Learning how to harvest dill seeds is both practical, frugal, and just plain rewarding! We grow dill every year for multiple reasons. First, we love to cook with it. Check out our favorite recipes involving dill here. Second, we love us some pickles in this household. Check out our Quick Pickle Recipe here.
In this post, we will show you exactly when and how to harvest dill seeds. As well as what to do with dill seeds after you’re done collecting them. Let’s dive in!
How to Harvest Dill Seeds
We have never had any luck with our dill self-seeding, but that isn’t to say you won’t. To guarantee that you have dill the following season, harvesting dill seeds now will pay dividends later.
When to Harvest Dill Seeds
In order for the dill plant to produce seeds of any value it must first bolt. What is bolting? Simply put, it is when the plant flowers. If you want to harvest dill seeds, make sure to allow a handful of your plants to flower.
Once the flowers fade, the dill seeds will start to form at the tips of the star-shaped flower stems. Allow the seeds to dry on the plant, but don’t leave dill seeds on the plant too long. They will eventually blow away. If you live somewhere windy like us? Immediately blow away!
What Do Dill Seeds Look Like Anyway?
Dill seeds are flat and oval-shaped. They are grayish-brown in color, with lighter colored stripes running the length of the seed. Those lighter colored stripes also run around the outer edge of the seeds.
How To Actually Harvest Dill Seeds
The most efficient way to harvest dill seeds is to clip the entire flower head from the plant. Place the flower head into a paper bag.
Please Note: You may want to clip it off over a container because the seeds can start to drop from the plant when it’s disturbed.
The fastest way to collect dill seeds is to shake the bag the flower heads are in. Some of the seeds will come off easily, while others will want to hold on. We find it a bit tedious to get every single dill seed off of the plant. So, let’s be real! We usually allow a few more plants to flower and accept our losses.
How to Store Your Harvested Dill Seeds
You can plant your dill seeds right away, or save them for planting next year. Just be sure to allow your dill seeds to dry out completely before storing them.
Once your seeds have completely dried out, store them! You can use any plastic container. We have used film canisters, small paper bags, seed packet envelopes, or any container that you have repurposed. Regardless, we suggest you label them to make the following season easier.
How to Prepare Dill Seeds for Gifting
If you want to share your dill seeds with friends, you can buy customized envelopes or make your own DIY seed envelopes. Ball also has some extremely cute 4oz spice jars that you can pair with round chalkboard labels for a very cute, rustic esthetic.
How to Store ALL of your Seeds
Consequently, it doesn’t matter what you use to store them as long as you label your seeds! Don’t be that gardener that thinks you will remember it all. Ultimately, we store our seeds in clear plastic containers or repurposed containers. However, if you’re more organized than we are, you will love a Seed Keeper! They are super cute, functional, and honestly out of our league right now, but they might be perfect for you.
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