Dill

[Grow 4 Food]

Since all you are really using is the heads, I freeze all mine. I keep a gallon bag in the freezer and just pull out what ever I need when I am ready to use it.

 

[digitS']

Let me urge all of you who are thinking of using dill with pickled cucumbers to NOT think that they will arrive in their useful forms in your gardens at the same time.

Staggering the plantings of dill works okay but the second planting won't result in as large of plants as the first. And, dill does seem to have the ability to continue flowering over a fairly long period of time.

However . . .

Just when the pickling cukes are ready to harvest, you are probably going to find ALL the dill sown earlier or at the same time as the cukes - way past its prime. Like dead! It happens to disappointed picklers every year. Find some way to preserve the dill while you wait for the cucumbers.

Steve

 

[lesa]

Great tip, Steve. It seems like the idea of freezing the heads would work out perfectly for this...I am always sad that by the time my tomatoes are ready my cilantro is done!!

 

[desertgirl]

As always, Steve, thank you!

I probably would have made this mistake. I am going to plant extra dill tomarrow so that I can have it on hand when the cucs arrive.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

I was watching a cooking show and it stated that herbs and spices dried in their whole form keep most of their flavor for 12-24 months if keep in a dry, dark place and only started to break down quickly when it was ground. They recommended only grinding the seasonings right before you need them. So, if you keep your leaves and seeds whole you can keep them for a very long time. But dill freezes well too.

when our local fair used to do judging on herbs and displays, i got lots of compliments on how i stored a lot of my herbs whole and flattened and especially stored in dark colored jars! the judge had never known that they should be stored in dark containers! :/ i had a lot of colored jars to store the leaves whole used as part of my display. wish i could find those jars again!

 

[digitS']

Well, that was a nice response to my tip ! Makes me want to offer another . . .

I really like pea pods and slices of ripe tomatoes tossed together in a hot wok with some oil. You can get those ingredients in a dish at an oriental restaurant. But, try finding them together in your garden :/.

The trick is to plant snow pea seed at the end of July. Yep, the hottest month of the year . . . stagger around under the blazing sun and get some pea seed in the ground.

Your tomato vines may have frozen by October but - surely - you have some ripe beauties on the kitchen counter. The pea vines will be much shorter than those grown during the early part of the year (they probably don't need a trellis) but I've picked pea pods that have been covered with frost in October for about 3 or 4 years now .

Steve

edited to say: Here, the last week of July is the hottest "week" of the year. August may be a hotter "month."

 

[desertgirl]

I am growing snow peas now-so maybe if I sow them again in the "hottest month" I could make this. Sounds delicious!

Oh, and btw...

 

[897tgigvib]

Dill is good to grow if you have Whiteflies, especially if you have parasitic wasps.

Another good thing to know...from Hoodat!

It'll take a long time, but I am going to review as many of his posts as possible to learn as much as I can!