Contents
Dill is a green, bushy, pleasant-smelling plant that is used in cooking and pharmacology. Different varieties of this plant have almost no strong differences in the method of planting and how dill is grown in open ground. Only the color saturation changes from pale green to deep green. Also, different types may differ in smell and taste. The difference between early and late varieties is only in the timing of the harvest, when the early variety is harvested 10 days earlier. Of the most popular varieties of dill that can be planted and grown on an open plot of land are Alligator, Kibray, Tetra, Bush, dill care is meticulous.
Seed preparation
To get lush green alligator dill already in late spring, you should prepare some seeds in advance before planting. They should be placed in a cloth bag and soaked in warm water at a temperature of +50 C. You need to change the water up to 5 times a day. This accelerates seed germination and seedlings will appear much earlier. We take the sawdust that has been steamed, pull it out of the water and plant it in sawdust and leave it for several days at a temperature of +20 C until it germinates completely and further planting them in the soil.
The next described soaking method for dill alligator is slightly different from the previous one and takes less time and preparation. You need to soak for two days in water. Before direct sowing of seeds, they are dried in a dark place.
Video “How to sow seeds”
Demonstrative video with examples.
Landing in open ground
Growing dill by sowing seeds begins in early spring and before winter. Throughout the summer, dill cultivation can be continued by planting alligator dill seeds to grow umbrellas for pickling. Dill grows until the first frosts, but when they come, the plant does not die completely, but simply the green foliage becomes unusable. This culture in self-care has a negative attitude towards the soil when it was previously limed or dolomite flour was added. Seeded dill is not sprinkled with ash and is not planted on acidic soils, it is detrimental to him.
Land for planting dill is selected in a sunny area with dug up soil. Per square meter of soil, half a bucket of humus and compost, about two tablespoons of superphosphate and one tablespoon of potassium sulfide should be added. Good predecessors of greens are all vegetables except celery. Germination of seeds in open ground begins when the air temperature reaches a temperature of 5-7 C. For winter sowing, the required amount of seeds is not processed or soaked, and this should not be done with spring crops.
The plant will sprout itself when the right moment comes, or it just needs to be planted a little earlier for seedlings. It is not excluded the method when you can sow dill for seedlings, the development of the plant occurs quickly. When planting seedlings in open ground in the spring, separate care for sun protection is required. You need to plant it in the evening, and create partial shade for the next couple of weeks, for good survival.
Growing dill involves two sowing methods: continuous or row, it should be borne in mind that continuous is more profitable. Per square meter of continuous sowing in spring, it is suggested to sow 15 g of previously treated seeds.
Growing dill by the line method has its own characteristics for sowing and caring for it. Before sowing, shallow grooves are made, and they are shed with a solution of potassium permanganate. When the soil is properly prepared, you can sow. It should be planted with seeds with a distance of 5 cm between plants, and for a row-spacing of sown dill 20 cm. This is done so that in the future bush greenery is not crowded. Also, dill can be grown between other crops planted in the spring, not forgetting the distance for good foliage development. Every 2 weeks, you can additionally plant a couple of rows of dill to get a crop throughout the season.
Proper soil preparation for sowing dill on open ground is the introduction of ammonium nitrate (200-300 kg / ha), superphosphate (100-150 kg / ha), as well as potassium chloride. More seeds are applied to light soils than heavy ones. Plant care requires watering 2-3 times a week. Having removed the first crop from the garden, you can still have time to sow 2 times to collect greens.
Cultivation and care
Cultivation is a necessary procedure in the proper care of a culture; such a process is carried out as needed. But top dressing for proper care and a good harvest should be carried out twice a month with ammonium nitrate. If the leaves begin to turn yellow, then the plant lacks nitrogen. In general, dill is a rather unpretentious plant for caring for it.
Watering should be done 2-3 times a week in the evenings and with warm water heated by the sun all day. Loosening the earth is very important in care. Timely cleaning of weeds is necessary, which can drown out the greenery. Hilling greenery is carried out several times during the growth period. Timely harvesting is also far from the last item for plant care.
Collection and storage
They begin to collect greens already 30-40 days after germination. Dill can be collected selectively or by a continuous method. Solid is a collection of all plants, selective leaves some of them in the garden. The most valuable young greenery, reaching 5 cm, if you do not collect it on time and let it grow, then you need to collect all the plants. Otherwise, inflorescences will begin to form, and the dill will lose its taste.
For pickling, umbrellas are used, which can appear only after flowering, so when harvesting, you can leave a couple of pieces of greenery and collect them in the fall along with the seeds. Dill can reach 1 meter in height. When harvesting, do not uproot plants or simply cut off green foliage.
Seed collection begins in the fall after the collection of umbrellas. Inflorescences are placed in paper bags upside down and cleaned in a dry, warm place for a week. Such seeds can be sown the following year.
Greens for storage are frozen or dried. To freeze, you need to separate the foliage from the stem and wash it well under running water. Spread out on a cloth or paper to dry from water. Then finely chop and place in a freezer container. Such greens, of necessity, are used even in winter.
The drying method involves drying the dill. Drying is carried out both in cut form and in bunches. The cut method is similar to freezing, only it is dried in the end. And drying in bunches involves tying several stalks of dill and drying them well.
Video “Practical recommendations”
Demonstrative video about planting dill with practical recommendations.
