Dill · Yan’an, Shaanxi, China
When to plant dill in Yan’an
Main outdoor window
19-29 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
19 April
In Yan’an, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 May - 18 Jun
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 Yan’an
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
19-29 Apr
Around your last frost.
Harvest
29 May - 18 Jun
Dill through the year
Against the frost risk in Yan’an
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 Yan’an.
The median frost-free season here is 181 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 Yan’an
When should I plant dill in Yan’an?
Aim for 19-29 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Apr - 8 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will dill be ready to harvest in Yan’an?
Expect to start picking around 29 May - 18 Jun, 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.