Not sure if you are a fan of the dill plant but I know I am. Not all people can handle the strong flavor of the dill herb. But I like it. A couple of years back I tried to grow dill plants in a container and you know who got to them first? The monarch caterpillars. So I didn’t really get to harvest any leaves that year but I love monarchs and was fine with sharing some of the garden goodies with them. Monarch butterflies love dill and fennel seed plants.
Last year, in winter, as we were not going out shopping, I ordered dill seeds online and not a single one of them germinated. What a disappointment. And then we just happened to buy our first Aerogarden that came up with some seed starting herb pods. One of the herbs was dill. After harvesting the leaves multiple times from that system, I finally planted one of the mature plants outside in one of my raised beds. Sudden change in the environment pushed the plants into bolting. The plant grew taller up to 3–4 feet. Beautiful yellow buds started forming that soon turned into small bouquets of flowers. The flowers then developed tiny green seeds. I waited patiently and stopped harvesting leaves. Soon the plant loaded up with several flower clusters.
Recently the first flower cluster started turning brown. I knew there were at least two weeks of rain ahead. So, I picked the first seedpod. Picking seeds is very easy. Just cut the stem and bring that in to dry if the weather is musty. I dropped the seed pods in one container and left them to dry completely. After about a week, when I checked that the seeds were completely dried I was ready to harvest them for starting new plants.
But again like any other beans, they also contain some anti-nutritional factors like Phyto-agglutinins and levodopa in small amounts. You can boil these beans to eliminate the harmful effects of these phytochemicals. Other than that there is a genetic condition called G6PD deficiency. It is an enzyme that is important for healthy red blood cells and deficiency of this enzyme can cause a type of anemia called hemolytic anemia. It happens because the blood cells are destroyed more quickly. The symptoms depend on the severity of the disease. They can range from pale skin, frequent infections, shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, jaundice. This condition is also called Favism. It is also caused by some other medications and consuming fava beans. So, people with a deficiency of G6PD should avoid fava beans.
Just pull the seeds off of the seed pods and the dried seeds come out very clean. You can then either save them in a dry cool place or use them to start new plants. You can use the same methods to save seeds from cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and many other herbs. Isn’t it easy?