How to trim dill-Dill is one of my favorite herbs to grow in my raised beds. Not only does it taste great, but it also feeds black swallowtail caterpillars. Year after year, they show up! I grow a lot of dill, or rather, I let a lot of it go to seed, so it doesn’t bother me that caterpillars eat it. There is plenty for everyone.
In this article, I’ll tell you how to prune dill to make the plants bushier, how to harvest it to eat or dry, how to stop it from flowering, and what to do with the seed heads.
When the seed heads are dried, they can be eaten. So can the flowers that look like yellow fireworks and are called umbels. The fronds, or leaves, of dill can be eaten either fresh or dried. Dried dill is often called “dill weed” in the spice aisle. It can be used in everything from soups to stews. In a summer salad, I love fresh dill.
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How to start dill from seed
Dill is one of those herbs whose roots don’t like to be moved around, so it’s best to plant the seeds right in the garden. Sometimes you can find dill plants in pots at a garden center, but they might not grow when you plant them.
The caterpillars of the black swallowtail butterfly, which use dill as one of their host plants, also like to eat them.
If you want a steady harvest, plant seeds from the middle of spring until the middle of summer in well-drained soil that gets at least six to eight hours of sunlight. If you let your plants go to seed like I do, look for seedlings in the spring and thin them out as needed.
Keep the area free of weeds so that no other plants can grow there. Still, my dill grows pretty well in my raised bed around some of the vegetables I grow. And some vegetables, like tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini, grow well with it.
How to Trim Dill for Fuller Look
It might seem strange to cut back a plant you’re growing to eat, but most herbs do better with a trim.
If you use dill often, you might be able to skip this step because harvesting it often will have the same effect of making the plant bushier and putting off flowering. When your dill plants are about 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) tall, you can start cutting them back.
If you’re trimming dill, use herb scissors or just a regular pair of scissors to cut off the frond-like leaves from the top of the plant, above a leaf set. If you want to prune a herb, a good rule of thumb is to never cut off more than one-third of the whole plant. Also, remember that a stem won’t grow more dill if you cut it down without leaving any fronds (or leaf sets).
Make sure to eat everything you cut off.
You also want to stop dill from flowering, like you do with cilantro and basil. If you pinch the flower buds, the flower heads may take a little longer to form.
How to Cut Dill for Cooking or Drying
Follow the same rules as above if you want to use dill as a garnish or in your favorite egg salad recipe. Just make sure you don’t cut off more than a third of the plant.
For dill pickles, I cut longer fronds because it’s easier to fish out whole sprigs than small pieces. The dill will also be easier to hang and dry if the stems are longer.
If you want to dry dill, keep an eye on the flower buds as you cut it. Right before the plant blooms, the taste is at its strongest. Cut off the long stems and hang them upside down in a dark, well-ventilated room. I use a curtain rod and some gardening twine to hang the bouquet. Once the leaves are completely dry, put them in a dark cupboard in an airtight container.
Once the plant starts to bloom, there aren’t as many fronds, and they don’t taste as good either. Slow-to-bolt varieties, like the All-America Selections winner Fernleaf Dill, can delay flowering more than other types.
How to cut the seed heads off of dill
Once those yellow dill flowers start to dry out, they’ll make a TON of seeds. I like to let some fall into the garden, but I also save the seeds. If you don’t want your dill to grow its own seeds, remove the seed heads.
