Harvesting Dill

[Cassandra]

I have a little bush of dill that I planted from a store-bought pot several weeks ago (maybe two months at most.)

It is beginning to flower already! I just read that once they start to flower, the flavor goes south.

What should I do? Just pick it all now and dry it or something? (I love dried dill) Would cutting the flowers off help any?

No one even has many cucumbers yet.

Cassandra

 

[Tutter]

Because dill will bolt/go to seed in warm weather, it's best to plant a little every couple of weeks, then just use each plant until it insists on going to seed.

I've never been in your situation because of that, but you can try pruning it and see what happens; you've little to lose.

Meanwhile, you could get a pack of seeds, and begin putting some out every couple of weeks.

As they grow, take some for use, and then, before it tries to go to seed, you can take it in and dry it, having a better product than storebought dried dill.

Also, if you'd like dill seed, you can let it go to seed, while the new plants are growing, but you might want to make a little cover for the seeds, so that they don't go everywhere; unless you'd like a patch of dill, of course.

Then, by the time the vegetables are ready, one of the batches you'd planted every couple of weeks should be ready also, giving you fresh dill to go with your dried dill, and seeds. (I use dill seeds as part of my homemade corned beef spice mix.)

Also, perhaps you have friends, familys and/or co-workers who would like some fresh dill throughout the season? A lot of people like it with dishes such as salmon.

Good luck!

 

[Reinbeau]

I let my dill go to seed, the early crop drops seeds in time to mature when the cukes are ready. Be careful, only let a few come up, if you let them just drop you'll have dill everywhere - BTDT!

 

[aquarose]

My mom always stuck a dill flower in every jar of dill pickles she made, along with sprigs of the leaves. Her dill pickles tasted great!

 

[patandchickens]

I have never tried it with dill (sorry, I do not have dill-friendly tastebuds ) but my experience with other veggies/herbs has been that once the flower buds begin to develop, you really can't 'reset' the taste by lopping the flowers off. First, because it'll just start building new flowers asap, and second, because it just doesn't seem to repair the damage to the flavor of the thing.

If it were me I would harvest it all, tomorrow morning if not today, and dry or freeze it if it's still foodworthy.

And, having seen other peoples' gardens OVERRUN with dill, I will emphasize the foregoing advice to be verrry cautious in letting it self-seed

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Reinbeau]

Well, thing is, you want both the weed and the seeds for dill pickles. Dill grows so fast I have no problem letting it 'bolt', you'll have more in a few weeks. You can have it in all stages later on in the summer.

 

[Cassandra]

That's just perfect everyone. Exactly what I needed to know. So between now and the time I get home, I have to decide exactly how much I like dill. LOL

I have never tried it with dill (sorry, I do not have dill-friendly tastebuds ) but my experience with other veggies/herbs has been that once the flower buds begin to develop, you really can't 'reset' the taste by lopping the flowers off. First, because it'll just start building new flowers asap, and second, because it just doesn't seem to repair the damage to the flavor of the thing.

If it were me I would harvest it all, tomorrow morning if not today, and dry or freeze it if it's still foodworthy.

And, having seen other peoples' gardens OVERRUN with dill, I will emphasize the foregoing advice to be verrry cautious in letting it self-seed

Good luck,

Pat

Good grief, Pat! You like tarragon, but not dill?!

Are you a robot?

heheh

You know, I was just thinking, there's probably no reason I can't go ahead a "pickle" a few dill flower blossoms in anticipation of getting some cukes later, right?

Cassandra