Even if the dill (Anethum graveolens) is not particularly difficult to care for, it does impose certain conditions on its location. These can sometimes be achieved more easily when grown in pots than outdoors.
How do you care for dill in a pot?
Dill in a pot requires loose soil, a drainage layer, sufficient watering and a tall plant pot for its deep roots. Growing in pots allows for more flexible site management and is suitable for small harvest quantities, e.g. B. for dill potatoes or salad dressings.
The right watering for dill
Dill generally doesn't like waterlogging, so in heavy soil it gets rotten roots relatively easily and as a result a certain brown coloring of the above-ground parts of the plant. This problem does not occur when grown in a pot with an appropriately loose soil substrate and a drainage layer or holes in the bottom of the pot. However, dill can only tolerate drought for a few days before it begins to wilt in summer. That's why you should water dill grown in a pot thoroughly every few days, depending on the weather. Make sure not to water the umbels overhead if possible, as this can promote the occurrence of diseases such as umbel blight on the dill blossom.
Choosing the ideal planter for the dill
Dill is usually relatively sensitive to transplant attempts, so if possible, it should be sown straight away in the final container for cultivation and harvesting. This planter should not be an ordinary balcony box, but rather a plant pot that is as tall as possible (€72.00 on Amazon). This gives the dill, which is a deep-rooting plant, enough space for its roots to develop.
Harvesting dill from the pot for use in the kitchen
Although dill can often be cared for more flexibly in terms of its light and location requirements when grown in a pot, growing in pots often produces less large harvests than growing outdoors. When growing in pots and outdoors, the dill seeds must be sown before the end of June if you want to harvest ripe dill seeds before winter. However, you can also use dill plants grown all year round to refine the following dishes with the dill tips:
- Dill potatoes
- Salad dressings
- Fish marinades
- Spice Butter
Tips & Tricks
Bought soil for growing dill in pots often offers better protection against diseases and pests than using your own substrates from the garden.
