By MEREDITH KIRTON

Some people only know dill as an insult, yet dill is nothing to hide.  In fact, it’s delicious, both as foliage and as a seed for flavouring.  It is a little difficult to grow, with a tendency in warmer climates to flower then seed prematurely and leave you bitter, less palatable leaves.

The trick is to only sow it from seeds directly into the soil, rather than transplant it from seedling, as the seeds seem to take better, and any transplant shock or stress will trigger it to bolt into bloom.  In summer, so your dill seeds in a partially protect area, as heat stress can also cause it to flower early.

It’s fast too, with a plant going from seed to maturity in about 8 weeks, so stagger your seed sowing by a few months so that you have successive crops of foliage germinating and handy for the kitchen.  Keep feeding with liquid fertiliser every 2-3 weeks, and pinch prune out any flowers as they appear, unless you are wanting the dill seeds.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS