At a glance
- Dill and coriander are annual umbellifers best sown direct into the bed. They dislike transplanting.
- Both give two harvests: aromatic leaves and, if you let them ripen, spicy seeds as a seasoning.
- Coriander bolts extremely fast in heat. Sow it cool, in part shade and in succession.
- Dill suits a sunny spot and loves the company of cucumbers. It often self-seeds.
- With a sowing every three to four weeks you have fresh green all summer.
Dill and coriander are an odd pair that yet have much in common. Both belong to the umbellifers, both are annual, both taste completely different as leaf than as seed, and both reward you poorly if you buy them as a pot plant and transplant them. Their secret lies in direct sowing. Take that to heart, and work a little against their urge to flower, and you harvest spicy green all summer.
Why sow direct
Dill and coriander form a sensitive taproot and dislike any disturbance at the roots. Bought pot plants or pre-raised seedlings often bolt straight into flower after transplanting instead of forming leaves. So it is best to sow both where they are to stay, straight into the bed, the balcony box or a deep pot.
Prepare the soil
Loosen the soil and draw shallow drills. Both like a free-draining, not too heavy soil. Coriander prefers it humus-rich and fresh, dill also copes with leaner spots.
Sow shallow and firm
Sow the seeds about one to two centimetres deep, as both are dark germinators and need a little soil over them. Firm and keep moist.
Patience while germinating
Coriander germinates in one to three weeks, dill similarly. Keep the drill evenly moist until germination, that is the most common sticking point.
Thin out
Once the seedlings are a few centimetres tall, thin them to about 10 to 15 cm apart, so strong plants can develop.
Dill: the classic with cucumber and fish
Dill is the more straightforward of the two. It likes a sunny to lightly part-shaded spot and grows up to a metre tall. From CW 14 to 16 you can sow it direct and repeat the sowing over summer. A nice side effect: if you let a few plants seed, dill often reappears by itself in the bed the next year.
In mixed culture dill is a good neighbour for cucumbers, whose flavour it complements, and for many other vegetables. Its flower umbels also draw hoverflies and other beneficial insects.
Anethum graveolens
- Familie
- Umbellifers
- Standort
- Sun to light part shade, free-draining
- Saison
- Direct sow CW 14 to 30, leaf harvest ongoing, seeds from August
- Wasserbedarf
- Evenly moist, especially until germination
- Frosthärte
- Annual, not hardy, often self-seeds
Coriander: the diva that bolts fast
Coriander is moodier. Its biggest issue is fast bolting: as soon as it gets hot and dry or the days are long, it puts all its energy into flower and stops making leaves. For a good leaf harvest you outsmart this by keeping it cool and part-shaded, evenly moist and sowing again regularly.
A herb with two faces
Hardly any herb divides people like coriander. For some the leaf is fresh and citrusy, for others it tastes of soap, which comes down to the genes.
The ripe seeds, by contrast, taste completely different: warm, spicy, slightly sweet. Those who dislike the leaf often love the spice anyway.
Coriandrum sativum
- Familie
- Umbellifers
- Standort
- Part shade and cool for leaf, sunny for seed
- Saison
- Direct sow CW 15 to 32, leaf cool, seeds from August
- Wasserbedarf
- Evenly moist, drought stress promotes bolting
- Frosthärte
- Annual, not hardy
How to slow the bolting
For the leaf harvest, do not sow coriander into the blazing high-summer sun but into a part-shaded, cooler spot, and keep it moist. Most effective is succession sowing: sow a small patch again every three to four weeks, then you always have young, leafy plants before the older ones bolt.
Harvesting: leaves and seeds
You harvest the leaves of both herbs young and fresh, by cutting single shoots or leaves. They taste best fresh, since dried they lose a lot of aroma, which is why freezing is the better route for a store.
If you let the plants flower and ripen, the second harvest comes: the seeds. With dill these are the classic pickling umbels, with coriander the round, warm-spicy grains that, dried, are an important seasoning. Harvest the seed heads when they are brown and dry, ideally straight into a paper bag, and finish drying them.
Two harvests from one plant
The lovely thing about dill and coriander is that no plant is lost. If the coriander bolts despite all your efforts, you simply let it flower and harvest the seeds.
And the flower umbels are, on top of that, a good food source for hoverflies, wild bees and other beneficial insects in the garden.
Against bolting only one thing helps: sow a little again and again.
Kitchen gardener's trick
Succession sowing for a steady supply
Because both herbs are annual and eventually flower, succession sowing is the key to a continuous harvest. Sow a small portion again every three to four weeks, from April into August. That way a young, leafy generation always follows on when the previous one goes into flower. A short stretch of bed or a row in a box is plenty for this.
In the kitchen
Fresh dill belongs with cucumber salad, pickled cucumbers, potatoes, fish and quark. Coriander leaf is the soul of many Asian and Latin American dishes, from curries to salsa, always added at the very end so the aroma does not cook away. The coriander seeds, in turn, whole or ground, season bread, pickles and curry blends.
Enter the succession-sowing dates as a recurring task in your garden journal. Then you do not forget to re-sow and have fresh green all summer instead of a single, quickly bolted sowing.
Common questions about dill and coriander
Why does my coriander bolt into flower so fast?
Heat, drought and long days trigger bolting, plus the stress of transplanting. Sow coriander direct and, for the leaf harvest, cool and part-shaded, keep it moist and sow again every three to four weeks. That way you always have young leaves before the older ones flower.
Can I pre-raise and transplant dill and coriander?
Better not. Both form a sensitive taproot and often react to transplanting with immediate bolting. Sow them direct into their final spot in the bed, the box or a deep pot.
When and how do I sow dill?
From about CW 14 to 16 direct into the bed, one to two centimetres deep, into a sunny to lightly part-shaded spot. Keep moist until germination. Sow again over summer for a continuous harvest.
Can I harvest the seeds of dill and coriander?
Yes, that is the second harvest. Let the plants flower and ripen, and cut the seed heads when they are brown and dry, into a paper bag. Finish drying and store dry. Dill seeds season pickles, coriander seeds are a warm kitchen spice.
Why does coriander taste of soap to some people?
It is genetic: a particular smell receptor makes some people perceive the aldehydes in coriander leaf as soapy. Those who dislike the leaf can still enjoy the seeds, which taste completely different.
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