Cilantro is persnickety but lovely and valuable! Maybe it is even temperamental. You see, it needs everything just so. Cool weather is its favorite time to grow in SoCal!
Cilantro even tolerates a light frost, but has a short life. It simply grows right up and quits. No, you didn’t do anything wrong, and it’s not that you just don’t have a way with it. With the best conditions Cilantro will last about 8-10 weeks before flowering. It’s doing what it does. It has a unique taste, so if you love it, save seeds and keep right on planting, again and again and again for a steady supply! That’s called succession planting!
I let a plant fall down after it died last summer, forgot about it. Now I have a quite dense sizeable thriving cilantro patch! Do what nature did! Plant densely, just broadcast the seed, better without fancy rows, contrived spacing. Planting tightly shades the ground, keeps your soil moist and cooler. Mulch well around the perimeter of the patch! It is not the heat of the air that causes cilantro to bolt, but rather the heat of the soil. If you are attempting a spring or summer planting, warmer days, read more about bolting, especially do this. Also read up about Photoperiodism!
If you are in a hurry and want more surety of germination, soak the seeds 24 hours before planting. Put them in a half a glass of water, soak, lay them out on a paper towel and pat them dry. Plant a half inch deep in a 2″ deep trench with low sloping sides. The low slope keeps the soil from filling in the trench, burying the seeds too deeply when you water. Firm the soil well so there is good contact and they will stay moist after watered. If your weather is unseasonably hot and dry, plant just a tad deeper so the seeds stay moist. Happy cilantro is not picky about soil pH, but it likes well composted soil, well drained though they do like to stay moist.
Baby cilantros don’t take to transplanting because their little taproot goes deep quickly and can be easily broken. These babies are vibrantly fresh, have powerful flavor. It happens, for my taste, just one in a salad or a stew is ample. I cut it up, toss it in, roots and all. The roots look like little tiny white carrots. In fact, carrot, celery, cilantro, dill, parsley and parsnips are all in the Carrot Family, Apiaceae or Umbelliferae.
Usually you start harvesting the outer leaves when they are about 6″ tall. Harvest frequently, take the central stems immediately! This may slow down your plant’s demise, but only for a while. Once it starts to flower, the leaves lose their flavor, but you do have edible flowers! Sprinkle fresh to taste on salads, bean dishes, and cold vegetable dishes.
Because your plantings are going to be closely spaced, you can see liquid fertilizers, fish/kelp types, are going to be the ones to use so they will trickle down into the soil. A little goes a long way. This is a Mediterranean native used to harsh infertile conditions. Over fertilize and you lose the flavor. However, they do like to be kept moist, not swimming, but consistently moist. But they don’t like humidity!!! Like I said, they are persnickety.
I love cilantro in all its stages. As a mature plant, before it bolts (makes a central stalk) flowers and seeds. It smells so lovely when you walk by. It bolts when weather warms, even if only a few days. You can see, why in summer, it’s best to plant so it gets morning sun, afternoon shade. Also it wants to be sheltered from wind. Ok, ok. You definitely want to get slow bolting, bolt resistant varieties. Four varieties of cilantro currently dominate Central California Coast commercial production: Santos, Long Standing, Slo Bolt, and Leisure. All four are used for spring, summer, and fall production, while Santos is the most common variety grown during the winter months.
The tiny white or pink blooms are beautiful, perfect for bees and beneficial insects, especially those little beneficial parasitic wasps and predatory flies! Plant some just for them! The feathery leaves don’t make too much shade, so plant cilantro throughout your veggies, under your fruit trees, any place you can fit them in.
Harvesting seed is an easy affair! Cilantro makes tons of little brown round seeds no more than an eighth of an inch across, very easy to harvest for next year’s plantings. If you have an ongoing garden, just remove the seeds by the handful, they pop right off when they are dry on the plant, and scatter them where you would want some cilantro next, even if for a year from now. They know when conditions are right for them and come up at perfect times in perfect places for their needs. You can use the dry plant for mulch or compost as you wish. I also scatter them to fill empty places or along the border of my garden. Along the border is nice ‘cz that way all I have to do is stoop a bit as I walk by, to enjoy their scent and those bright little ferny leaves.
Another harvest technique option per Birgit Bradtke at Tropical Permaculture:
…cut the stalk, stick the whole thing upside down in a big paper bag and leave it in a dry spot for a couple of weeks. (Most people recommend to hang it up. In my place it just lies around somewhere…) After a couple of weeks you take the bag and shake it and bash it and all the coriander seeds should fall off and you can pull out the bare stalk. Keep your coriander seeds in a cool dry place. (Most people recommend an airtight container. In my place they just stay in that bag…) And now you should have enough coriander seed to cook with and still have plenty left to throw around your garden next year!
Cilantro enhances the growth of Broccoli, is a terrific companion plant for them! Plant it close, let it grow up among the Brassica leaves.
Make your plantings really count by planting generous patches among your Brassicas like broccoli, cauliflowers, kales and cabbages because it repels APHIDS!
A mighty threesome is your Brassicas, with cilantro to repel aphids, and lettuce to repel Cabbage butterflies! Not only does cilantro repel aphids, but it enhances the growth of Brassicas! It makes them grow REALLY well, bigger, fuller, greener. Your winter giants will thrive! With that and edible flowers and seeds cilantro is truly a worthy plant.
So here it is, quite a list, but you can do it!
- Cool season is best
- Select afternoon shade when in warming conditions
- Plant closely to keep soil cool, reduce & delay bolting
- Keep moist but avoid humid locations
- Plenty of airflow but sheltered from wind!
- Harvest frequently, especially & immediately the central stems – sure thing!
Cilantro is the Spanish word for Coriander. We know the seeds only as Coriander. They are used in pickling and sausages. Cilantro comes from the Middle East, and is used in many ways in other parts of the world. It is a proven antibacterial, is used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The uniquely flavored leaves are high in Vitamin C, and it concentrates Calcium – good for older women! Cilantro is a crucial part of salsa, gazpacho, chimichurri sauce, veggie burgers, steamed with rice, and more. We like it in cocktails, pesto and Indian snacks, too. It is an ingredient in Belgian wheat beers!
Ahem. Keep in mind that many people are not Cilantro lovers like you and I, so go easy on it at that dinner party – leave it out of the salad. One in 6 have taste buds that find it bitter. It’s a genetic trait! Ha! More for us!
Happy planting, enjoy the most fresh delicious cilantro!
Updated 12.26.22
Love your Mother! Plant bird & bee food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
The Green Bean Connection started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. Both of Santa Barbara City’s remaining community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are often in a fog belt/marine layer most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is. Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
I love Cilantro, too but haven’t found the bit about it reeling aphids to be true. In fact, I found this blog when googling to see if aphids are particularly attracted to cilantro as I just found aphids all over my cilantro but not any other of my plants in a mixed plant garden.
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Wow, Peter, so sorry about that! Our soils or temps or something must be super different. I’ve been in two different community gardens in our town and never had aphids on cilantro or noticed it on anyone else’s. Do you have a LOT of ants? Ants nest near water sources and store the aphids underground then bring them to the plant the ants are attracted to when the time is right. Sometimes it’s a weak plant, but not always. If you do find a lot of ants, water less in that area for sure! Other than that, I would check in with your nearest Master Gardeners or you local Cooperative Extension office. Good luck and may those aphids be vanished!
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Cilantro is a great addition to any garden!!
Amanda Swiderek
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And it’s lovely, Amanda!
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