Dill is one of the most popular kitchen herbs because it has a very aromatic taste and can be used for many purposes. It can be sown successfully in a suitable spot outdoors or in a pot with relatively little maintenance,

Choose a suitable location for the dill

Dill can not only be planted outdoors or in raised beds, it can also be cultivated in a pot on the balcony or terrace. Basically, you should make sure to choose a location for the dill that is in full sun or at most in semi-shade. It has a positive effect on growth and the expected harvest if you assign the dill to a more sheltered place in the garden. Otherwise hail and strong gusts of wind can easily damage the filigree plants. In relation to the soil, the dill is actually relatively undemanding, but it should be a loose substrate without a tendency to waterlogging.

The right time for sowing dill

Dill can be sown outdoors from around mid-April when night frosts are no longer to be expected. If you experience the dill bloom and want to get seeds from the dill for processing or re-sowing, you should have sown the dill by the end of June at the latest. If, on the other hand, you only intend to harvest and dry the dill weed, you can sow the dill outdoors until around the end of August.

Things worth knowing about sowing dill

Since dill, like many other herbs and vegetables (e.g. lovage, celery, carrots), belongs to the umbelliferae, it should, if possible, only be grown in a crop rotation with rest periods for the soil at the same location. However, dill will often self-seed in a larger bed, so if you selectively remove sprouting weeds, new dill plants will often grow right next door without you having to specifically seed them. Dill is a natural defense against garden pests like cabbage whites and aphids. Therefore, it is often used in the vegetable patch in rows between the following types of vegetables:

  • carrots
  • salad
  • onions
  • cucumbers

When sown in rows, you should keep a distance of about 15 to 25 centimeters between the rows of dill so that the herb can develop well.

Care measures for the freshly sown dill

You can recognize the freshly sprouted dill relatively easily by its characteristic, filigree appearance. During the germination phase you should keep the soil sufficiently moist. Nevertheless, it should not be watered too much, as the dill is sensitive to waterlogging. In the early growth phase you should carefully remove weeds that are growing between the plants so that they do not overgrow the dill.

tips and tricks

Dill seeds only keep for about two years, so they should be used as fresh as possible for re-sowing.

WK

Category:

Vegetable garden