Anethum graveolens
Origin: Ukraine
Improvement status: Unknown
Seeds per packet: ~80
Germination tested 12/2025: 50% (Below standard)
Life cycle: Annual
We got this dill out of the USDA's National Plant Germplasm System, where it has been preserved since 1992. It was donated by the Vavilov Institute for Plant Industry, just a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in those heady early days of Russian-US detente. According to the institute, it had been collected in Ukraine. Sadly, the trail runs cold there. We don't know where in the Ukraine it came from, when it was collected, from whom, or by whom. All we know is that it was in the famous Vavilov collection by 1992.
But we do know that it is one awesome dill! Tall and robust, with rich flavor, a good amount of frondy leaves, and lots and lots of flowers and seeds, we imagine this dill was selected over a long time by people who prize it for pickling. Those copious flower-heads and seeds both are essential ingredients in Ukrainian-style pickles — and not just for pickled cucumbers, but also beets, cabbage, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, snake melons, and even mushrooms and summer squash. Dill also goes great in a range of soups and stews, from mushroom-barley to borscht to brisket, and is often cooked with fatty fish like salmon.
This seed was grown by our friend Tyler Neitzey of North Carolina, whom EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman got to know because Tyler was a member of the first student cohort of the Ira Wallace Seed School, a project of Ujaama Cooperative Farming Alliance, where Nate is an instructor.
GROWING TIPS: Direct-sow after after last frost or start a few weeks beforehand indoors. Surface sow, as the seeds need light to germinate. Space plants about a foot apart.
