How to Grow Dill?

Dill is an annual plant with feathery green leaves that self-seeds. It’s most typically used in
soups and stews, as well as pickling. Dill is a plant as well as a spice. To use as a herb, the
feathery leaves are gathered. Spices are made from the little, hard, dried seeds. Dill weed is the
name given to the fluffy green leaves.

The seeds are used as a pickling spice and in stews and roasts to add taste. Dill is a herb that grows wild in southern Russia the Mediterranean, and western Africa.

Best Varities to Grow Dill at Home

Before we move towards how to grow dill, let’s have a look on the best varieties of dill weed you can grow at home.   

Bouquet

The most common type is Bouquet, which is known for its aromatic leaves and seeds. This type of dill is usually used in cooking and pickling.

Long Island and Mammoth

These are quite popular dill type, owing to their enormous size. Both may grow to be five feet (1.5 meters) tall and are great pickling plants.

Fernleaf

It is a typical dwarf type that grows to be roughly 18 inches (46 cm) tall at the other end of the range. It’s very popular when grown in pots and cut for flower bouquets.

Dukat

It is a compact form of dill that is brighter green than its cousins and is another smaller dill plant type that is suitable for container planting. It’s particularly well-liked in salads.

Superdukat

This type of dill is an essential oil-rich cultivar that outperforms Dukat.

Delikat

It has a lot of thick foliage, which makes gathering the leaves for cooking relatively easy.

Vierling

It  is a kind of dill that takes longer to bolt than other dill varieties, making it an ideal choice if you want to collect leaves throughout the summer.

Hercules

This is another kind that takes a long time to blossom, but its leaves are rougher than others, so it’s best to pick while the plant is young and the leaves are at their tenderest.

What is the Right Time to Plant Dill?

Dill seeds should be sown straight into the soil when the fear of frost has gone in the spring. As dill has a taproot, so it doesn’t transfer well like carrots. Therefore, it is best to check the frost dates in your area before planning to plant it.

• For the optimum germination outcomes, the soil temperature should be between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit (15 and 21 degrees Celsius). In 10 to 14 days, seedlings should emerge.
• Plant dill every two weeks until mid-summer to provide a steady supply through the fall.

Choosing the Right Site and Conditions for Planting Dill

• Choose a site for dill that received full sun.
• The plant can withstand temperatures as low as 25°F.
• Select a location with well-draining soil that is high in organic matter. The soil pH should be between between slightly acidic and neutral.
• Plant dill near cabbage or onions in your garden, but keep it away from carrots.
• Dill should be protected from severe winds, since it is easily blown over.

Companion Plants for Dill

Plant dill among other plants and fruit trees from the cabbage family, as well as tomatoes, sweet peppers, chilies, strawberries, and thyme. Dill stimulates the development of cabbage-related crops.

It will hybridize if planted alongside carrots or fennel. Dill draws beneficial insects and honeybees to the garden. It may be used as a tomato hornworm trap crop.

Dill’s scent is claimed to keep aphids and spider mites away. The caterpillars that evolve into black swallowtail butterflies are attracted to dill.

How Many Dill Plants to Plant?

Grow 10 dill plants for culinary and cooking use throughout the course of the season; seed numerous successions two weeks apart. If you are growing for preserving purpose, grow 20 plants.

How to Use Dill?

This herb’s essential oil contains antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant qualities, and it’s even used in industrial food processing to help preserve food.

• Aroma and Flavor – The seeds of dills are powerful, slightly bitter-tasting, and have a buttery green flavor with a hint of citrus, comparable to caraway.
• Use of Flowers – Yellow dill blossoms can be utilized in the same way that leaves are.
• Use of Seeds – In longer-cooking dishes, dill seeds are used whole or crushed. Dill seeds can be used to homemade bread. Salad dressings, stews, sauces, butter, egg dishes, and cheese spreads all benefit from the addition of fresh or dried seeds. The flavor of dill seed is greater than that of the leaves when heated. In dill pickles, the major flavour component is dill seeds.
• Use of Dill Leaves – Fresh dill leaves can be used in salads and for garnishing. When mincing dill, snip using scissors instead of slicing with a knife to maintain the delicate taste. With poultry, eggplant, lamb, cream, spinach, cheese, cucumbers, broccoli, cheese, eggs, onions, parsnips, eggs, cheese, cauliflower, potatoes, squash, turnips, tomatoes, carrots, avocadoes, and apples, you can use fresh as well as dried leaves. Salads, sauces, and soups, all benefit from the addition of fresh dill leaves.

Leaves can be used to season vinegar and pickles. When fresh dill leaves are cooked, they lose their smell, so add them at the very end of the cooking process. Dill weed is the dried leaves of this plant.

This plant has a well-deserved position in aesthetic gardens, in addition to culinary and medicinal purposes.

How to Store Dill?

Keep dried dill weed, like other spices and herbs, in an airtight jar far from moisture in the air. We recommend keeping your spice cabinet away from the kitchen sink and stove, as well as out of direct sunlight.

Dried dill herb will keep its best quality about for 3 years if stored correctly, although we always recommend checking the optimum use date.

How to Grow Dill?

Growing this herb from seed rather than transplanting is the best method to get it into your yard. When dill is transplanted, it usually bolts right away – assuming it doesn’t die first. So, do yourself a favor and start from seed when growing this herb.

Distance At Which You Should Plant Dill

• Dill seeds should be sown approximately 1/4 average thickness and 30 cm apart.
• Prepare your ground by combining in some compost, levelling out the top, and softly watering it.
• Gently press the seeds into the soil’s surface. Dill seeds require sunshine to sprout, so leave them exposed on the top or lightly cover them with soil.
• Young dill plants should develop in the soil after 10 to 14 days. Wait 10 to 14 days before thinnng the plants to 12 inches to 18 inches apart; if they aren’t already adequately spaced.
• Water the seedlings gently every day until they sprout.

Giving plants a bit more area helps improve air circulation and help avoid illness while still allowing you to get the most out of your yield.

How to Grow Dill?

In terms of herbs, dill is rather low-maintenance. It just keeps giving, and it doesn’t ask for much in return. However , if you want it to offer you everything it has, do it a favor and give it the greatest growth circumstances possible.

Sun

This plant thrives in full sun, with 6-8 hours of direct sunshine every day. If you’re working with part shadow, you can still grow dill, but the stems will be less robust, so you may have to stake it.

If you live in a location that is prone to heavy winds, staking might also be beneficial.

Soil

The major need for this plant is well-draining soil with a pH of 5.6-6.5. If your soil is clay, put some manure into it before planting, or try growing on a garden or containers.

Apart from requiring adequate drainage, dill is not fussy and may thrive in poor soils, hence it takes so little effort to establish itself without the assistance of the gardener.

If you’re not sure what sort of soil you have, a soil test will be helpful.

Water

This herb is drought tolerant once grown. Simply ensure that established plants receive an inch of water every week. When watering, use a sprinkler wand or drip irrigation systems to irrigate at the soil level.

Because many fungal infections flourish in damp circumstances, overhead irrigation, such as with sprinkler, might put your plant at danger of infection.

Fertilizer

Fertilizer can be broadcast (distributed over the whole planting area) or apply it to the ground or around the sides of the plant. It should not be used in conjunction with the seed.

In general, use a 20-20-20 fertilizer mix once in spring time at a rate of 0.70 pound per 100 square feet. Gardeners frequently use “Triple 20” fertilizer since it is widely accessible at garden centers.

15-5-10, which is also accessible at garden centers, is a superior formulation that doesn’t apply too much phosphorus. Apply a pound per 100 square feet when using 15-5-10.

How to Harvest Dill?

Outside-grown dill takes roughly 90 days to mature after sowing. Although the leaves may be plucked as quickly as they are large enough to use, the best flavor comes from picking them before blossoming. Early in the morning or late at night, cut them closely to the stem.

The flowers will bloom and disperse after they have formed. 2 to 3 weeks after blooming, cut the seed heads. Allow the cuttings to dry in paper bag; the dill seeds will fall out when they are ripe.

Tips to Grow Dill

• Dill is a simple plant to cultivate, and if you leave a few seed heads on there at the end of the summer, it will self-seed.
• Allowing the soil or compost surrounding your dill plants to dry up is not a good idea.
• Dill should be watered on a regular basis, especially during the hot, dry weather, but not excessively.
• To keep weeds from suffocating the dill, hoe around it.
• Around months after seeding, the foliage is ready to harvest.
• Plants having a tendency to explode over should be supported with walking sticks or twiggy twigs.
• For cooking, harvest the seeds towards the end of the season.

Dill Plant Issues and How to Tackle Them

The plants are less prone to suffer to dill plant diseases after they have established themselves. However, there are always the aphids, who tend to be drawn to something green, as well as a slew of other pests to be aware of.

Although dill plant illnesses are often more lethal than insect infestations, pests are frequently the cause of dill diseases. The key to preserving the dill plants is identifying and addressing these problems with dill as soon as possible.

Aphid

Aphid infestations can cause Carrot Motley Dwarf illness in the dill. Carrot mottle virus and carrot redleaf virus are the viruses that cause this disease, and both must be present for the plant to be infected.

The disease produces yellow and red staining of leaves as well as general plant stunting. Carrots, as the name implies, are the source of this illness, which the aphids simply pass on. To avoid dill illness, use insecticidal soap to eliminate aphids and avoid growing the herb near sections of the garden where carrots have overwintered.

Root-Knot Nematodes

Root-knot nematodes, which are not to be mistaken with beneficial nematodes, attack carrots, kale, and a variety of other broadleaf plants in your garden.

Plants may seem stunted or wilt for no apparent reason, and above-ground indications of these pests might be difficult to spot. The nickname of this pest comes from the fact that taking up the plant reveals knots on the roots.

To deal with an existing insect problem, consider solarizing your soil to kill the bugs, or give the problem area a vacation from vegetable production and replace it with a marigold cover crop.