Dill is a plant that can be used fresh or dried. It has a strong, aromatic flavor that makes it perfect for adding to salads and sauces. If you’re growing this herb in your garden, you’ll want to know how to harvest dill at the right time.
Harvesting dill is easy, but there are some things you should do before and after picking your crop. In this article, we’ll share everything you need to know about harvesting dill so that you can enjoy its delicious flavor all summer long!
Before you harvest dill, what should you know about it?
Before you start growing any herb like dill, it’s important to learn its nature. This way, you’ll know how to plant, grow, and harvest them to maximize their flavor.
So, here are some interesting information about dill weeds.
- Dill is a flowering plant in Apiaceae, native to temperate Europe and Asia.
- Dill has been used as both a spice and herb for millennia. The plant’s seeds are used as a spice in European, Middle Eastern, and Asian cuisines, while the leaves are most often used as an herb.
- It has a strong taste that can be either sweet or spicy, depending on how it’s prepared. The leaves taste similar to parsley, but they’re much stronger.
- In Iran, dill seed is used extensively in cooking, especially in rice-based dishes.
- Dill grows quickly and easily in most climates and soil types, making it an excellent choice for beginner gardeners who want to start growing their own herbs.
- Dill comes in dried and fresh form; however, if you’re using dried dill for cooking purposes, be sure not to use more than one tablespoon per person because the flavor becomes too strong when there’s too much of it!
When should you harvest dill?
Like many other herbs, dill is best when picked at its peak. Here’s what you need to remember when harvesting dill weeds.
- The best time to harvest dill weed is when it flowers.
- You can pick off the flowers as they appear or wait until they bloom fully before harvesting them all at once. The leaves will also be ready to harvest at this point.
- However, to use the seeds on your plants, you should wait until they mature before picking them off.
- Pick dill leaves during a dry day.
- Harvest dill leaves in the morning, right after the night dew evaporates from the plant, and before the soil heats up.
- You can use dill leaves after 6 to 8 weeks of planting.
- You can begin harvesting your dill once it has four to five leaves, but make sure not to get everything all at once.
How to harvest dill?
Harvesting dill is not a tough job. But since you want to maximize it for regrowing, you must be very careful.
So how do you harvest dill?
- Water your dill plant a day before the harvest.
- On the day of the harvest, snip those older leaves first using sharp and sterile scissors.
- You can leave a few more leaves if you don’t need that many dill weeds. This will help your plant to regrow.
- Just leave them lying on the ground so they can regrow over time and return to their full size again.
- Once all of your dill stems have regrown, harvest them with scissors or by pulling up individual branches with your hands if necessary!
How should you harvest dill seeds?
When learning how to harvest dill seeds, you must be patient and wait until the flowers produce brown seeds. Brown seeds are ready for harvesting.
Here’s how to harvest dill seeds.
- Use a paper bag and place it over the flower heads where the seeds are located.
- Bend the stem.
- Snip the part of the stem where the seed head is located.
- Catch the seed heads with your paper bag.
- Place the paper bag somewhere for the heads to dry.
- Once dried enough, you can crush the seed heads with two hands.
- Just break them up and pour your seeds on a flat surface.
- Finally, give it a blow so you can let go of the chaff and get the seeds.
Basic tips for on how to harvest dill
When you’re ready to harvest your dill, here are some pointers to remember to help you get the most out of your crop.
Know how much you need before harvesting, so you’re not left with too much or too little.
- Harvest the leaves at their peak. You’ll know your dill has reached its peak when it starts to flower, and then it’s time to pick!
- Cut the foliage above ground level for the best flavor and longest shelf life.
- We recommend pulling out one-third of the plant until you get down to about five inches of stem left on top. That should be sufficient for most cooking needs.
- If you want, you can cut off the flower stalks at this point too, and the flowers will continue growing until they’re ready for seeding.
How to store freshly harvested dill weed?
You should know that when you harvest herbs like dill weeds, they start to wilt immediately. It won’t be a big deal if you’ll use it later, but if you want to preserve it for tomorrow or the other day, you need to know how to store them properly.
Here’s how you can store fresh dill weeds!
Option 1:
- Get a damp paper towel.
- Wrap the stems loosely and not tight.
- After wrapping, put it in a sealable plastic bag and store it in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.
- This method will keep the flavor of your dill weeds for a few days.
Option 2:
- Get a jar with an inch of water in it.
- Put the end of your dill stem in the jar with water.
- Put a plastic bag on top, which will serve as a humidifier.
- You can store your dill leaves this way for a week without flavor loss or wilting.
Harvest dill the right way!
We can say that dill is an easy-to-grow herb perfect for fresh garnishes and cooking uses. Once you’ve grown it once, you’ll probably never want to be without it again!
But here’s one this you need to remember when harvesting dill! Just snip off the leaves when you want to harvest your dill, and be sure to leave enough so it can continue growing. You can also use the seeds as a spice or dry them out and store them for later use!
Now that you know how to harvest dill, you can start enjoying this fragrant herb in various ways.