We grow dill from seeds on the windowsill

Homemade greens saturate the body with vitamins, give dishes an appetizing look and an unsurpassed aroma. Growing dill on the windowsill is a simple matter. The main thing is to follow the recommendations for breeding it at home, and then a fresh fluffy crop will appear in the flower pot.

What you need to breed dill

To grow a mini-garden on a windowsill or balcony, you will need:

• choose a variety of spices, prepare seeds;
• prepare a flower pot (container) of the required size, 15-20 cm deep and always with drainage holes at the bottom;
• collect garden soil and purchase land for indoor plants;
• when growing a house in winter, additionally use backlighting;
• the use of complex mineral fertilizers.

As you can see, the preparatory cultivation of dill at home will require minimal investment, effort and knowledge.

Variety selection

Seed material for breeding fresh herbs from seeds should be selected based on the timing of its ripening.

Varieties are divided into categories, each with its own characteristics.

• Early - you will not have to wait for the seedlings of the crop for a long time, usually the greens appear 3-4 weeks after planting, but there will be few stems and leaves. After the first leaves, dill of this species begins to bloom. These include the variety Gribovsky, Carousel, Early miracle, Aurora and Grenadier.
• Mid-season - greens will appear at home 10 days later than early ones, but there will be more bushes. This variety includes Umbrella, Richelieu, Smelly and Kibray.
• Late ripening - the spice in the mini-garden will grow later, but there will be much more fragrant thick dill. Gigant, Alligator, Buyan and Russian are considered such high-yielding varieties.

In order for fresh spicy grass to always grow in a pot on the balcony, you can choose several varieties with different ripening periods. You can take an elongated container, divide it into three parts and plant early, late and mid-season varieties of dill at the same time.

Seed preparation

To harvest a high-quality and lush harvest at home, you need the seeds to germinate quickly and well in the soil. They need to be soaked for 1-2 days in warm water, changing the liquid once every 12 hours. Those that are left floating on the surface are not suitable for landing, so they should be collected and discarded. The rest of the seeds remaining at the bottom of the container are good. They need to be drained and dried well.

Some experienced vegetable growers who grow dill on the balcony, after removing bad seeds, soak the remaining seeds for 3-5 hours in a weak, light pink solution of potassium permanganate. This is how the seed is disinfected.

Soil preparation and container selection

As for the open air, spicy greens grow on any kind of soil, but at home it is better to plant them in fertile soil, but not acidic. A mixture of garden soil and soil for indoor plants prepared from last year is perfect. You can mix the substrate with humus, peat. The earth should be loose, breathable.

At the bottom of the container for growing dill on the balcony, it is necessary to lay a two-centimeter drainage layer (broken brick, expanded clay). It will help drain off excess liquid when watering the plant and protect the potted greens from overflow. Prepared soil is laid on it.

When growing greens from seeds, any container will do: a plastic container, a wooden box, or a flower pot.The main thing is that the dishes are not small, because dill has a pivotal root system.

Advice

A 1.5-2 liter container is ideal for these purposes. A prerequisite is the presence of small drainage holes at the bottom of the container.

Sowing seeds

When growing fresh grass on the balcony, the soil must be irrigated with water from a spray bottle, shallow grooves must be made in the ground. The depth of the pits should be no more than 1-1.5 cm. Sow seeds into the holes, do not sprinkle them too tightly on top with earth, moisten the contents of the pot with water from a spray bottle.

Next, cover the container with a plastic bag (plastic wrap) to achieve the effect of a mini-greenhouse, put it to germinate for 7 days in a dark place with an air temperature not higher than 18-20 ° C. The film retains soil moisture.

When shoots appear from the seeds (after about a week), you need to remove the extra shoots so that an interval of about 3 cm remains between them. Place the container on the windowsill.

Additional lighting

Dill is a light-loving herb. Adequate lighting is more important than warm air for fragrant greenery. When breeding her at home in the spring and summer months, the sowing container should be placed on a lighted windowsill.

Important!

In the warm season, greens should be fed by the sun's rays for at least 6 hours a day. In cloudy weather, dill is best illuminated with lamps.

When growing a mini-garden on a balcony in winter, it must be additionally illuminated. For this, white fluorescent lamps are suitable. Artificial lighting in cold months should work for at least 12 hours at a height of 50 cm from crops.

Comfortable temperature and humidity

When planting greenery at home it is important to maintain the optimum air temperature and humidity. Dill is quite hardy to cold weather, but 17-20 ° C is considered the best temperature for a good harvest. Boxes and containers with herbs can be stored on the balcony until the first autumn frosts.

Air humidity should be kept within 40-50%. Otherwise, with high humidity, the dill leaves can be struck by a fungal disease, and excessive dryness can simply destroy the plant.

Success secrets

There are a few tricks to making your home crop fluffy and bushy.

• Water the dill when the top layer of soil dries up with settled water. The first time, until the seedlings have grown stronger, it is better to irrigate them from a spray bottle.
• Fertilizing the plant must be carried out with nitrogen fertilizers 1-2 times a month.
• Turn the sides of the container over to the light every day. So when grown on the balcony, dill will grow evenly.

Growing fresh dill at home is not difficult. Greens will give the room their aroma, saturate the body with vitamins all year round and decorate any hearty dishes.

The main thing when growing greenery at home is to choose the right seeds, prepare fertile soil, maintain a comfortable temperature, monitor air humidity and lighting.