Friday 8 July 2011

How to Harvest dill seeds

The dill in my garden is all gone. In late spring it started to flower a lot and it lost all of its leaves, then it dried and now is just a long stalk in the balcony. To not let it go in vain I picked up all the dead flower heads and tried to harvest the seeds. I got a bunch, enough to plant a new batch and a bit more.

harvesting-dill-3

The dill ready to be harvested


The way I learned to harvest the seeds is very simple.

  • First, you need to wait until the flower heads get a bit dry while they are still on the plant. Just enough to see them mostly brown, but not as much that the seeds will start to fall.

  • When they are ready snip off the complete flower branch and get them inside a paper bag heads first.

harvesting-dill-2

Just get it inside a paper bag to let it dry


  • Let them be there a week or two until they finish drying and the seeds detach and fall into the paper bag. In case there are still some stubborn ones just give the bag a good shake.

  • Afterwards just take away the spent flower heads from the paper bag and all you have left is the seeds

And that is all, enjoy your dill seeds.

harvesting-dill

Dill seeds ready for next season


I am not sure if I should grow dill again because, to be honest, I underused it a lot. In all the months that I had it growing in my garden, I think I only used it three or four times. The space on my balcony is very limited, and a the full grown dill was very big, almost my height. So, maybe I should put something different in that pot. But then, growing again might be a good encouragement to start using it more.

I don't know, I guess I will put a couple seeds in a starting pot and let mother nature, if they grow or not.

19 comments:

  1. Fer; if it were me I would not grow Dill - you have only a small space available, and smaller plants would probably be more suitable. What do you use the Dill in? In Europe, Dill is used a lot in pickles, such as pickled cucumbers, and in fish dishes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I use dill in my curries! How about you?
    Dill grows very tall! They do have pretty bloom though!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I use dill for salads and marinades. If you don't use it much, maybe grow another herb that you use more of. The seeds in the bottle looks very pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do you use the dill seeds in cooking?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Although I like the taste of dill I find, like you, I don't actually use it a lot. I did plant it this year though as the swallowtail caterpillars really like it and I thought I should have some butterfly food in my garden.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the idea. We have Dill...now I have to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The article is very good!Actualy I use the same method of harvesting the dill seeds!I use dill all the time in cooking... it gives a special taste to my omlets, soups and other simple and fast to cook plates!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I use the same method of harvesting dill!It's a very easy to grow plant that spices a great deal of my daily cooking! I use it mostly fresh or in the winter time from the freezer where I usualy deposit it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fer, such a great way to harvest seed. I was first introduced to this method by Alan Titchmarsh.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like my dill with my seafood and you have it in abundance over there. If you can grow more of others, though, you might want to try that first. You can always shift back to dill in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You should plant it again and put the pots closer to your kitchen so that you would never forget using it!And try grow-ing parsley and dill in the same pot! That's how I manage to save space and have fresh spices all the time!

    ReplyDelete
  12. It’s a well-written article with good pictures, making it even more interesting. My suggestion is that you continue planting dill for its ornamental value and in order to attract beneficial insects like butterflies, bees, etc. which may add up colors to your everyday life.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dill has such a unique taste...I'm finding I like it more the older I am! What a wonderful crop of dill seed! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I wonder if there is a way to keep it small with regular pruning, even if you don't use it in your cooking.
    I love the photo fo the Dill. I like the central focus.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Not all the photos would load for me, I'll have to try again later. My parents used to grow dill to sprinkle on cucumber salads. I had forgotten all about it. Maybe I should try growing some.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you very much!

    The decision was made for me now, on the pot of the dill a bunch of new seedlings already started to sprout, I guess i didn't pick the flower heads in time and now they are all over the garden

    ReplyDelete
  17. Though I didn't use the dill much as it was growing tall in my garden, I agree that it attracted many pollinators and for that reason, and the color, I'd plant it again. I'm going to harvest the seeds when the plant dries and use them in a dilly biscuit recipe that I have.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Do you know of anyplace I can buy dill seeds in bulk online in Japan and have it shipped to me. FBC doesn't, the last time I checked. Cheers.
    PS I use them to make dill pickles. Lots and lots of dill pickles.

    ReplyDelete
  19. If you grow dill, I live in Northern Japan and would love it if you shipped me some to use in pickles :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...