How to Save Dill Seeds
Dill is one of my favorite herbs to grow in the garden. And not just because I like making pickles with it…I mostly grow it for the butterflies! Dill is one of many host plants for black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. I plant parsley for them, too—but it seems they gravitate toward the dill the most.
I find it tends to flower and go to seed fairly quickly here in Maryland zone 7, so I like to save seeds and succession plant dill throughout the summer. Basically I just harvest the seeds and sprinkle them right back into the soil, letting new plants grow. It’s super easy to save dill seeds—here’s how to do it!
Step 1. Let plant flower
First you’ll want to let your plant flower. Many people snip off the flowers on their herbs as they grow. That’s because when herbs flower, the plant begins putting most of its energy into that instead of growing the foliage most people want from herbs.
However, if you want the seeds, you have to let the plant complete its lifecycle! This is what a dill flowering looks like. It produces umbels of tiny yellow flowers. As a bonus, pollinators love these flowers!
Step 2. Monitor for seeds
Once the flowers begin to fade, you’ll notice small green seeds begin to form. These are the seeds you’ll eventually harvest, but they aren’t ready for picking yet. Monitor them as they turn from a yellowish green to a greenish-brown.
And don’t be surprised if you spot a black swallowtail caterpillar or two while you are monitoring them! I popped out back to take a few pictures for this post and counted quite a few.
Step 3. Harvest when brown
Once the seeds have turned brown and the stalks are beginning to brown, you can start harvesting seeds. I like to clip off the umbels with a part of the stem and pop them in a cool, dry place to finish drying out.
Then, a few days later, I will crumple the umbels up in my fingers over a paper towel to scatter the seeds and remove them from the stem. I recommend letting them sit for 24 hours or so to finish drying before storage, and that’s it! Free dill forever 🙂
