Hello all,

I want to grow a lot of dill this season and I am looking for books or resources that go into great detail about all the nuances of growing the herb. I live in Colorado south of Denver (Zone 5A) and I want to know when I can plant it, etc. I also would love the opportunity to create pickles so perhaps, if someone knew of a book that covered growing the herb and then using it for this culinary purpose would be ideal.

Also, can I start inside now in cow pots that I can plant directly out in late spring so not to disturb the roots, etc?

I thank you all very kindly for all your help. Oh, yes, if there is a vintage book that someone knows of, that would be the best.

Thank you again,
Benny

Benny, dill loves cool weather, so I'd get those seeds started asap if you can. The plants will bolt to seed when the weather gets hot, but . . . well the seed heads are the part you use for making pickles. So use or freeze some of the delicious greens, but let some plants make seeds too! I used to make "dill mayonaise" by adding fresh snipped dill to a jar of plain mayo. Tastes fabulous and lasts through the summer. A piece of salmon broiled with that on the top is to die for.

You can start more seeds in August and try for a fall crop of greens, too. An early frost might zap the plants but I did ok with them about half the time. Love fresh dill!

As far as books, and especially vintage books - hey, you're asking a bunch of computer gardeners here, man! I moved to FL from Utah in 2002 and gave all my gardening books for that area to my gardening friends there. They would have been great books for you to use for Colorado, both are 'high desert' sort of gardening and similar zones. Too bad I can't remember which ones they were! It's a completely different ball game gardening here.

Recommend you browse the gardening section of your local library. Then if you come across one that has the info you need, look on Amazon for it. Your County Extension service will have some great resources for you too, I'd imagine.

Hi there Elaine,

Thank you so kindly for your thoughts on this! I love your idea for dill mayo. Yum!

With dill loving cool weather, will they take frost? Should I actually plant in the ground now or just do my starts inside and get them in the ground after last frost?

I am going to contact the library for good books and even send an email to the Library of Congress. I just love books -- the feel, the smell and all the physical aspects. My Jekyll first editions are my pride and joy. :)

Thank you again so kindly!
Benny

I'd start the seeds indoors, Benny to get them going so that they're a decent size before you put them outside. Good size transplants will tolerate light frost if they've been hardened off and given a chance to establish before the cold hits. But seedlings would probably not survive. Dill seedlings are very delicate and take a while before they're of a size to handle without damage. If you have a cool, bright windowsill you can keep them going nicely for a month or so. (it will take the seeds maybe a week to germinate). Or you could check your local Home Depot or Lowe's store for starts some time next month.

Knowing that high desert weather, you can have frost and even light snow right into May, right? If you created a little area you could cover with a light blanket or frost cloth, I'd think you could get your transplants out towards the end of March, but you'd need to give them some protection if a late cold snap comes along. Even cardboard boxes inverted over the plants will protect for a night or two.

I had good luck with growing dill last year. I just tilled up a spot a 4x10ft area and broadcast the seeds and work the seeds in lightly with a rake and watered them in. Didn't take long for them to start growing. I took the seed heads before going to seed and the ferns and froze them in gal freezer bags. Fresh dill all winter. I also dehydrated a bunch and ground it up to dill poweder. You can let the plants go to seeds and let the seeds fall to the ground. They will reseed themselves and come up next year. Good luck. Roy

Hi
There is set of books put out by Sunset magazine in California. The have books on all different gardening questions and some of their books go back into the 1950 , maybe earlier. I found these books very helpful when I first started gardening many moons a go. There was also a set put out by H. P, not the computer guys, the gardening guys...they wrote a fantastic book on citrus if you can find it, it might not be vintage, but it was from the 1980's. Check your local thrift store..they are always full of old gardening books

Found this on Amazon
Sunset Western Garden books.
Complete instructions for growing over 190 vegetables, herbs, berries, fruits, nuts, and tropical fruits in the ground and in containers. Plans and design ideas for kitchen gardens of all sizes, as well as easy-to-follow guidelines for composting, building raised beds, and more. Growing season details for all regions of the West, including Alaska and Hawaii. Timely tips from edibles experts around the West-British Columbia to New Mexico. More than 300 pages of color photographs, practical advice, and inspiration from the editors of Sunset magazine, the West's authority on gardening.
Good luck
Sequoia

First, I want to thank you all for all the great replies on my question. I sincerely appreciate the help.

@Elaine, the last couple winters, we have received several inches of snow in May causing havoc on new growth, etc. so I typically get stuff out nearer to Memorial Day. As per your advice, I planted up some Dill this afternoon and placed the cow pots in other pots and put them in the window sill. I am excited!

@Roy, thank you kindly. I love your idea as well and now thinking of a spot where I can do this as well. I want A LOT of dill so even with starts inside and trying this method, I can't have too much. I am also happy they self seed for they can come back as often as they like. Thank you!

@Sequoia, I love the Sunset books and I am going to check out their offerings. Thank you!

I thank you all again so much for all the help. I will keep you posted on my progress.

In my area (Southcentral PA, Zone 6b), dill grows like a weed and it comes back...reseeds itself as an annual. You might want to try simply casting some seeds on prepared ground once the weather warms up a bit and see what happens. I've found dill to be a very easy, persistent annual herb that requires no real work at all. It sometimes comes up where I don't want it and then I simply transplant the seedlings when they're a couple inches tall. Often the simplest method is the best.

I suspect Benny's problem with the 'just seed' method will be his high desert climate. There is very little nice, cool, moist spring weather there. It alternates from winter to summer and back again from about March well into June. I just returned from visiting my kids in Salt Lake (similar climate) and it was already doing that alternating days thing! They've had almost no snow or winter weather, but it goes from 25deg. at night to 55 or 60 for a high and the humidity is less than 10%.

I grew dill in my garden for the 20+ years we lived in Salt Lake City. It grew well in the spring but bolted very quickly in late May to June. I always had to start it indoors because the weather outside was either too cold or too hot, and everything dried out SO quickly because the humidity is terribly low. That's also probably why I never had it re-seed for me. Either that or some bird had a taste for the seeds . .. Larger seeds like beans that you could bury deeper did ok, but not small surface seed.

Reartinetiller said:I had good luck with growing dill last year. I just tilled up a spot a 4x10ft area and broadcast the seeds and work the seeds in lightly with a rake and watered them in. Didn't take long for them to start growing. I took the seed heads before going to seed and the ferns and froze them in gal freezer bags. Fresh dill all winter. I also dehydrated a bunch and ground it up to dill poweder. You can let the plants go to seeds and let the seeds fall to the ground. They will reseed themselves and come up next year. Good luck. Roy

Welcome to ATP Roy!

Just for information sake If you are planning a large patch of dill you may have some swallowtail caterpillars looking for a free lunch. They do not eat too much and become something beautiful.



this is a grown one, the tiny ones are much blacker and look like they have spikes.


Good luck with your dill.