Dill is easy to grow and beautiful to look at, and therefore deserves a place in the herb, vegetable and flower gardens.
Dill is a tender annual easily grown from seed. Its ferny green leaves and showy yellow flowers, along with its three foot height, make it a good summer background to tall marigolds, zinnias, blue salvia and red and green basil. Wherever you plant the dill, be sure to pick a permanent spot; the plant is self-seeding and chances are good that new plants will shoot up every year if you let the flower heads go to seed.
Plant dill seeds about ¼ inch deep early in spring after the danger of frost is past, in rows two to three feet apart. Within the rows, place seeds ten to twelve inches apart. A more casual approach is to scatter the seeds and rake them lightly into the soil. Tamp the soil to ensure seed to soil contact.
Once the plants are about six inches tall you can begin clipping the leaves close to the stem. Do this either in the late morning or in the evening for best flavor. The leaves, also called dillweed, will last only a couple days in the refrigerator before drooping and losing flavor. When the plants get a little older, the cut flowers make long lasting aromatic additions to summer bouquets.
For year-round use, dry dill either by hanging bunches of it upside down in a warm dry place indoors, or spreading the leaves on a non-metallic screen for a couple of days. Then place the dried leaves in an airtight container. You can also freeze the freshly picked leaves.
Harvest the seeds when they turn dark brown. Snip the umbels (the umbrella-shaped plant tops) off with a scissors and let them dry for a week or two on newspaper in a warm room. If the seeds do not fall off themselves, you can easily rub them off by the handful.
The seeds ripen just in time for making dill pickles from your garden-grown cucumbers. The seeds can also be used in breads or salad dressings. The leaves are good in tomato dishes and potato, egg and tuna salads, or mixed with cream cheese or butter for a tasty spread.
Leave a Reply