Growing Dill

Growing dill is quite easy - it's needs a sunny site and keeping well watered, but it is quick to germinate and flower.

It has fine feathery leaves and can grow to 2-3 ft (60-90cm) so it needs to go towards the back of your herb garden.

You sow dill seed in early to mid spring and then thin out the seedlings to about 9 inches (23 cm) apart.

It doesn't like being transplanted, so sow it where it is to grow into a fine soil bed.

It will flower in mid to late summer and when the seeds begin to turn brown, that's the time to harvest them.

They are used in pickles mainly and the leaves are used in fish and vegetable dishes.

The dill herb will self seed if left to its own devices - in fact, it could turn into a bit of a weed if you don't want that much.

Rescue Remedy for Dill
If you're lucky enough to inherit an established herb garden but your dill is out of control, then don't worry too much.

You'll lose a year at the most as you can harvest the seed heads and hang them upside down in a paper bag to ripen - sow the seeds the following spring as above.

For an explanation of gardening terms that you might not understand, please check out the Growers Dictionary section.
I found that I was either skimping on explanations or giving too much information on the individual pages so I have posted all relevant terms in one section - if there's anything you need to know, please drop me an email.

Growing Dill - to Index