stress of transplanting. Fenugreek can also be grown in containers. It is high in antioxidants and has been used in traditional medicine to improve circulation, promote digestion, treat coughs and sore throat, and reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics. It can be taken internally or used topically.
- 6
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 1
- seed packet
Fenugreek facts
Lifespan
Annual
living and reproducing in a single year or less
17 weeks
median lifespan
Height
60cmRow Spacing
15cmWhat are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For fenugreek, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 900 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your fenugreek will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow fenugreek
Sunniness
Loading...
Planted from
Loading...
Plant fenugreek with
Photos
Fenugreek crops
Fenugreek plantings
Video
Where fenugreek grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about fenugreek
lettuces
arugula
sunflowers
beets
bell peppers
okra
artichokes
mint
spinach
thyme
zucchini
Who's planted fenugreek
- ypgarden Garden · Mountain View, CA
- Melissa Vegetable garden · Ballarat
- tiki19 Drylands unirrigated food forest · Thornlie, Perth,...
Fenugreek harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your fenugreek harvests.Find fenugreek seeds
View all fenugreek seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Trigonella foenum-graecum L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Fabales Leguminosae |
|---|---|
| Optimal temperature | 13 - 27 °C |
| Absolute temperature | 5 - 32 °C |
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -15 °C |
| Optimal rainfall | 600 - 800 mm/year |
| Absolute rainfall | 380 - 1550 mm/year |
| Optimal soil pH | 7.0 - 7.5 |
| Absolute soil pH | 5.3 - 8.2 |
| Crop cycle | 60 - 120 days |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours) |
| Optimal light | very bright to clear skies |
Learn more about fenugreek
Resources outside Growstuff.
