Dill
Anethum graveolens
Annual
A lovely summer herb that brings a gentle aniseed flavour to dishes. The ferny leaves are best used fresh but aren’t always easy to buy. Cooks wanting to use this lovely herb can easily grow their own in a small patch of soil or a pot.
Sow From spring to late summer. Best sown directly into the ground to minimise root disturbance, but can also be started in small pots/modules and plant out when about 5cm in height. Germination is best in cooler conditions.
A summer sowing can quickly run to seed (although this isn’t a disaster because both dill flowers and seeds are edible and tasty). Some protection may be required for a late sowing to produce leaves through the autumn.
Grow Grow in full sun to part shade in fertile, damp soil. If the soil is dry, give it a water before sowing seed or planting out your dill seedlings. Keep well-watered (but not soggy), particularly if growing in a pot. Taller growing varieties might need some support.
Picking leaves regularly will encourage more growth and help delay flowering. If the plant begins to produce flower stems, either pull them up and re-sow or wait until the yellow flowers begin to open and harvest them to sprinkle over salads. The seeds are also edible, with that unmistakable aniseedy dill flavour. Save seeds to use through the winter in soups and stews or to add extra flavour to savoury scones.
Uses Chop fresh leaves into salads, potato or egg dishes. Finely chopped leaves and mix them with Greek yoghurt or crème fraiche to make a light dip for a warm evening. The flowers are good to garnish salads. Dill leaves can be chopped of blitzed into olive oil and frozen in ice cube trays for use when fresh leaves aren’t available – defrost to use in dressings and risottos or melt into soups and stews. Dill flowers are also a lovely addition to a homegrown bouquet. Use as a filler with sunflowers, rudbeckia or dahlias.
A great pollinator plant – hoverflies especially are attracted to the umbels of yellow flowers.
Dill is a very easy to grow as a microgreen. Sow thickly into a shallow tray with drainage holes and place on a light windowsill. Depending on the time of year, you could have tasty shoots to harvest in as little as a fortnight.