It is very convenient to have a "green" bed on a windowsill or balcony. Practical housewives do just that, because dill is good both as a component of any salad and as a seasoning for hot dishes. In winter, fragrant greens will remind you of the warm summer and replenish the vitamin reserve.
Such a seemingly simple matter as planting dill on the windowsill also has its own nuances, without which the first experience can be unsuccessful. In this article, we will reveal all the subtleties and secrets of growing bright, lush and many beloved greenery.
Features of growing dill
Many people think that growing dill at home on a windowsill is very easy. All in all, I threw the seeds into the ground and it’s ready, water it from time to time and wait for the harvest. With this approach, instead of fragrant thickets of green dill, in the planting box, pitiful, yellow-green blades of grass on a thin long leg with rare herringbone leaves stick out. But if you apply basic knowledge of agricultural technology and responsibly approach the purchase of planting material, choose a suitable soil for planting and devote a part of your time to caring for plants, then the result will not take long.
Selection and preparation of seeds
To choose the right dill seeds for your home garden, you need to know the characteristics of the varieties.
- Early ripening varieties: Gribovsky, Richelieu and Grenadier. They are quite unpretentious, capable of producing a good harvest and are immune to some diseases. After a maximum of 45 days, you can cut it for greens. But they also have a significant disadvantage, they quickly stretch out and form color rosettes, and the leaves on the early varieties are much less than on the others.
- Long ripening varieties: Alligator, Salute, Amazon. A significant drawback is that the first cuts can be done only after 65-70 days. But if you have patience and wait, the reward will be strong bushes with fluffy foliage and an amazing aroma. Due to the fact that they grow long enough, new shoots are formed on the stem all the time.
- Some hobbyists are experimenting with southern dill varieties. They have a bright taste, very aromatic, but extremely finicky. In winter, it is almost impossible to grow them.
By their nature, dill seeds germinate for a very long time, because they contain a large amount of essential oils. Therefore, before planting, they must be soaked in warm water for 5-8 hours. High-quality seeds will sink to the bottom, and empty and non-emerging ones will float on the surface. After the specified time, drain the water and place the seed in a slightly pink solution of manganese at room temperature for 2-3 hours. This will help disinfect the seeds and prevent possible diseases.
What is needed for landing
The soil for planting must be fertile. You can buy it in the store, or you can cook it yourself in the autumn. To do this, you need to take soft garden soil and mix with purchased seedling soil, if possible, it is good to add a little wood ash.If only a purchased substrate is used, then vermicompost must be included in its composition, and the addition of coconut fiber will also be useful.
Balcony flower boxes are ideal as "beds"; in the absence of such, pots are also suitable. But in a small container, dill will be cramped and it will grow worse. Do not forget about the drainage and holes at the bottom of the planting container. Broken pieces of bricks or small pebbles are placed on the bottom of the pot so that excess moisture can escape during watering.
How to sow seedlings
Seeds pre-dried on a paper towel can be sown without indentations, sprinkled on top with a thin layer of dry earth. It is also possible to land in grooves with a depth of about 1-2 centimeters. Having previously moistened the soil, put the seeds on the bottom and sprinkle on top with peat or loose substrate.
Dill can be planted in any order, but the plants should not "crowd" on a small patch. To prevent this from happening, the seeds should not be sown with a pinch, but laid out one by one, hooked with a pre-moistened toothpick or match. Separately growing bushes are stronger and more branched. After sowing, sprinkle the top layer of earth from a spray bottle and close it on top with cling film, making a mini-greenhouse in the room.
Seed boxes are placed on the sunny side. As the soil dries up, the seedlings need careful watering. The favorable temperature for germinating seeds is 17-18 degrees. Until the dill emerges from the ground, lowering the temperature background is not desirable.
The first shoots will appear in a week. More friendly shoots will be in about 10-12 days.
How to care for dill sprouts
Sowing and waiting for the first greens is half the battle. The most difficult task is to preserve and grow a decent harvest, because small blades of grass are quite capricious and require constant attention.
After the appearance of green shoots, the film should be removed from the box. If dill is grown during a long daylight hours, then the care consists in timely watering, removing weeds, spraying and periodically turning the "bed" 180 degrees so that the sprouts do not lean towards the sun and grow evenly.
After cutting, dill does not grow back and so that there is always a fragrant seasoning on the table, it must be sown periodically.
Dill growing in winter is not much different from spring growing. Preparatory work and care for young shoots remain unchanged. But in cold weather there is very little sun, and without ultraviolet radiation, the plants will be weak, stunted and completely unappetizing. Therefore, they will need additional lighting. If the seedlings are on the window, then they can be illuminated only in the morning, by turning on a special lamp for 5-6 hours. If the containers with seedlings are located far from natural light, then the backlighting should be throughout the day, about 15 hours.
It is recommended occasionally, about 2 times a month, to feed with complex fertilizers, it will be good to water it with urea, preparing a solution according to the attached instructions. The right temperature for good growth of greenery is 17-19 degrees. But a non-critical downgrade won't do any harm either.
Dill grows at home at any time of the year. Between March and September, this may not cause any particular problems. And in winter and late autumn, such a business will be quite troublesome and will entail additional cash costs. Periodic fluorescent lighting will increase power consumption.
