How to grow dill on a windowsill: a detailed guide

The article describes in detail how to grow dill on a windowsill: choosing a suitable variety, ensuring optimal conditions, planting and leaving rules.

How to grow dill on a windowsill: a brief history of the plant

Dill is the most widespread and popular spice; it can be added to almost any dish: fresh salads, meat or fish, soups and vegetable dishes, and even baked goods. In the summer, this issue is easily solved - you can grow greens in the garden. Even if you do not have a summer cottage, then in the summer you can buy fresh herbs at every corner. But what about winter? The quality of store-bought winter greens often does not meet our requirements, but this is not a reason to refuse fresh herbs. This is a reason to think about the fact that any spice can be grown in a flower pot or box at home, like a houseplant. In this case, fresh herbs will always be at hand, you can provide yourself with vitamins, and your kitchen with a "vegetable garden" on the windowsill will be even more comfortable than before.

How to grow dill on a windowsill: variety selection

How to grow dill on a windowsill: variety selection

Sometimes indoor conditions are completely unsuitable for growing a particular garden crop, but this does not apply to dill and other spices. It is quite unpretentious, so by providing the minimum comfortable conditions for growing dill on the windowsill in winter, you will be able to harvest regularly.

It is always worth starting by exploring the options and choosing the right variety. There are no special indoor and balcony varieties, as is the case with tomatoes or peppers, so you need to start from the ripening time. Whichever variety of dill you choose for growing on the windowsill, you can cut fresh greens in about a month and a half, the question is how the dill will behave further.

In any garden culture, early varieties, mid-season and late ones can be distinguished. Gardeners often prefer early varieties, but in the case of dill, one important detail must be taken into account: an early variety of dill on the windowsill will germinate faster and give you fresh greens, but it will also begin to bloom early and, accordingly, will finish the growing season faster. Late-ripening varieties of dill when grown on a windowsill will develop more slowly in winter, provide you with a lot of greenery and bloom very slowly, so those who practice growing dill at home on a windowsill prefer late varieties. Although, if it is possible to place not one, but several containers, then the best solution would be to plant different species, then you will definitely not be left without greens for a long time, as it will ripen gradually.

Based on the opinion of experienced gardeners, early ripe varieties of dill "Grenadier" and "Gribovsky" can be recommended for home cultivation, they feel most comfortable when grown on a windowsill in room conditions, do not cause trouble, do not get sick and grow well. The bright aroma and great taste also speak in favor of these particular varieties.
Of the late-ripening varieties of dill for growing on the windowsill of the house, one can single out such as “Alligator", "Amazon", "Salute", "Buyan", "Dill", "Kibray", "Russian size".All of them grow into lush bushes, growing new leaves from the leaf sinuses.

Of the mid-season varieties, Richelieu can be distinguished. This dill variety also grows well on windowsills. But most of the southern varieties, which are attractive for their special aroma, are not very suitable for indoor cultivation, as they are more capricious than those that we have already listed.

Regardless of the timing of ripening, the plants will need to provide the same conditions: moderate watering, periodic feeding and, most importantly, enough light, this is usually the most difficult task.

Dill at home on the windowsill: creating suitable conditions

Dill at home on the windowsill

Dill, like many other garden crops, needs a long daylight hours for full growth, at least 13-15 hours. In winter, dill on the windowsill must be provided with a sufficient amount of light; it will be very difficult, you need to think about additional lighting in advance. It is not enough to turn on the chandelier in the room, such light cannot replace daylight, so you need to either purchase a special phytolamp or use fluorescent lamps. The artificial light source should be located at a height of 50 cm from the plants. Most likely, you will place the dill on the windowsill, so that additional lighting will need to be turned on only in the morning and evening hours. If you decide to plant greens in the spring, then it will be quite possible to do without backlighting, since the day at this time is quite long and is gradually increasing.

The temperature in the room where the dill is grown on the windowsill also plays an important role. Ideally, it should be kept within +20 degrees. You cannot grow dill in a room with high humidity, as it will start to hurt there. Air humidity should not exceed 50%. But even in a too hot and dry room, the plants will also not be comfortable enough, you have to adjust the operation of heating devices and place a container of water next to the plantings to humidify the air.

Also, when growing dill on the windowsill of the house, make sure that they do not touch the window glass, in cold weather this can cause the death of dill (parsley, basil - any plant).

How to plant dill on a windowsill in winter?

In the case of dill, you do not need to grow seedlings followed by picking, so immediately pick up a constant container. Dill will grow for a long time, its root system grows well, so you need to choose the appropriate pot or box: large enough, deep, designed for a large amount of soil. Only in such conditions will the plant be able to develop well and constantly grow greenery. In a small and shallow container, the roots will soon become cramped, the plants will be weakened and frail, and will most likely wither over time. In addition to the size of the container, the main requirement will be the presence of drainage holes in it.

Next, we start preparing the soil. Of course, you can take the land from the garden or from the garden, but most likely, along with the land, you will bring home weed seeds, and if you are very unlucky, then also the larvae of pests. Therefore, the best option would be to purchase store-bought soil, but it is even recommended to disinfect it before sowing seeds.

The most important requirement for the soil is that it be sufficiently loose. To do this, you can add vermicompost, coconut fiber, peat or humus to the purchased soil. The main thing is to end up with a loose nutritious soil.
Before planting, calcine the soil in the oven or simply pour it with a manganese solution, this is a preventive measure that helps prevent the development of any diseases.

Lay drainage at the bottom of the container, for this you can use expanded clay, gravel, shells or small stones. Then fill in the soil and start preparing the seeds.

Growing dill on a windowsill from seeds

Dill seeds contain a large amount of essential oil, so they germinate for a very long time. Some manipulation can be done to speed up this process.

• If you have an aquarium compressor, soak the seeds in warm water for a day, place the compressor in the same container and allow air to pass through this water.
• Place the dill seeds on a cotton cloth, cover with it and cover with warm water. In this form, the seeds should be for two days, the water must be changed periodically.
• Soak dill seeds for 12 hours in a growth stimulator ("Epin", liquid vermicompost, aloe juice diluted with water).

Whichever method you choose, after soaking, spread the dill seeds for growing on a windowsill on a paper towel and dry, since only dry seeds need to be planted.

How to care for dill on a windowsill in winter

In order for the dill on the windowsill of the house to begin to grow actively, some rules must be observed. In the future, when you are completely comfortable with caring for dill, you can gradually plant the seeds so that new greens constantly grow.
Keep the temperature just below 20 degrees for the first couple of weeks. This will allow the sprouts to get a little stronger before they start to grow.

How often to water the dill on the windowsill?

Work out an optimal watering schedule for dill on the windowsill: the ground should not dry out, but it should not be excessively wet. Water only when the topsoil is dry. Greenery that grows indoors needs more liquid than when grown outdoors, so you can sometimes spray the plants.

With the onset of spring, watering can be increased, but do not forget to drain excess moisture from the pan to prevent root rot.

Despite the presence of additional lighting located from above, the greenery will still stretch towards the window. Therefore, do not forget to turn the dill container 180 degrees so that the plants grow evenly.

How to feed dill on the windowsill?

Be sure to fertilize once a month and a half, as the soil will quickly deplete. As a top dressing, you can use "Agrolife", liquid biohumus, complex dressings for decorative leafy indoor plants or nitrogen-containing fertilizers (in this case, the greens will grow faster).

Growing dill on a windowsill in winter: key findings

After reading the article, you were able to make sure that there is nothing difficult in growing dill on a windowsill at home. The most important thing is to provide the greenery with enough light, since without this the plants will stretch out in thin strings and wither. Observe the watering regime, apply fertilizers in a timely manner, maintain a comfortable temperature and humidity. If you have small children, then involve them in this venture; young curious gardeners will be extremely interested in the whole process. And besides dill, other spicy herbs can be planted on the windowsill in winter. Thanks to joint efforts, you will get an excellent harvest.

How to grow dill on a windowsill: video