Every year I grow dill and never seem to have enough fresh dill leaves to allow me to enjoy it all season.
Even when succession sowing, it seems to go from seedling to mature plant so quickly that there’s still never enough to enjoy through the summer.
I love it for potato salad made from just-dug potatoes. That’s one of the things I look forward to the most. Nothing takes the place of fresh dill and garden potatoes. (Dried dill just doesn’t do it for me.)
Through the years, I’ve grown several varieties but never can see much difference. (Maybe it’s just me? Let me know if you’ve had a different experience.)
While looking around the High Mowing Seeds website to place an order, the description for Greensleeves Dill sounded like the dill I’ve been searching for.
Here’s what they say:
“A compact, high yielding dill for leaf production. Slow to bolt; ideal for leaf production over a long harvest window. Excellent for market growers and planting in containers. Dark green leaves are aromatic and pleasingly sweet eaten fresh or dried. 15M seeds/oz. Slow to bolt
• Good container variety”
If you’ve had the same experience I’ve had with dill, I thought you might want to try the Greensleeves dill this year too. We’ll compare notes in mid season.
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I definitely will order and try this dill. I have been unsuccessful at producing enough dill for our family. I am very hopeful this will be an answer. Thank you
Thank you Theresa. Even though we are many miles apart I sometimes think you read my mind. I am sitting at the computer looking out my window at the mud puddles (lots of rain and snow) leading to the garden and dreaming about those first green shoots that appear come Springlike weather. Dill is one of them and although it is free growing and seeds itself, I have corralled it to a few areas where I want it. It seems to do well around the cucumbers…..and I feel it helps with the bad guys. I will give Greensleeves a try. The other plant I think about are the daffodils planted amongst the rocks with the herbs. Big smiles when they poke their little heads through the soil. Take care all my gardening friends, Spring will soon be here.
That potato salad looks delicious! I grew it last year but never used it. I wanted to grow it to see if I’d like it fresh vs. the store. I did but never got a recipe together. Glad to have one now!
Question: I never had any problem raising dill until about 3 yrs ago. Haven’t had a successful crop since. When do you start sowing? I’ve been told it doesn’t do well in the heat so sow early – any suggestions. I live in the Northern Neck of VA.
Funny how we are all on the same page. I just came in from sifting my compost. I have to clear out the pile as a new batch will be starting up just as soon as the leaves start to drop. I’m in Florida and my garden is the best I have had so far. Now that I have said that, one freezing night will take it all out, hoping for a mild winter. So, I have had my High Mowing seed catalog on my desk now for a few days and I have been preparing my next order. I have the same problem with dill, it comes up and bolts very quickly. I thought it was because I had it with other herbs in a concrete planter, now I’ll try some in the garden. I would love to know more about planting potatoes, something I have never grown. I’ll look for past posts on potatoes on the site and any tips would be appreciated.
Thanks for the tip on dill!
Bonnie
Mary, some years various plants don’t do well merely because of different variables — be they seen or unseen. But it might be helpful to think back and determine if you’re doing anything different to cause conditions that dill might not like.
I’ll sow dill whenever it’s warm enough. It likes 60 to 70 degrees. Sometimes I start in April; sometimes May.
It has a tap root so it likes soil it can work it’s way into. Doesn’t need a lot of water – just some. If soil has been prepared prepared properly (one of the 3 keys) and the plants mulched (another key) it should be ok with hot weather.
I’m gonna start some in pots close to the house this year as well as in the garden. And most of the plants I’ll remove the flowers as they form to make the plant foliage last longer.
Toni, let me know how this variety does for you. Be sure to succession plant though — otherwise you still won’t have an extended season.
Also, deadheading the flowers that try to form will help keep the plant going as I’ve already mentioned.
Alice — I LOVE dill with cucumbers. Makes a lot of fresh garden veggies taste even better!
As far as reading your mind — I think all of us who love gardening think the same thoughts at almost the same time. 🙂
Patricia – dill is very high in health benefits from it’s nutrients. AND as mentioned previously – it’s good with almost any veggie. You don’t really need a recipe.
Try it chopped on baked potatoes, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, etc. Put it in potatoes cakes. (Flour, oil or butter, chopped fresh dill, mashed or leftover potatoes, and milk (or a substitute) — blend into soft dough; form cakes bake 20 to 25 minutes. DELICIOUS!
Bonnie, I was so glad to hear that your garden is the best yet!
Potatoes are so easy. I’ve done quite a few posts so you should find what you need. If not, feel free to email me.
Theresa
Hi Theresa, I have your site bookmarked and I love perusing your archives. My organic garden has been almost no-till for the last couple of years. There are areas that I still do turn occasionally by hand for one reason or another. Mainly to kill off cover crops that are hard to kill.
That’s neither here nor there. Anyway, last Summer I was cleaning up my Spring pea bed in preparation for the next crop. One end of this bed, it had not been tilled and also nothing had been deliberately planted there since the previous year. A couple snow-on-the-mountain self sowed there along with radishes so I just let them be, because they draw good beneficials and they are pretty. But when I was cleaning up my old pea vines, suddenly a bunch of wasps jumped up from the soil. I sprang up just as one stung me on the hand right through my little polyester garden glove.
Obviously I had disturbed a nest. I ran out of the garden fortunately with only the one sting, but oh what a job that one sting did to me. I had to go to the hospital. It was quite a time.
If you don’t till an area, do you find that ground-dwelling wasps make their homes there? Or do you do anything else to deter them?
Thanks,
Jen
Sounds like a horrible ordeal Jen. Glad you’re ok.
I’ve never had yellow jackets or bumble bees make their nest in my garden since I’ve been gardening. (38 years). And I’ve never tilled in all that time except when a bed was established.
My paper wasps are great garden visitors and usually make their hanging nest somewhere else. But not necessarily a desirable (for me) location. Last year they got between my storm window and the regular window in the upstairs bathroom. Didn’t like dealing with that at all.
Over the years I’ve seen bees with ground nests twice on our property, but not in the garden. The ground was just regular hard sod.
I’m always aware that they could make a nest somewhere in the garden. Because of that I try to visit all parts of the garden every once in a while and “disturb” things to see what’s going on.
Regarding cover crops: I usually plan my strategy so that I never have to kill off cover crops. They are either killed by winter cold or they rot in the ground after they’re finished.
One more note: I love snow on the mountain. It’s a gorgeous plant. My grandmother grew it and sent me seeds years ago and I always had it in abundance until the last decade.
Theresa
Well, I’d be delighted to send you some seeds next Fall! I never bother to save the seeds usually, just let them fall where they may and weed out the ones I don’t want in Spring. Let me know if you’d like some and I’ll write a note for myself in my garden journal.
Wasps between the inner and outer windows couldn’t have been any fun at all, yikes. Thank you for your kind words. I’ll try to mess with every corner of the garden this Spring. And I’ll dig through your archives for more cover crops tips.
Thanks so much for your reply,
Jen
Jen, here’s a cover crop strategy post that you might want to start with: https://tendingmygarden.com/winter-rye-as-a-cover-crop-2-strategies/
And I’d love to have some snow on the mountain seed if you can think to save it. Sometimes that can be a nuisance, so I’ll understand if you don’t do it. Thanks for even thinking about it.
Theresa
I had mammoth dill on my list to order,thinking I would have plenty…Oh well. I guess I’ll try Greensleeves & hope for the best.
I’ll let you know how it does for me. I never have enough dill. Having plenty would be a miracle!
Thanks,
Betty Dotson
P.S. Your potato salad with dill is SO GOOD! I’m craving it now!
I’m craving it too Betty! The dill just makes it!
To have a continual supply we have to succession plant about every 2 weeks. Otherwise, most varieties bolt and are gone too quickly. I’m anxious to see how Greensleeves will do HOWEVER we still need to succession plant! 🙂
Theresa