Dill · Xianning, Hubei, China
When to plant dill in Xianning
Main outdoor window
23 Feb - 5 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
23 February
In Xianning, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
4-24 Apr
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Xianning
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow direct
23 Feb - 5 Mar
Around your last frost.
Harvest
4-24 Apr
Dill through the year
Against the frost risk in Xianning
Why these dates
Sow at the last frost date and again every three weeks. Each plant is short-lived, so succession is the only way to keep leaf coming.
Seedlings handle a light frost. Self-seeds freely and often returns without being asked.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Dill are timed for direct sowing 0 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Xianning.
The median frost-free season here is 286 days, against 40 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Growing dill in Xianning
When should I plant dill in Xianning?
Aim for 23 Feb - 5 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 10-20 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will dill be ready to harvest in Xianning?
Expect to start picking around 4-24 Apr, based on 40 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will dill tolerate?
Seedlings handle a light frost. Self-seeds freely and often returns without being asked.