Dill
Also called Dill weed.
| Light | full sun |
|---|---|
| Water | Every 4 days in the growing season, every 10 in winter |
| Pets | Cats safe, dogs safe |
Source: ASPCA Animal Poison Control, toxic and non-toxic plants, Dill entry.
Edible here means commonly eaten. Nothing on this site is medical or dietary advice.
Dill is an annual that lives fast. It germinates in a week, gives you leaf for a month or two, then throws up a flat head of yellow flowers and sets seed, and nothing you do reverses that once it starts. So the whole art of growing it is successional sowing: a short row every three weeks from spring, rather than one sowing you try to keep. It hates being transplanted, which is why supermarket pots rarely settle, so sow it where it is to grow. Keep it away from fennel, which it crosses with, and give it shelter, because a metre of hollow stem goes over in the first gale. The flowers bring hoverflies, whose larvae eat aphids, so letting the last sowing flower is worth doing for the garden as much as for the seed.
Ailments observed
| Flowering at the wrong time, or bolting | Heat, a dry check, or root disturbance. Sow directly where it is to grow, keep it moist, and sow a short row every three weeks rather than saving one plant. |
|---|---|
| Limp, drooping leaves | Wind, or a plant grown too soft in rich soil. Give it shelter and poorer soil. Dill is tall and hollow stemmed and goes over easily. |
Filed underPlants that will not poison the cat
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