cilantro

[desertlady]

Im growing cilantro for the first time. Someone told me that I will need to cut them back before it flowers. I dont have a CLUE what to look for ! How much do I need to trim or ???? They are about an inch right now. Lori

 

[so lucky]

I'm one of those people who don't like cilantro, so I don't grow it, but I understand that it goes through its lifespan pretty quick. To have fresh cilantro to cook with, you need to do small plantings, just a few seeds, often. That way you won't have it all ready to use at once. I don't know if people dry it, probably do. But fresh cilantro has a rather narrow window of opportunity, unlike basil which you can snip off of all season. I'm sure some of the cilantro lovers will tell you exactly what to do and when to harvest.

 

[digitS']

Steve, cilantro lover here.

Harvest it before it goes bad.

Hey, I'm still trying to figure out why hot dogs come 10 to a package while buns are 8 to a package . . ? But about that cilantro, gee it is quick! And, it doesn't like hot and dry. I once asked the owner of a market how his supplier kept a steady supply of cilantro coming to him all summer. He said, "it is grown in a greenhouse."

Oh. The environment in a greenhouse can be fairly well controlled.

My very best cilantro is what I'm harvesting right now ! I may always think that but no, the over-wintered plants are nice, big and full! Be sure and scatter some seeds very late in your growing season, DL. You will be glad you did . Until then, as soon as it looks like it is trying to bolt - that's when I pull it up. If you take that tap root with it - it will last longer in the fridge.

Steve

 

[journey11]

As Steve said, it is a quick grower. It's not like most other herbs that hang around in your garden most of the summer. Mine is bolting and going to seed right now. It was one of the first things to sprout in my garden this spring and is very cold-hardy.

It's a lively self-seeder and if you let it go to seed you will find it everywhere. If you need an ongoing supply of cilantro for your cooking, you will need to make successive plantings or grow indoors in a windowsill, since it has such a short live cycle and the useful leaves are only available briefly. If you want to harvest the dry seed to use, you then have corriander. You can also chop the leaves and freeze them along with some water in ice cube trays for extended use. It is otherwise difficult to time out fresh cilantro to make late summer batches of salsa!

 

[ninnymary]

I stopped trying to grow cilantro in the spring. It just bolted to fast. Now, I plant it in the fall and the plants grow hugh and over a long time.

I can my salsa without it and when I open up a jar, I just go out to the garden and pick fresh cilantro to add to it.

For me, it doesn't seem to reseed that easily. I only got one reseeded plant this year.

Mary

 

[seedcorn]

First year I planted it, it came on before tomatoes were ready, but kept reseeding itself so I always had some.

Second year, I thought I would wait, WRONG. As Steve said, doesn't like hot weather, I fought and fought to get a stand of any kind.

Third year, back to first year plan.

 

[desertlady]

I was hoping cilantro will grow all summer! I like to make salsa and I thought cilantro likes hot weather. I will give it a try and see what happens! If all fails I still got my tomatoes ,onions and jalapenos!

 

[ducks4you]

Interesting thread. I have cilantro seeds bc I want to put it in my salsa this year. I have a "Salsa Party" each October, and I want to have all of my ingredient fresh to share. We do a pot-luck, play games, drink Sangria, and then go to the North Pasture for a big bonfire, more drinking, story telling and many guests sleep over bc we stay up very late. THIS year it's gonna be on Columbus Day weekend, Saturday, October 14th. Loads of fun!

 

[canesisters]

Ok - off topic but going to ask anyway.

How is it that something like cilantro and tomatoes EVER came together? If salsa has been around practically forever - and cilantro is long gone before tomatoes are ripe - how did someone figure out that they are wonderful together?????

 

[ducks4you]

Not sure, but I think that cilantro has been popular worldwide since the dawn of time. There was a NatGeo program some 10-12 years ago about two digs in Russia. They discovered frozen flesh remains of a handful of warriors, and you could see the tattoos on the skin. One had a long, blonde hair, braided. They both had the remains or burnt, ceremonial coriander, which is, of course, the seed of the cilantro plant.