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Learn how to plant, grow, and harvest dill with The Old Farmer’s Almanac’s plant guide.
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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Dill
Dill is an annual, self-seeding plant with feathery green leaves. It is used most commonly in soups and stews or for pickling. Dill weed is easy to grow—here’s how!
If you’re planting dill for pickling, plant every few weeks into midsummer to ensure a constant supply for when the harvest begins!
To create a permanent patch of dill, allow some of the plants to flower and go to seed each year—you’ll have plenty of early dill to start the season.
Dill attracts beneficial insects such as wasps and other predatory insects to your garden, and is a host plant for the caterpillar of the black swallowtail butterfly.
Planting
When to Plant Dill
- Dill seeds should be sown directly into the garden (dill puts down a taproot, so like carrots, it doesn’t transplant well) after the threat of frost has passed in the spring. See local frost dates.
- The soil temperature should be between 60 and 70ºF (15 and 21°C) for the best germination results. Seedlings should appear in 10 to 14 days.
- Plant dill every couple of weeks until mid summer to ensure a constant supply into fall.
Choosing and Preparing a Planting Site
- Plant in full sun.
- Choose a site that has well-draining soil that’s rich in organic matter. The pH of the soil should ideally be between slightly acidic and neutral.
- In your garden, plant dill next to cabbage or onions, but keep it away from carrots. Learn more about companion planting.
- Make sure to shelter dill from strong winds, as it can be blown over easily.
How to Plant Dill
- Sow dill seeds about 1/4-inch deep and 18 inches apart.
- After 10 to 14 days, young dill plants should appear in the soil. Wait another 10 to 14 days, then thin the plants to about 12 to 18 inches apart (if they aren’t already spaced well enough).
Check out our video to learn more about the benefits of growing dill in your garden:
Care
How to Grow Dill
- Water the plants freely during the growing season, ensuring that they don’t dry out excessively.
- In order to ensure a season-long fresh supply of dill, continue sowing seeds every few weeks. For an extended harvest, do not allow flowers to grow on the plants.
- If dill is allowed to go to seed and the soil isn’t disturbed too much, more dill plants will likely appear next spring.
Pests/Diseases
- Leaf spot and occasionally a few other types of fungal leaf and root diseases
Recommended Varieties
- ‘Fernleaf’ dill is a compact variety that works well in containers and is not prone to bolting.
- ‘Bouquet’ is a larger variety that produces a lot of seeds.
- ‘Mammoth’ is another tall variety and is considered one of the best for pickling and other culinary uses, such as in potato salads, cucumber soup, and fish dishes.
Harvest/Storage
How to Harvest Dill
- As soon as the plant has four to five leaves, you can start harvesting. Harvest older leaves first. Pinch off the leaves or cut them off with scissors.
- If you have a lot of plants, you can take entire stalks.
Wit and Wisdom
- For sweeter breath, chew dill seeds.
- If you grow your own dill and cucumbers, you can make dill pickles!
Cooking Notes
Many people love to make dill pickles with their fresh dill. Learn how with our tips and recipes for dill pickles or our video on making dill pickles. You can also add dill as a seasoning in countless recipes.
I plant dill every year in perpetual hope. Every year it grows beautifully. And then I come out on a morning to find something has eaten the roots. I've moved location, type of pot, sprinkled egg shells around it. I have never caught a glimpse of what eats the roots, even with a camera. Any suggestions on how to keep something from eating my dill?
I have a huge patch of Dill in my garden, but it doesn’t taste like true Dill. Seems the flavor has grown out of it. Should I just plant more nearby? Its soil is sandy and well drained and I don’t have to worry about cold weather.
Two things:
(1) Dill & Lemon-Lime Basil are my favorite combo herbs for fish & veggies. Both come up as prolific volunteer in my garden each year which leads to....
(2) I chop and freeze my dill & lemon-lime basil on wax paper, and once frozen, quickly transfer to plastic pint containers in my freezer. It keeps it's color and flavor, and I have guaranteed "fresh" herbs from my garden all winter long. Even if it clumps together, you can chop off a piece and quickly thaw to use on fish, veggies, in breads etc... It's so much better than drying them.
I have a dill plant that went to seed. I want to harvest and plant the seeds, but I am not sure when to collect them from the plant. Also, do I have to dry the seeds first, before planting?. Please advise on this, Thank you!
You can harvest the dill seeds when the flower head (umbel) turns brown but the stem is still slightly green (wait a day or two if it had rained—you don’t want the plant to be wet). Don’t wait too long, though, or the seeds will fall. Just clip the seed heads off the plant and over a container or bag, carefully rub the seed head so that the seeds fall into the container. Although some sources say that dill doesn’t need further treatment, to play it safe, you can then dry the seeds on paper towels for about a week (winnow out any chaff), before storing in a cool, dry location.
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