How to grow dill on a windowsill?
On cold winter evenings, you really want to pamper yourself with vitamins and add variety to your daily diet by adding spicy dill to your salad. Of course, fresh herbs can be purchased on the market, but it is more profitable to sow seeds in pots. With the right approach, it is not at all difficult to grow dill on your windowsill, it is enough to adhere to general recommendations.
Perhaps the main point for getting greenery at home is the presence of a sunny windowsill, which is well lit. Otherwise, you will need to install additional lighting in the form of special lamps. In addition, attention should be paid to the following factors:
- choose the right dill variety;
- prepare seeds for sowing;
- choose a suitable soil for planting;
- provide proper care for seedlings.
Dill variety selection and seed preparation
When choosing a variety for growing on a windowsill, take into account their ripening terms. If you want to get greens as quickly as possible, use early maturing (Gribovsky) and early maturing varieties of dill (Grenadier).
Late varieties of dill (Russian size, Gourmet), which have a lush deciduous mass, have also proven themselves well when grown on a windowsill.
Experts engaged in home breeding of spicy herbs recommend sowing several types of dill at the same time. Early varieties will quickly grow foliage, but will also quickly stretch out and begin to bloom. And the later ones, although they will "sit" longer in the ground, will please with thicker bushes.
Dill seeds contain a large amount of essential oils, which makes them difficult to germinate. Therefore, they should be pre-soaked in water for 42 hours. It is advisable to use warm water, and change every 6 hours.
Hollow dill seeds that have risen to the top should be picked up and discarded.
After the seeds are swollen, they are dipped in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for two to three hours. Then let it dry a little, spreading it out on the fabric.
Soil preparation and sowing seeds
Put a layer of expanded clay into a container with holes for the drainage of excess water and add nutritious soil. You can use a store-bought substrate or mix garden soil with peat.
Put the prepared seeds on a moistened surface, sprinkle a little with soil on top, and cover with foil. After seed germination, the film is removed.
A distance of about 2 cm should be left between the seeds so that the seedlings do not drown out each other.
Dill seedling care
Seedlings are regularly watered, preventing the soil from drying out. In dry air, additional spraying is necessary. So that the seedlings do not stretch out and grow evenly, the container is turned to the sun every day.
Once every two weeks, young plantings are fed with complex fertilizers with a mineral composition. Ready greens can be cut off in a month and a half, and new plantings are sown on the vacant space.