Herb Garden Cilantro
Growing Cilantro In a Herb Garden
The annual herb cilantro (Also known by its scientific name Coriandrun sativum) has always been a favorite of gardeners worldwide. It has delicious leaves and strongly flavored roots. The little herb also has a fantastic, strong taste and is used in everything from Mediterranean cooking to Asian cooking. The best part is that its seeds are known as coriander, so you get two herbs for the effort of growing one- no wonder this herb is so popular!
For both casual and committed gardeners, cilantro has a surprising property: it grows really quickly, so I hope you have lots of recipes that you want to use this herb in! In most climates cilantro will run through its entire life-cycle in as little as 5 and a half weeks! Because of this, many gardener freeze the leaves after harvesting. As a general rule, try to avoid drying this herb as it tends to lose its strong flavor.
As a general rule this plant grows to about 60-70 cm, so plant the seeds about 30-40 cm apart. The best time to plant is in spring, however make sure that any early frosts that sometimes happen at the start of spring are finished, as this plant is not very resilient to cold. Let it grow to 12-15 cm or so before you start harvesting the herb.
Cilantro Bolting and How to Avoid It
One of the disadvantages to growing cilantro is that it has a tendency to bolt if the ground is too hot. This is a survival mechanism that is built into the plant and is difficult to stop. Many gardeners cut back the buds to try to reduce bolting, however this generally only slows the process and gives you a little more time to harvest. Cilantro can be especially troublesome as the bolting leaves the leaves inedible.
If you live in a moderately warm part of the world, you don’t need to worry about bolting too much. Simply place the herb in an area where it can get maximum sunlight. If you are worried that the temperature is unusually hot, water regularly and use mulch to keep temperatures down.
If you live in a really hot part of the world, you will need to stratigically place a cover or plant in front of a bigger plant, so that your cilantro gets a little shade during the hottest part of the day. If this doesn’t work the best advice is to start to grow your plant in summer, so that it matures in the cooler fall months.
For those that find that their herb just keeps bolting, it may be best to try growing the herb in pots using a grow lamp. For more information check out my article on home herb gardens.
