Deanna,
I see you are in 8b, the same zone as we are (central Texas). I suspect your problem with dill and chamomile is the planting time, not the planting method.
Both herbs are cool weather herbs and die out in heat. I plant both in the fall, around mid-October. The chamomile comes up and is happy until mid-May. It reseeds itself very easily, so I just let Mother Nature take care of the planting for me. Dill will sprout in early, early spring--February for us, and is just now finishing up. It, too, reseeds prolifically. Try fall planting, and see if your luck doesn't change!

I agree with marlingardener, but will also add that anyone who regularly grows from seed should have a hose end misting (fogger) nozzle. Mine is Fogg-It; I've had it for over 25 years.

My Chamomile comes up all over my yard on its own in the spring just with the help of the spring rains. By June it has fizzled, and I will have another burst in fall after our summer rain, starting soon.

I have had some nice dill, just by seeding it in my lettuce beds.

JoJo

Thanks everyone for the feed back, I will try again in fall, I keep forgetting not all plants enjoy 98 degree weather even when they are babies. So I will finish out growing what I have and start new stuff in sept. Thanks again :o)Deanna

Thats great to know, I am always looking for plants to put in my shade garden since I have a massive amount of trees, I wanted to use these two plants as companion plants for my veggies.:o)Deanna