I love nothing more than a big handful of herbs, some soft, salty cheese and good bread. Every time I can make a meal where I eat my fill of such stuff, I feel I am winning at life.
High summer is a key moment for sowing herbs: the soil is warm and the days still long, meaning that you can still get decent growth in before the autumn days shorten and put a stop to all that.
Dill weed is such an enlivening flavour. I love using the leaves in salads, the flowerheads for quick ferments – to give a subtle, sweet dill note – andthe seed for stronger flavours in autumn. ‘Fernleaf’, ‘Dukat’ and ‘Superdukat’ (more essential oils) are dwarf varieties that grow to 45cm high, making them suitable for containers and later sowings. ‘Dutch Mammoth’ is very tall, growing to 90cm high, but it may not get that big if sown now. ‘Bouquet’ is particularly fragrant and is mostly grown for seed production; it’s a little late to guarantee seed set sowing now, but if you have space somewhere sheltered, warm and very free-draining, the plants may make it to an October set.
Sow in full sun, thin to 10-15cm apart between plants and watch out for slugs, which are partial to young leaves. I find the best way to get around this is to make sure the soil is dry around plants. Dill is the last thing I would think to water until it’s at least 10-20cm high.
Finally, parsley, coriander and the sweet, anise-flavoured chervil can also be sown now (or until early September for coriander), for autumn and winter use. I sow directly into a spot I know will get some winter sun, and some in modules to plant out in the polytunnel once the tomatoes are finished.
Coriander needs some winter protection, while parsley and chervil are tough enough to get through. But parsley grown under cover, be that a polytunnel or cloche, produces far more tender leaves for salads. The outdoor stuff is tougher and thus stronger in flavour, so better for cooking with. Flat-leaf parsley is far superior in flavour and better in salads, but butcher’s parsley is hardier, thanks to all those crinkles in the leaves. If the winter is brutal, you will be glad of that, so sow both now. Use the butcher’s for edging paths.
Both parsley and chervil need to be thinned to 20-25cm apart, so they can make a decent root run and thus withstand frosts. It’s worth sowing chervil somewhere it can flower and set seed next spring. It grows to 90cm tall when in flower. It’s a prolific self-seeder, but the seedlings are easy to move around.
