How to properly grow dill outdoors?

Dill is a perennial herb that is familiar to everyone. It is loved for its delicious spicy aroma. Learn about how dill is grown in a summer cottage (secrets, tips and basic nuances), and then you will always have a bunch of fragrant and fresh greens at your fingertips. It can be dried and frozen, as well as used for salads, soups. Inflorescences and seeds are also used, mainly in the preparation of marinades for canning vegetables.

Seed preparation

Experienced gardeners and gardeners recommend soaking the seeds before planting dill. Growing dill with seedlings is also practiced, without fail it is used for bush varieties. To soak the seeds, just wrap them in a cloth and keep it moist for a couple of days, until they swell. Then they need to be dried for 20 minutes in the air and sown in the prepared soil. Uniform seedlings appear, as a rule, after two weeks. All this time, it is required to maintain constant humidity. Dill seeds are not demanding to the temperature and begin to actively germinate already at +3 ° C.

Dill sowing dates

Growing dill outdoors can be done in two ways: sowing in spring or late autumn. This plant is quite cold-resistant and can tolerate frosts down to -6 ° C, so the seeds can be planted in the ground in late autumn (October-November), the timing depends on the region. The second option involves a spring planting. They also start it early enough, as soon as the snow melts and the soil dries out a little. The approximate dates are from mid-April to the end of May. Dill reproduces very well by self-seeding. If the umbrellas with seeds are not removed in the fall, then next spring, most likely, the whole garden will be strewn with fragrant herbs.

Dill: planting and care in the open field

The garden for spring sowing needs to be prepared in the fall. It is required to dig up the ground to a depth of about 25 cm and add a bucket of humus (one square meter). In the spring, it is enough to level the bed with a rake and make grooves at a distance of 20 cm from each other with a depth of 2-3 cm. Seeds should be sown in them, sprinkled with a small layer of humus on top. You do not need to water until shoots appear.

Throughout the summer, dill can be sown more than once, but at intervals of 20-25 days to obtain fresh greens. This is exactly the period of its ripening. By this time, the plant reaches a height of about twenty centimeters. To get the seeds, you will have to wait a little longer, until the umbrellas ripen. These are the basic rules for growing dill outdoors.Everything is quite simple and will not cause difficulties even for a novice gardener.

Bush dill: growing features

This variety has recently appeared on the seed market. Its appearance and growing technology are somewhat different from those of ordinary dill. If you do not follow agricultural techniques, then, of course, he will grow, but he will lose his elite qualities. The main feature of this variety is its size and strong foliage. Bush dill can grow up to one and a half meters in height, so the distance between plants should be large (25 cm). It is more demanding on soil fertility and climate, which is why it is planted in greenhouses. Growing dill in the open field is also possible, but only by seedling (sowing in mid-April - early May). It is planted on the garden bed when the air temperature is set in the range of 20-25 ° C.

The capriciousness of bush dill is compensated by its high yield. So, 20 plants will provide you with greenery not only for the whole summer, but also for the winter.

If you practice growing dill in the open field, then the peduncles are best removed, especially in central Russia, since the seeds still do not have time to ripen even in greenhouses. The plant will only waste energy. This variety is best grown exclusively for greenery.

Dill diseases

One of the main enemies of fragrant greens is powdery mildew. It can appear at any time as a white coating on seeds, stems and leaves. Powdery mildew most often occurs in late summer when the nights are chilly. As a result, the plant loses its taste and is no longer suitable for consumption. The appearance of downy mildew is possible, which is characterized by the appearance of chlorotic spots, gradually turning yellow.

Also, dill can be subject to phomosis. This fungal disease manifests itself as blackening on seeds, stems, and sometimes leaves.

These diseases, in principle, can appear at any time, regardless of whether you practice growing dill in the open field or in a greenhouse. It is impossible to treat plants with chemical preparations, therefore, only the use of preventive measures is possible, namely, the alternation of crops, the timely destruction of weeds and infected specimens, as well as the disinfection of dill seeds. To do this, before planting, they need to be warmed up in hot water (50 ° C) for 30 minutes.

Growing dill: the main nuances

• Thinning. This is the case when you don't need to feel sorry for the plants. In the phase of 2-3 true leaves, seedlings should be thinned out, leaving at least 6-7 cm between neighboring bushes. This contributes to the better development of dill, it will be strong and even. For bush varieties, this is generally a mandatory procedure, and it can be carried out in several stages, gradually bringing the distance between plants to thirty centimeters.
• Greens grow in about a month, so fertilization is not required during the growing season. As a last resort, if you notice yellowing of the leaves, you can water the plants with a solution of urea or mullein.
• Young greens can be pulled out directly from the root, but from adult plants (25 cm and above) it is better to pick off only green leaves.
• Choose sunny places for planting, where there is no stagnant moisture and fertile soil. In the shade, you will get a pale green or almost yellow dill.

Growing dill: variety selection

Often, vegetable growers and summer residents do not attach importance to dill varieties, because greens are greens. And this is a completely erroneous opinion. In the modern seed market, the choice of dill varieties is very large. As a rule, they all differ in terms of ripening, and sometimes in cultivation agrotechnics. Therefore, carefully read the inscriptions on the bags with fragrant seeds. It is worth noting the following varieties of dill.

1. Mid-season: Anna, Gribovsky, Umbrella, Lesnogorsky, Salute, Patterns.
2. Late ripening: Alligator, Borey, Superdukat.
3. Bush varieties: Buyan, Bouquet, Sultan.

Harvesting and drying of crops

Collection of greens for drying or freezing is carried out 25-30 days after the shoots appear. By this time, the plant grows up to 15-20 cm in height. Before freezing, greens should be rinsed and allowed to drain. Then the dill must be crumbled and packaged in sachets or containers. You can also dry it. This should be done not in the sun, but in the shade, in a well-ventilated area. Store dried dill in jars with tight-fitting lids or paper bags, the same goes for seeds.

Be sure to plant fragrant dill on your site! Planting and grooming outdoors does not take much time and effort. But as a result, you will get not only tasty, but also very healthy spicy herbs, and the seeds are perfect for use in pickling and salting vegetables, in addition, they have medicinal properties.

Thanks to its spicy aroma, dill has become a regular regular in any garden. However, despite the general unpretentiousness, planting a culture often ends in failure. What is the reason for this phenomenon, and what you need to know in order to properly grow dill on your site in spring, summer and autumn?

Features of growing dill

The ideal temperature for the growth of dill is + 15- + 20 C. Due to this property, it is better to grow a plant to obtain fragrant leaves in spring and autumn. In summer, however, they are usually planted exclusively to obtain umbrellas.

Gardeners who want to harvest spicy greens in the summer should take into account one caveat. When daylight hours lasts 10-14 hours, dill actively forms new leaves, and as soon as the day begins to last 15 hours, the culture instantly releases a peduncle. Therefore, in late spring and early summer, early varieties that ripen quickly are undesirable to plant.

Before winter, dill is sown when the soil is not frozen yet. For sowing, rows are made with a depth of 3.5 cm in the garden bed. To achieve good germination, the seeding rate of planting material is increased by 25%.

When to plant dill: planting dates

The optimal planting time depends on the purpose for which the fragrant greens are grown. So, in spring and autumn, dill is planted to get greenery, and in summer - umbrellas.

Dill planting dates for each season are as follows:

• In the spring planting the plant is carried out immediately after the temperature rises to + 2- + 5 C, and the soil at the selected place has finally thawed. Depending on the geographic location of the region, planting dates vary from mid-March to mid-May.
• Summer you can plant greens at any time. To constantly have fresh greens, the plant is planted 3-4 times every 15-20 days.
• In autumn the crop is sown in October-November. Before winter, a plant is sown in order to speed up the appearance of leaves in spring: the first harvest of winter dill can be harvested 2 weeks earlier than spring dill.

Video: planting dill for the winter

How to plant dill in open ground: preparation and planting

Even novice gardeners who recently acquired their own plot know that before planting dill seeds in the ground, you need to study the features and requirements of a cultivated plant. What is worth knowing?

Video: sowing dill in open ground

How to choose a place for planting and prepare a garden bed

For planting dill, it is better to choose a sunny bed or a bed in partial shade. Plant a crop not in the shade: due to the lack of sunlight, the bushes grow thin and lose their original color. Since aromatic greenery prefers to grow on loose soils and does not tolerate waterlogging poorly, sow a crop in places where it is often stagnant water or wherever they approach the surface groundwater is not allowed.

The plant prefers to grow on neutral soils... Dill growing in acidic soil turns red, and in alkaline soil it turns yellow.In both cases, the plant develops slowly, resulting in delayed harvest of spicy greens.

Better neighbors and predecessors for dill are cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage and other vegetables, under which a lot of fertilizers were applied. To prevent plants from competing with each other for nutrients and moisture, greens and vegetables should be placed at a short distance from each other. The only plants incompatible with dill are celery and carrots.

What soil is needed and how to prepare it

Dill loves to grow in loose, nutrient-rich soils. The soil for planting a spicy culture is prepared in the fall: rotted manure or compost is introduced, and then the site is carefully dug up. Substance consumption per 1 sq. area - 5-6 kg. If there is no organic matter, the bed is fertilized with purchased mineral mixtures such as "Kemira Universal", "Solution".

Important! Heavy soil is not suitable for planting a plant: due to poor air permeability, dill is sick and grows slowly.

How to prepare seeds

Due to the content of essential oils, dill seeds have a low germination rate. To improve this indicator, the planting material is poured into a container, filled with warm water (50 degrees) for two days. As it cools, the water is changed every 8 hours.

After two days, the seeds are removed from the water, laid out on gauze and covered with a damp cloth. The bookmark is placed on a plate and left at room temperature for 4 days. As soon as the seeds sprout, the planting material is slightly dried.

If dill seeds are not properly prepared, the first seedlings will appear in 2-3 weeks. Planting material that has been soaked emerges 4-6 days after laying. Moreover, such treatment disinfects the planting material from diseases characteristic of the culture.

Direct landing

Planting dill with seeds in open ground is as follows:

1. In the prepared place, rows are made with a wooden peg or plank with a depth of 2 cm at a distance of 20 cm from each other.
2. Then the depressions are moderately watered and the seeds are sown according to the seasonal seeding rate, which is 1 g / m2 in spring and 2 g / m2 in autumn.
3. The sown rows are covered with dry soil. When dill is sown before winter, the rows are not watered before sowing.

Besides the usual private schemes, used for planting dill carpet scheme. To decorate the site with a lush green blanket, the planting material is evenly scattered over the surface and covered with a rake. The planting site is watered abundantly.

By the way! Dill can be successful grow all year round at home on the windowsill.

Video: how and when to sow dill

How to care for dill after planting

In order for the plant to sprout and please with a generous harvest, dill must be provided with comfortable conditions. What manipulations does the care of fragrant bushes consist of?

Watering

Dill is a moisture-loving plant, so the soil in the garden must be kept moist at all times. However, it is not worth watering the greens too often and abundantly: being in swampy soil, the plants grow slowly and get sick. Moreover, due to excess water, the concentration of oils contained in greens is greatly reduced, which makes them less aromatic.

The plant also cannot grow for a long time in drought: development stops, the leaves become stiff and stretch with nitrates. To create a comfortable environment, the plantings are watered 1-2 times a week. On the hottest days, dill is irrigated by sprinkling.

Top dressing

Fertilizers are not applied for dill varieties with a short ripening period, since the greens are quite enough nutrients that were introduced during the preparation of the garden. If the bushes grow slowly, at the age of 2-3 true leaves they are fed urea or nitrophobic, based on the calculation of 10-15 g per sq.m. beds.

Mid-ripening and late-ripening species of dill are fed twice. First once under the plants that have formed 2-3 leaves, make nitrophosphate, urea in the same amount as for early species. Second once the plants are fed 20-25 days after the first feeding: by 3-4 sq.m. area contribute 15 g potassium salt, 20 g urea... Fertilizers are applied directly under the root, trying not to get on the leaves. After feeding, dill is watered abundantly.

Important! Nitrogen is introduced under the plant only in case of urgent need, since the leaves of the plant are capable of accumulating nitrates.

Weeding and loosening

In order for the nutrients to get into the greens, and not wasted on the growth of weeds, as soon as the need arises, the dill garden must be weeded. In addition, weeds compact the soil and retain water in it, which adversely affects the development of the plant. Since fragrant greenery prefers to grow on air-permeable soils, the rows are loosened after watering or rain. The first loosening is carried out to a depth of 5-7 cm shortly after germination. In the future, the earth is loosened to a depth of 8-12 cm. If the seedlings have sprouted very densely, they are thinned out.

Shelter in the heat

Like most greens, dill doesn't really like the heat. Due to high temperatures, the soil quickly dries up, and the plant stops growing, the leaves become lethargic. So that the greens do not lose their structure and organoleptic qualities, a small canopy is installed over the garden.

Dill pests and diseases

The most popular diseases are false mealy dew and phimosis... The first disease manifests itself on the leaves with a white bloom, the second - with black spots on the stem and leaves. Excessive watering makes dill sick root rot, bacteriosis, curly and curly leaves.

Since dill cannot be treated with chemicals, it is better to take care of prevention in advance. To protect the plantings from infection with fungal diseases, it is recommended to disinfect the seeds, observe crop rotation, monitor the cleanliness of the beds, periodically removing weeds and diseased plants.

If the plants nevertheless become infected with the fungus, the plantings are sprayed with biological products Fitosporin, Trichodermin, Mikosan-V. Since these products are made up of beneficial bacteria, the sprayed greens can be used for cooking as soon as a couple of days after processing. How to process greens and after how long it can be consumed is indicated on the back of the drug packaging.

As for insects and pests, dill is most susceptible to attack. aphids, umbrella and earthen beetles. As soon as aphids have been seen on the plants, the plants are watered abundantly, directing a stream of water to the affected areas (for example, with manganese) or dusting them with ash or powdered sugar. The bushes and the soil around them are cultivated from flea beetles.Fitosporin ".

When to harvest and how to store

Dill can be harvested 30-40 days after germination. The most useful greens are bushes, the height of which is 5 cm. Depending on the needs and preferences, gardeners collect greens, cutting off only individual leaves or the entire stem.

Harvesting the spice after the beginning of flowering is undesirable, since the leaves by this time become tough and not tasty. Leaving the plant in the garden after throwing out the arrow is advisable only if you plan to harvest canned vegetables for the winter.

As for the time of day, it is better to harvest dill in the early morning, after the plant has dried from the dew. Harvesting spice during the day is not recommended: under the influence of hot sunlight, delicate leaves fade.

Greens are folded in bags or containers and placed in the refrigerator. In this form, dill is stored for a week. To prepare fragrant leaves for the winter, they are dried or frozen. After the sun has dried the pre-washed greens, they are placed in jars or bags and stored in a dark place.

Planting dill in open ground is one of the simplest garden manipulations. If you fulfill all the requirements of the culture, the plant will quickly rise and give an excellent harvest. And if you also prepare greens for the winter, you can enjoy the unsurpassed aroma of dill all year round.

Video: the secrets of growing dill

Dill can be found in any garden. A spicy fragrant herb with a lot of useful properties can grow by self-sowing on the plantation, like a weed. But most often the gardener chooses varieties and hybrids, determines the place of sowing the culture. Planting and caring for dill in the open field has its own peculiarities. To get a lot of fragrant greenery, you should know the agricultural technology of the plant.

How to grow dill outdoors

Any plant is only a decoration for the garden if it develops healthy and well. It depends on the type of soil, the nature of watering and feeding the dill. Based on knowledge about the culture, a sowing site is selected.

So, for dill you need:

• neutral light soil;
• sunny or slightly shaded sowing site;
• deep arable layer;
• moderate watering without stagnant water;
• timely balanced feeding.

At the same time, dill develops poorly and turns red on acidic soil and turns yellow on alkaline soil. For the health of dill, it is necessary to have a good humus layer of the soil. Top dressing with organic and mineral fertilizers when growing dill in the open field will help you get a lot of vitamin greens.

Sowing dates and soil preparation

Sowing dill seeds for greens and seeds can be winter and early spring. To get greens and umbrellas for pickling, you can sow seeds throughout the season until mid-August. In the future, a cold-resistant culture, falling under short frosts, does not die, but loses the decorativeness of the foliage, it becomes red and dry.

Do not place dill on the soil after liming and adding dolomite flour. When sowing seeds, it is impossible to sprinkle the bed with ash against pests when sowing seeds. The acidic swampy soil is detrimental to dill.

Dill soil is prepared in a place open to the sun with deep digging. At the same time, a bucket of humus or compost, two tablespoons of superphosphate and a spoonful of potassium sulfate should be added to each square of the earth. Ash for sowing is not applied. With a high standing groundwater, the bed is raised higher. Any plant other than celery can be a precursor to dill.

Seeds germinate at a soil temperature of 5-7 degrees, while withstanding a short drop in temperature. Preliminary preparation of seeds for fast sprouting consists in the destruction of the casing layer. How to plant dill with seeds in open ground depends on the season. So, podzimny sowing is done with seeds without preliminary processing. Do not accelerate seedlings when sowing early. In this case, the biological calendar of the plant, laid down by nature, prompts the optimal time for germination.

If sowing is carried out later, when return frosts are impossible, seedlings can be obtained earlier. For this, the seeds are pre-germinated for 4 days. In a warm place in a linen cloth, the seeds will sprout, and seedlings will appear in a week. You can pre-hold the seed in growth stimulants, ash extraction. When soaking the seeds, water is changed 2 times a day.

If you grow dill seedlings, then the development of plants will accelerate. Seedlings are planted in the evening and shaded for several days. The plant survival rate is good.

Sowing must be carried out to a depth of 2 cm along the grooves previously spilled with a hot solution of potassium permanganate. The distance between the seeds is 5 cm, between the grooves is 20. You can plant dill with seeds in open ground as a compacting crop among other vegetables, leaving enough room for its development. To obtain greens throughout the season, sowing of dill is done in two weeks.Another way would be to use varieties of different ripening periods, sowing bush two-year hybrids.

Growing dill outdoors

In order for dill to develop well, it needs nitrogen fertilizers. But spicy greens accumulate nitrate compounds, which makes them less healthy. Therefore, it will be best to feed the plant with nettle infusion fermented for five days. This is a good nitrogen supplement and aphids do not tolerate it. You can immediately protect the plant and feed it. You cannot use insecticides on dill.

To scare away and remove aphid colonies on a vegetable garden, you can use spraying with a solution of alcoholic liquid. If you use 2 tablespoons of Troy per 10 liters of water, spraying will drive the pest away. Alcohol should only be unrefined ethyl, with fusel odor or odorant. Aphids will fall, it needs to be covered with earth.

Another way to prevent the main pest of dill greens is to sow several bushes of thyme, the smell of which will scare away aphids. In addition, you can use liquid fertilizing with organic fertilizers, saltpeter. But it should be borne in mind that fungal diseases, rot, develop on damp, nitrogen-saturated soils. It is necessary to maintain a balance, do not overfeed, do not flood the plant, after each watering, loosen the soil, delivering oxygen to the lower layers.

How to grow dill in the open field if there are changes in the color of the openwork foliage. If the twigs become yellow, you need to feed the plant with saltpeter, watering at the root. Red lower leaves signal phosphorus deficiency. The bush wilted, despite watering, you need to remove the diseased plant and determine the cause. Often this is due to root rot with improper care. It is no longer possible to save such a plant; measures must be taken so that the infection does not spread to neighboring bushes.

Useful properties of dill

You can use greens as they grow. The herb acquires the greatest aroma during the formation of the inflorescence, before its disclosure. At this time, fragrant greens are harvested for winter use. The substances contained in this spicy greens have a beneficial effect on the body in small quantities.

In addition to cooking, where dill is indispensable, it is used for medicinal purposes:

• reduces blood pressure in hypertensive patients;
• improves the digestive tract;
• has an analgesic effect;
• improves the functioning of the genitourinary system;
• improves lactation.

Dill oil and seeds are used with special properties in use as medicines. However, you can not abuse fresh herbs, you can lead your body to a reduced tone and drowsiness.

The result of planting dill before winter - video

The plant is quite unpretentious. There are even such happy gardeners on whose plots dill grows on its own, without human intervention. Seeds fall to the soil in the fall, and germinate again in the spring.

But, until such a result is achieved, it is worth listening to some recommendations for planting and leaving dill.

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How to grow dill outdoors?

Neighborhood with other cultures

Separately, it should be noted that there are no obvious conflicts with other plants. Therefore, dill is combined with cucumbers, cabbage, zucchini, tomatoes and other vegetables.

It is not recommended only to plant dill on the site of last year's celery garden.

But, of course, the planting must be planned without harming the main plants. That is, greens should not grow in the immediate vicinity of the vegetable stalk, so as not to take away moisture and nutrients from it.

Optimal conditions

Seed germination occurs at about 3-5 degrees. However, conditions around 16-18 degrees are optimal.The plant can grow in shaded areas, but it is better to plant in lighted beds.

Greens are formed when the daylight hours are about 10-12 hours, but for the formation of seeds it takes 15 hours of daylight.

Soil for planting dill

For a good harvest, the soil must be moist, otherwise the plant will wilt, and the leaves will become dry and tough. This indicator for soil is at the level of 75-80%, for air - 60-70%.

Fertilize the soil before planting. In this case, the soil should be slightly acidic, and ideally neutral. Here are the feeding rates:

• organic fertilizers per 1 sq. m - 3-4 kg of manure or 5 kg of compost,
• mineral fertilizers per 1 sq. m - 150 g of potassium salt and 200 g of superphosphate.

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Planting dill

Sowing seeds can be done in April-May, depending on the climate. At the same time, work can be started on average in April-May, that is, when the soil is ready.

Before planting, you can pre-prepare the seeds in order to reduce the time it takes for them to germinate. You can keep them for 2 days in an ash solution. Or place gauze bags with seeds in water (40-50 degrees) for 3-4 days. In the latter case, the water must be drained about 4-5 times, then the seeds must be dried.

Seeds are planted 2 cm deep into the ground. Moreover, for 1 sq. m of surface should account for about 1-2 g of seeds. With this method of planting, there will be 15-20 plants on the same area, the distance between them is 5-7 cm. You can arrange the dill in rows. But in this case, vacuum will be required after germination.

Dill care

Dill is an unpretentious plant. But if the goal is a large harvest of juicy and fragrant greens, then you need to take care of the crops.

• Water 1-2 times a week.
• Loosen the ground periodically.
• Eliminate weeds as they appear.
• Cut overly dense plantings.
• Spud rows of greenery several times.
• Harvesting and storage.

You can eat greens right away. However, it is better to collect dill for its further preparation and storage at the time of the formation of inflorescences. At this time, the plant reaches a height of about 30 cm.

The best time to harvest dill is in the early morning after the dew has melted. In the daytime, plants may wilt somewhat.

You can store dill in dried form (both herbs and seeds). To do this, the collected parts of the plants must be washed and dried in the shade. In this case, you often need to stir the dill. Then put it in cloth bags or glass jars and place in a dark place.

"Umbrellas" in winter are suspended in bunches.

Greens can also be kept in the fridge freezer. In this case, it is better to arrange the plants in layers. Then you do not have to pre-cut the dill, but simply break off the required amount.

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How to plant dill on a windowsill?

Growing technology is not too different from a similar process in the open field. Here are some tips for those looking to get fresh greens right at home all year round.

• In winter, additional lighting needs to be organized (plus 5-6 hours in the morning, evening).
• In the process of growth, fertilize with concentrated fertilizers.

Perhaps it is not so important to thoroughly follow all these instructions for planting, care and collection. The main thing is to treat any business with a soul. The more is done for the plant, the more yield it will bring. And it doesn't matter where the dill will grow - on the window of the house or in the garden bed. The main thing is that this plant is an excellent gift for your mood and health.