A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Herbs Dill ?'s

This is the first year I have planted dill. I would like to dry the leaves to use in cooking. It has already "bloomed". Can I cut the heads off now before it goes to seed? Can they be dried and used also? Will the plants continue to grow more leaves that I can harvest and dry? How do I dry all this after harvesting? Sorry so many questions. I am fairly new at this and try something new each year. Thanks for any help.

I like to let it go to seed and save the seeds. They are very tasty in cucumber or potato salad. They keep well in a little jar once dry. You can also save the dill weed itself but let it dry completely before storing in closed containers or it will get moldy. Dill is very versatile and I like that it comes back yearly, even in the cold northeast!

Thanks for your reply mrw. I do like the taste of dill in various dishes. I usually buy it. This year I decided to grow my own.

I have some too. This is my first year for dill since it is aggressive. I have mine in a pot and plan to keep it that way. Thanks for the info on being able to use the seeds. I wasn't sure.

I dry leave in two different manners. One is to air dry. I use the little onion mess bags and put branches of the herb I want to dry into it and clip it to the dark side of my refrigerator. The outside that is. And when it is dry and crumbly I take it out and crumble it up and put it in old spice jars. It works great.

When I am in a hurry I lay it on paper towels one layer thick and then put it in the microwave on high (I have a cheapy microwave only 700 watts) for one or two minutes depending on the thickness of the leaves.

One Note. when drying sage in the microwave put a cup of water in with it. Otherwise it will catch on fire. Why I don't know but it does.