Herbculinary herbStraightforward

Dill

Anethum graveolens

A tall feathery annual grown for both leaf and seed, direct-sown because it resents transplanting, and quick to run up to flower in hot weather. Its flowers are among the best hoverfly plants a vegetable garden can have, which makes letting some of it bolt a deliberate choice rather than a failure.

Position: Full sun
Water: moderate demand
Drainage: Free-draining
Grows to: 60–120 cm × 25–30 cm
Hardiness: H3
Harvest: June to September
Difficulty: Straightforward

Described view

A dill plant in flower showing flat yellow umbels above finely divided feathery foliage

August

Sow outdoors · In flower · Harvest

Dill’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

Activity	A	M	J	J	A	S
Sow outdoors	April.	May.	June.	July.	August.
In flower				July.	August.
Harvest			June.	July.	August.	September.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Sow outdoors
0–14 weeks after your last spring frost, every three or four weeks for a continuous leaf supply
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — sowing
Checked 2026-08-13
Sow direct. Dill has a taproot and bolts when transplanted.

What kind of herb this is

Herbs are a kitchen grouping rather than a botanical one, and the plants in it want opposite things. This is the one distinction that decides how to treat it.

Cool-season leafy herb

Growing regime

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — growing

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows fast in cool moist conditions and runs to flower in heat or drought. Sow little and often rather than trying to keep one sowing going through summer.

Treated the same way: chervil, coriander, parsley. The herb bed, split by regime

Indoors: A few weeks of picking only

Where the indoor assessment comes from

IndoorsSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — growing indoors
Checked 2026-08-13

Almost any herb will sit on a windowsill in July. This is about whether it is still there in March, which is the part a pot on a supermarket shelf does not tell you.

What happens when it flowers

On a herb this is rarely a problem and rarely nothing. It is the point at which the plant stops being what you grew it for — by a lot, a little, or not at all.

Ends leaf production

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — harvesting

Checked 2026-08-13

The seed is a crop too

Let it flower if you want dill seed, and sow again for leaves. Dill resents root disturbance, so successional sowing direct where it is to grow works far better than trying to hold a bolting plant back.

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — growing

Checked 2026-08-13

What it is worth to pollinators

Recorded only where the evidence is specific to this plant, because “good for bees” attached to everything means nothing attached to anything.

Nectar value: high
source
Sourced guidancemoderate confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Plants for pollinators — herbs
Checked 2026-08-13
In flower: June, July, August

Picking it and feeding bees are not the same plan

Dill grown for leaves is cut before it flowers, so a plant cannot serve both purposes at once. The usual answer is to let a few plants at the end of a row run up while you keep sowing the rest.

Conditions it needs

Light: Full sun
Direct sun: 5 hours a day or more
Frost: Half hardy
Hardiness rating: H3 (RHS)
Grows best at: 15–25 °C
Germinates at: 10–25 °C
Soil: Loam, Sandy, Peat-free compost
Soil pH: 6–7.5
Drainage: Free-draining
Water needs: moderate
Drought: moderate tolerance
Waterlogging: poor tolerance
Heat: moderate toleranceHorticultural consensusDepends on conditions
Wind and exposure: poor tolerance

Where these figures come from

LightSourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — position

Checked 2026-08-13

Direct sunHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Hardiness ratingSourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows best atHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Germinates atSourced guidancehigh confidence

OSU Extension Service — Oregon State University: Herb seed germination temperatures

Checked 2026-08-13

SoilHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Soil pHSourced guidancehigh confidence

University of Minnesota Extension — University of Minnesota: Growing herbs

Checked 2026-08-13

DrainageHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

HeatHorticultural consensusDepends on conditionsmoderate confidence

Applies when: The plant stands heat; the leaf crop does not, because heat brings flowering forward.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

Tall, hollow-stemmed and easily flattened by wind and heavy rain.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

Soil	Verdict	Why
Heavy clay	Works, with one condition	Dill will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Sandy	Prefers this soil	Sandy suits Dill as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Sandy soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting.
Chalky and alkaline	Grows well here	Dill grows perfectly well on chalky and alkaline without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Loam	Prefers this soil	Loam suits Dill as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Silty	Prefers this soil	Silty suits Dill as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acid	Works, with one condition	Dill will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rock	Prefers this soil	Shallow over rock suits Dill as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting.
Made ground and urban soil	Works, with one condition	Dill will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height: 60–120 cm
Mature spread: 25–30 cm
Rooting depth: 30 cm
Spacing: 20–25 cm apart

Where these figures come from

Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

A taproot; dill dislikes being moved.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

SpacingSourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — spacing

Checked 2026-08-13

Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume: 5–10 litres
Minimum depth: 25 cm

Where the container figures come from

Minimum volumeSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Herbs in containers
Checked 2026-08-13
Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

A deep pot in a sheltered spot; a tall dill plant in a small pot blows over.

Value to wildlife

Recorded only where the evidence names a resource and the months it is available. Most plants flower; that on its own is not what this section is about.

Nectar: A significant source
In flower: Jun, Jul, Aug

Where these figures come from

NectarSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Plants for pollinators — herbs
Checked 2026-08-13

What keeping this costs

Dill grown for leaves is cut before it flowers, so a plant cannot serve both purposes at once. The usual answer is to let a few plants at the end of a row run up while you keep sowing the rest.

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

Method	Suitability	What it needs
Open ground	Well suited source Sourced guidancehigh confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Dill Checked 2026-08-13	A sheltered position
Raised bed	Well suited source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13
Traditional dug bed	Well suited source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13
Container	Workable source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Herbs in containers Checked 2026-08-13	25 cm of depth; Shelter from wind
Polytunnel	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Herbs under protection Checked 2026-08-13
Hydroponics	Workable Sourced guidancelow confidence Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Hydroponic herbs Checked 2026-08-13
Greenhouse	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Herbs under protection Checked 2026-08-13
Windowsill	Marginal source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence Only as a young cut leaf crop; a mature dill plant is over a metre tall. No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

SowingSow 1 cm deep where the plants are to grow, and sow again every three or four weeks. Dill and fennel cross readily, so keep them apart if you intend to save seed.1 cm
SupportStake plants in an exposed position. Dill is tall, hollow-stemmed and flattens in summer storms.
HarvestingCut leaves from the top of the plant as needed. Leave a few plants to flower and set seed — both for the seed crop and for the hoverflies the flowers attract.
WateringKeep dill evenly moist. It bolts from any check — dryness, root disturbance or transplanting — and once it has run up to flower the leaf is finished. Sow it where it is to grow and water before it wilts rather than after.
FeedingNo feeding. Dill grown on rich ground makes soft growth that falls over and runs to seed sooner, and the flavour is better on poorer soil.
ProtectionDill is an annual killed by the first hard frost and is not overwintered outdoors. It will stand a light autumn frost and a September sowing under a cloche or in a cold greenhouse gives useful leaf into late autumn. Rather than trying to keep a plant, let one go to seed: dill self-sows readily and the seedlings that appear the following spring are usually stronger than anything raised deliberately.

Where this guidance comes from

SowingSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — sowing
Checked 2026-08-13
SupportHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
HarvestingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — harvesting
Checked 2026-08-13
WateringSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13
FeedingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13
ProtectionSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13

Is it worth putting under cover?

Whether it will grow there is on the methods table above. This is whether the space is well spent, which is a different question and usually the one being asked.

Structure	What protection is worth	What decides it
Greenhouse	Extends the season source GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file. GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ Checked 2026-08-13	Bolting and height. Dill bolts as fast as coriander and reaches a metre doing it.
Polytunnel	Extends the season source GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file. GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ Checked 2026-08-13	Bolting and height.

On a windowsill

A few weeks, then replace

source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

How long the crop is actually productive on an ordinary British windowsill without added light.

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

A supermarket pot or a sowing gives a few weeks of cutting and is then exhausted. That is what the crop is, not a failure to keep it alive. Height and bolting. Dill makes a metre outdoors and bolts fast in a warm room; indoors it is a cut-once crop.

Growing it without soil

Nearly anything can be grown in a soilless system by somebody with enough equipment. The useful question is whether it is worth it, in which technique, and what goes wrong.

Works with conditions

Succeeds when the conditions listed here are met and fails when they are not. The conditions are the answer, not a caveat.

Sourced guidancelow confidence

Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Hydroponic herbs

Checked 2026-08-13

Workable as a cut-young leaf crop. Grown on, it is too tall and too quick to flower for most indoor systems.

Techniques that suit it

Drip-fed mediumSolution is dripped into an inert medium around each plant. The most forgiving technique and the one that suits large, long-season, heavy crops.
Ebb and flowA bed of inert medium floods and drains on a timer. The medium holds moisture between floods, which makes it far more tolerant of interruption than NFT.

Horticultural consensusDepends on conditionsmoderate confidence

Applies when: A taproot, so a medium bed rather than a bare channel.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Root space: A taproot needing depth, and a plant that reaches over a metre if left to run.
Lighting: Needs supplementary light
pH band: 5.5–6.5

Where these figures come from

Root spaceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

LightingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

pH bandSourced guidancehigh confidence

Outside roughly this band, individual nutrients become unavailable even when they are present in the solution — which is why a crop can starve in a full reservoir.

Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Hydroponic solution management — pH

Checked 2026-08-13

What actually goes wrong

Bolting, and height. Dill runs up quickly in warm conditions and outgrows the headroom of most indoor systems before the leaf crop is worth much.
source
Sourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — sowing
Checked 2026-08-13

No nutrient recipes here

GrowingHQ records pH bands, which are measurable properties of nutrient availability, and deliberately records no EC or PPM targets and no mixing instructions. Published targets vary by cultivar, growth stage, water source and technique, and the figures that apply to your system are on the product you bought.

Harvesting

Time from sowing or planting: 6–10 weeks

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — timing

Checked 2026-08-13

When it is readyCut leaves from about eight weeks after sowing. For seed, let the umbels turn brown and cut the whole head before it shatters.
How to pick itSnip leafy stems; cut whole seed heads into a paper bag.
Keeping itLeaves freeze better than they dry. Seed dries and stores for years.

Where the harvest guidance comes from

When it is readyHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Dill — harvesting
Checked 2026-08-13
How to pick itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Keeping itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

What goes wrong

Problem	How often	Notes
Normal end of an annual's life	common source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13	Running up and going over is the whole of dill's year, not a fault in it.
Bolting	common source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13	In hot weather, and inevitable if transplanted.
Aphids	occasional source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13
Slugs and snails	occasional source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13	On seedlings.

Grown with, grown after, grown instead

Every relationship states its mechanism. A pairing nobody can explain is a pairing nobody has checked, and it does not go in.

Closely relatedCoriander
Both Apiaceae with taproots, both direct-sown, both quick to bolt, and both worth letting flower for the hoverflies. Their guidance is nearly interchangeable.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Plants of the World Online — Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Apiaceae
Checked 2026-08-13
Keep apartCarrot
Dill is an Apiaceae like carrot, and dill left to flower and seed near a carrot bed maintains the family in the ground that a rotation is trying to break. It is also reported to cross with related umbellifers where seed is saved.
Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionslow confidence
Applies when: A rotation and seed-saving consideration rather than a direct antagonism between the growing plants; the older claim that dill stunts carrots is not supported.
Royal Horticultural Society: Crop rotation
Checked 2026-08-13

Sources for this page

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board · OSU Extension Service · Purdue Extension · Royal Horticultural Society · University of Minnesota Extension

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-13.

If something is wrong with it

Plant running up to flower before it is ready to eat — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for dill

Something else? Work through it with the diagnostic tool.