Besides flavoring many foods, dill — packed with vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium — is also a friend to the digestive system from stem (bad breath) to stern (gas).

Toss it into your food at the last minute, because heat, like drying, steals its zip. The opposite is true of the tangy seeds; simmer them in soups, stews, and sauces to your heart’s content.

An annual that looks quite similar to fennel, dill gets 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 1 m) tall. Plants have a single hollow stalk, feathery leaves that divide into hair-thin, blue-green leaflets, and tiny yellow flowers that appear in 6-inch (15-cm) compound clusters. The pods, filled with ribbed, aromatic seeds, explode readily when ripe. Dill doesn’t like to be transplanted.

Direct-sow its seeds, just barely covered, as soon as you can work the ground in spring, preferably in full sun and light, in sandy soil of average fertility. Thin 2-inch (5-cm) tall seedlings to 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm). Sow more seed every three or four weeks to keep the dillweed coming.

Protect dill from winds, or stake plants to keep them from snapping. You can cut about one-fifth of a plant’s foliage as soon as the leaves are big enough to use. The foliage browns soon after the plant flowers (in hot weather, dill bolts quickly). Collect seeds as soon as they darken.

A graceful foil for heavy leafed plants and a friendly companion for cabbage, dill is a favorite food for swallowtail butterfly larvae. Plant enough so that you and butterflies-in-waiting can both have your share.