What is garden dill and its characteristics
Ordinary garden dill, which we are used to seeing in the garden beds, is used not only as a spice in cooking. It is also used in medicine and cosmetology.
From the article you will learn everything about dill: a photo of a plant, how to grow and store it correctly, what kind of inflorescence does dill have and how it blooms, which family it belongs to.
The content of the article
Description and botanical characteristics of the plant
To begin with, let's find out what dill is - is it an annual plant or a perennial one? Dill is an annual herb that belongs to the monotypic genus... It exists in a single form, which is called odorous dill or garden dill. Belongs to the Umbrella family, it is considered to be short-lived.
Appearance
A plant with a strong characteristic odor, reaching a height of 1.5 m with a straight or weakly branching single non-pubescent stem... The stem is furrowed, gray-green, branches in the upper part, curved between the branches.
Leaves on petioles are located below, the upper sessile leaves are without petioles. The shape of the leaves is ovoid, they are pinnately dissected, the lobules of the last order are filiform.
Blooms from June. Small flowers with yellow petals are collected in umbrellas 2-4 cm in diameter, which in turn form double ray umbrellas up to 20 cm in diameter.
The seeds ripen in late summer. They have an oblong flattened shape, up to 5 mm in length and about 2 mm in thickness. Ripe fruits are brown in color and have a bright spicy aroma. Many are interested in how dill seeds are otherwise called, by analogy with cilantro and coriander. However, there is no particular name for them - they are just dill seeds.
Kinds
There are several varieties of dill:
- Usual - with one stem on which the leaves are attached. It quickly fades into color, developing an umbrella with seeds.
- Bushy - forms several internodes from the base, from which additional shoots appear. The main stem grows slowly and produces more greenery.
- Leafy - there are many leaves on the main stem, it looks like a small spruce.
Where grows
Dill spread throughout the world. It is grown in vegetable gardens, and often grows in plots on its own like a weed. In the wild, it is found in Central and Southwest Asia, North Africa, the Himalayas and Iran, which are traditionally considered the birthplace of dill.
Chemical composition, trace elements, vitamins and calories
The leaves contain carbohydrates, pectins, carotene, riboflavin, thiamine, ascorbic, nicotinic acids, a set of mineral salts (potassium, iron, phosphorus, calcium).
All parts of the plant contain flavonoids: quercetin, isorhamnetin, kaempferol. It also contains essential oil, which gives a specific smell, especially a lot of it in seeds - up to 4%.
Reference. The essential oil from fruits is a light yellow liquid with a delicate, pleasant smell of caraway, from the herbaceous part - a greenish liquid with the smell of dill.
The seeds contain 14-15% of proteins and up to 18% of fatty oil, which includes petroselinic, linoleic, oleic and palmitic acids.
Calorie content dill per 100 g:
- fresh - 40 kcal;
- dried - 258 kcal;
- seeds - 305 kcal.
Nutritional value of fresh dill per 100 g: proteins - 2.5 g, fats - 0.5 g, carbohydrates - 6.3 g.
How does it affect the human body
Dill is a spicy herb with a lot of useful properties. Most often, its greens are used, which contain many vitamins useful for the body.
Beneficial features
Dill contains ascorbic acid in such an amount that only 100 g of fresh herbs are required to replenish the daily intake of vitamin C. By adding a bunch of dill to the salad, get enough vitamins B1, B2, B5, B9, PP.
Increased calcium content, indispensable for the skeletal system, makes this herb an assistant in the healing of fractures. Dill is recommended to be added to the daily diet of older people to prevent osteoporosis.
Phytoncides in combination with ascorbic acid and other active substances, they have a disinfecting, sedative and analgesic effect.
Essential oils promote the digestion of fatty and heavy foods.
Attention! One of the main therapeutic properties of dill seeds is to reduce gas formation in the intestines. Therefore, they make "dill water", which is given to babies with colic in the first months of life.
Harm
Dill is healthy, but it is not recommended to use it in excessive quantities. In rare cases, there is an individual intolerance to the spicy greens of dill: essential oils can provoke an allergic reaction.
Who is contraindicated in dill?
A large amount of dill greens and treatment with drugs from it is not recommended for people with low blood pressure.
Features of the use of dill
In all parts of the plant there are useful substances, therefore, green leaves, and stems, and plant seeds are used. In addition to their traditional use in cooking, they are used to prepare medicinal tinctures, decoctions, oils and extracts. They are used in folk medicine and cosmetology. Dill products have a lot of useful properties and there are almost no contraindications.
In folk medicine
The medicinal properties of dill are proven by science, the seeds are officially considered a medicinal raw material. In dietetics, folk medicine, herbs are also used.
An infusion of shoots and leaves, as well as a decoction from them, is easy to prepare at home. It is taken for hypertension and as a mild pain reliever, diuretic.
Essential oil and seeds are a natural and safe sedative and antispasmodic agent.
An infusion or decoction of seeds is used orally for disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, as an anti-hemorrhoidal agent. Outwardly, it acts as a wound healing agent, relieves inflammation and itching from insect bites. For the same purpose, a compress with gruel from dill leaves is applied externally.
In cosmetology
Crushed greens are a part of masks and compresses designed to lighten age spots. They refresh the skin of the face, neck, hands and nourish it with vitamins.
Dill ice cubes relieve puffiness around the eyes, reduce inflammation and moisturize the skin.
Dill seed oils, as well as various extracts from herbs, are used in the production of creams, lotions, soaps, and toothpaste.
In cooking
Since ancient times, spicy dill has become a seasoning for preparing various dishes: from meat, fish, potatoes, salads.
Fresh leaves and stems are added to salads, hot and cold dishes. Umbrellas of inflorescences are used for home canning of vegetables. Dill is used in cooking in fresh, dry and salted form.
Features of growing dill
Dill is an unpretentious cold-resistant plant that does not require careful maintenance. It is simple in growing, easily propagated by self-sowing, grows almost like a weed, but its agricultural technology has its own characteristics.
Landing
Dill can be sown in mid-spring, right after the snow melts, when the air temperature is above –4 ° С. Seeds will begin to germinate at a temperature of + 3 ° C.
For an early harvest, begin landing at the onset of the right temperature and sowed every 2 weeks until the end of summer, ensuring a constant collection of fresh herbs.
Dill grows well, sown before winter. To do this, at the end of autumn, they prepare the beds, apply fertilizer, carefully loosen and make grooves 2 cm deep with a distance of 20 cm between the rows. Then they cover them before the onset of frost.
Seeds are sown into the frozen ground, sprinkled with a soil substrate of peat and humus. In spring, when the temperature is favorable, seedlings will appear. This will be the earliest outdoor crop - 2 weeks earlier than spring planting.
Summer planting does not give such a result, especially if the pre-sowing treatment of the planting material has not been carried out. The opening of the seed coat is difficult due to the abundance of essential oils, which are difficult to break down if the seeds have not overwintered in the ground. Therefore, they are specially prepared.
- Soak the seeds in hot water (+ 60 ° C) and change it several times a day. Can be soaked in growth stimulants.
- Germinate under damp gauze for 4 days.
- Dry for half an hour and sow on prepared beds.
Dill is planted in an open, sunny place. Soils can be anything.
Growing
The first shoots appear about 10 days after sowing. It takes 1.5-2 months from the moment of planting to harvesting it on the greens. Further, umbrella flowers develop and seeds are formed.
Dill is grown:
- in the open field (spring and winter sowing);
- in closed ground (greenhouse, greenhouse);
- at home (on a windowsill or balcony).
In the open field, several crops are obtained over the summer using repeated crops. This is the most common and simplest method for growing dill.
Reference. To obtain two harvests from one root, the greens are cut off when they reach 20-25 cm, while leaving the growth point. Another way to get a stable yield of dill throughout the season is to sow bush hybrids and varieties different ripening periods.
In a greenhouse without heating, planting begins in March, when the snow has not yet melted on the site. Grown all season until the onset of severe cold weather. And if you provide a temperature of + 15 ... + 20 ° C and additional lighting in winter, you will receive fresh greens in protected ground all year round.
On the windowsill, dill is grown in containers. With this type of cultivation, seeds of a specific variety and location are selected that will provide sufficient heat and light. Dill is a light-loving plant: so that the seedlings do not wither, they will need additional lighting. Phytolamps based on LEDs are suitable for this. However, this method will not always be cost effective.
Important! The yield depends on the variety, sowing time, conditions and growing method.
Varieties are used: early, mid-season and late.
Early - Fireworks, Gribovsky, Umbrella, Grenadier, etc. Ripeness reaches 35-40 days.
Mid-season - Hercules, Lesnogorodsky, Kibray, Patterns, Borey, Richelieu. They grow more greenery than early ripening varieties, since they start steming a week later.
Late ripening - Tenderness, Gladiator, Alligator, Amazon, Brawler, Centaur, Salute. From germination to steming 65–70 days. These varieties have high yields and a stronger aroma due to the long-term accumulation of essential oils.
Care
Proper care of plants is the key to a healthy, rich harvest. It consists in the prevention of diseases, feeding, weeding, watering and loosening the soil.
The basis for the prevention of dill diseases is to prevent thickening of the plantings, thin them out and weed out the weeds in time.
Organic fertilizers are used as top dressing, for example, fermented nettle infusion. This nitrogen fertilization is also a protection for the plant, since aphids cannot stand it.
When watering, it is important to direct the liquid under the root, not unnecessarily overmoisten and loosen the soil after watering.
Collection and storage
Greenery harvesting begins when 4-5 leaves appear on the dill bush. The leaves are partially pinched off or cut off entirely with scissors. The collection is carried out in the morning, after the dew has dried, the plant is watered per day. Dill for pickling is removed after the umbrellas bloom.
The collection of dill seeds is carried out before they ripen, by cutting off the inflorescences and placing them in a paper bag or gauze. In a dry and warm place, protected from sunlight, they mature within a week. Then they are separated from the stems and stored in an airtight container.
Leaves and young shoots are frozen, dried and salted.
For freezing the greens are finely cut, laid out in small containers and stored in the freezer.
Dried dill most often whole - tied in bunches and hung in a ventilated room. Or crushed and dried in the oven.
Salted in glass jars, for this, sprinkle with salt and tamp tightly. Such blank stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
Conclusion
A common garden herb - dill, on closer inspection turns out to be an interesting and very useful plant. It is easy to grow it on the site - just find a suitable place and follow the basic rules of care. By choosing the best variety for the climatic conditions, you will have fresh greens throughout the season.