I’ve been experimenting with growing various herbs in my foggy San Francisco backyard. Basil did not do well (I wasn’t surprised – it was an experiment). Cilantro did not do well (also as expected). Rosemary and thyme have done all right, sage and oregano have done better, but the big (very big) success of the summer herb experiment has been dill.
I purchased a tiny dill start of a few inches from a local garden center in June and planted it in a raised bed in the backyard. I have four small raised beds. I put the dill in the one on the southeast corner thinking it would get the most sun there. The dill took off. It’s huge. I’ve been snipping off fresh leaves for weeks now (dill matzo balls, anyone?), and now the plant is close to flowering.
From what I’ve read online, the leaves will stop forming once the plant flowers (I didn’t really fully understand that dill is an annual), so now I need to decide whether to cut off the flower heads to prolong the life of the plant or to harvest all the dill leaves now (the main choices my online reading seemed to suggest). I think I’ll take the middle road: trim off the flower heads before they open, plus harvest a lot of the leaves and then experiment with drying them in the oven and the microwave. I don’t have a great spot to let some dry by hanging, but I may see if I can come up with one to see what happens.
fogfarmers 
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