Growing dill is actually not very difficult, whether you do it in the garden, on the patio or on your little balcony. At the same time, home-grown dill has a far more intense and fresh flavour than a pot from the supermarket – so why not simply get started?
Dill is a great summer favourite that brightens up any summer dish. In this blog post, we will tell you more about how to grow this delicious and fragrant herb, so that you can simply pop outside and harvest the little you need, just when you need it.
How do you grow dill?
The first thing to be aware of when sowing dill is that you need moist, well-drained soil. Dry soil does not give the herb the right conditions to develop properly.
Dill should be sown during April, when the night frosts are over and the soil becomes looser and easier to work with. Sowing is perhaps the biggest challenge, because dill seeds need to be sown very finely. In practice, you can simply sprinkle them on top of the soil and then press them lightly into the top layer of soil.
Once you have sowing under control, you should know that the key to success with dill is water, water and water! If the herb does not get the right amount of water, the dill will flower sooner, and then the flavour and scent change for the worse.
3 good tips for growing dill:
- If you also have fennel in your herb bed, make sure to plant the two well apart from each other, so that they do not cross-pollinate.
- It can be an advantage to grow dill in a sheltered spot. The plant grows tall, which makes it extra sensitive to rain and wind. A raised bed can be a good idea here, as you can place it where the plant will grow best.
- If you want a continuous yield of dill, it may be necessary to sow new seeds every 3-4 weeks. That way, the dill can be harvested again and again.
Good advice on harvesting
Dill grows quickly, and it is important to harvest it regularly so that the herb does not flower too soon. This can result in you ending up with far more dill than you need. The advantage of dill, however, is that you can easily freeze it. Wash the dill well and let it dry. Then pull the leaves off the stalk and put the dill in a freezer bag before it goes into the freezer. That way you always have dill close at hand, even in winter – and the flavour and aroma certainly do not change when frozen.