Dill produces essential oils that repel mosquitoes and other insects. Fresh also makes a great addition to a variety of dishes and spring salads. This underrated plant can also be found in your garden
The most important thing when growing dill is to plan its sowing. It should not be planted with celery plants such as carrots, celery or fennel. This type of substrate can make dill more vulnerable to pests and diseases that have a devastating effect on it. This plant likes an airy and moderately moist place. A fertile soil that gets plenty of sun will work best. A warm, sheltered position will give it ideal growing conditions
It is worth remembering to loosen the soil properly before sowing. Levelling the soil with a rake will make the dill grow big and healthy. The soil should have a pH of 6.5 to 7. It is also good to choose a place where the soil is wetter
When sowing dill seasonally, you should frequently change its location in the garden, which will benefit it. Use compost before sowing to nourish the soil. Dill grows fastest on an organic substrate – natural fertilizers such as manure work especially well. Use from 4 to a maximum of 6 kg per square meter of soil.
Dill can also be grown together with other plants, but not from the celery family – it grows well with, for example, tomatoes or cucumbers. We sow it from April to the end of September. It should be remembered that it has a short vegetation period, only 45 to 50 days. It is advisable to sow dill in this period so that you still have fresh plants in your beds.
Dill grows very quickly, becauseafter only 14 days we have the first germinated plants. It is not advisable to rush sowing in April, when temperatures are unstable. Dill tolerates low temperatures badly, and frosts can make it start to wilt and not develop properly
A good solution is togrow dill in a greenhouse, which will give it moderate and warm conditions. It can be sown either in rows or by broadcasting between other plants. The seeds are best placed in holes about 2 cm deep. Also make sure that the rows are spaced well apart – a distance of about 15 cm is best, because dill grows quite quickly
Dill grows very well together with corn, kale, potatoes, lettuce, cucumber or beet. However, it is quite tall, so it can interfere with the light of lower plants, such as onions. If you want to grow dill next to onions or other lower plants, it is advisable to keep enough distance between them. Dill does not like the company of plants such as lovage, coriander, celery and caraway. They are in the same family as dill and should not be combined with it in a bed
The care and sowing of dill is not onerous. It is worth following the advice of gardeners, who change the place for dill every season so that it has access to light. You can also grow it in containers, but growing it directly in the ground will make it grow better. The care itself is not difficult – dill likes moist and fertile soil. Manure is mixed with the soil just before sowing. Later it is enough to water it regularly so that the lack of water does not cause the plant to die. It is also worth pruning it a bit if it grows too large
