Dill

Dill is an annual herb whose fragrant, delicate-tasting leaves, also known as dillweed, will enhance a variety of your favorite foods. Yet dill brings as much to the landscape as it does to the palate. Its finely textured blue-green foliage grows on upright stalks of fountainous stems. In late spring, you may want to cut dill's chartreuse flowers and use them in a flower arrangement. Dill also produces pungent seeds that you can easily dry and store for culinary use, particularly for dill pickles. After seeds are set, dill plants will die, but you can sow the seed again in late summer and early fall.

In the Landscape
Dill is a cool-weather annual that grows in spring and fall. Plants reach 2 to 3 feet tall with graceful leaves branching from hollow stems. Yellowish green flowers borne in flat umbels electrify the garden in spring and fall. Use dill in the middle or back of a border, and plant it where it can be allowed to reseed. Dill can be grouped with other cool-weather annuals and biennials, such as cilantro and parsley.

Planting and Care
Plant dill in full sun. Choose a place where the stalks are protected from strong winds, or be prepared to stake the plants. Dill likes rich, well-drained soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Enrich the soil with organic matter before planting, and add a slow-release fertilizer to the soil before or during planting.

In spring, sow seeds two to four weeks before the last frost; in fall, sow again about two months before frost. For a continuous supply of foliage, make successive sowings every two weeks in spring until seeds stop germinating in the heat of summer. Water when the weather is dry.

It is best to sow the seeds directly in the garden. Plant them in rows, or spread them over the surface of the planting site and cover with 1/4 inch of soil. The seeds will sprout in 10 to 14 days. When the plants are 2 to 3 inches tall, thin them to 6 to 12 inches apart.

Because dill has a long, carrotlike root, starting it from transplants can be a challenge. Transplants tend to go to seed quickly without producing much foliage. If you start with transplants, choose small plants that are 2 to 3 inches tall.

When dill flowers in late spring, it is time to harvest the entire plant. If dill is planted in fall, it will be killed by the first frost. But if allowed to go to seed, it should sprout again from the fallen seed the following spring. Because dill self-sows readily, you may want to leave a few seedheads in the garden to begin next year's crop.

Do not plant dill near fennel; the two herbs can cross-pollinate with unpredictable results. Dill attracts the parsleyworm caterpillar, which grows into the black swallowtail butterfly. Gardeners often leave the caterpillars alone and plant extra dill to encourage these butterflies to come to their gardens.