I was unpacking the groceries after a trip to the store, when I realized something that led me to my cilantro growing success. How did this “grocery store Aha moment” lead me to having all the cilantro I need all year around?  Read on to find out!

I love cilantro!  It’s a truly versatile herb that can be used in so many different kinds of dishes.  Aside from parsley, and maybe thyme, it’s probably my most commonly used herb for cooking.

Here’s the problem

You carefully plant your seeds in the spring, nurse it along through its early stages of growth, and look forward to a summer of garden-fresh cilantro to put the finishing touch on your Mexican or Thai dinners. 

But just when it starts to reach a usable size, you notice that the new leaves are getting smaller and look kind of feathery.  Almost overnight it seems that a few really tall shoots appeared. 

It’s starting to bolt!  Maybe you got a few tablespoons to chop up for a recipe or two, but that’s it. 

The problem with cilantro is that it often bolts before you get to use much of it.  And when it bolts, it loses most of its flavor!

What was I doing wrong?

I just couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong!

I decided to do some research and I found no shortage of suggestions on growing cilantro successfully. 

There seemed to be three main schools of thought;

• Plant it in the shade,
• Plant it really early,
• Cut off the bolting stems and continue to use what’s left.

I tried them all.  Unfortunately, none of them worked.  It still bolted and lost most of its flavor.  The problem is that once the days start to get very warm or hot, cilantro starts to bolt. It’s the heat that causes it.

Too much heat.  That was the first clue to the solution. I’d try to grow cilantro indoors in a sunny window or under my lights.

I tried that and it worked to some degree. The problem was that it’s hard to grow a big cilantro plant in a bright window or even under the lights. It just doesn’t get enough light to get big and bushy.

My grocery store “aha moment.”

One day, while unpacking groceries after a trip to the store, I started to look closely at the bundle of cilantro that I’d bought. If you’re reading this article, I’m guessing that you’ve bought a lot of bundles of cilantro at the grocery.

Think about what they look like. You’ve got about 50 long thin stems that all look pretty much the same. Each stem may have 6 to 8 leaves that are spaced kind of far apart.

I started to ponder how cilantro suppliers could grow plants that when harvested looked like what I was holding in my hand.

Here's how I solved the problem.

I stared at them for a while, and decided they look like long, leggy, soft transplants.

That’s when I had the “grocery store aha moment.”

Growing lots of seed crowded into a pot should produce a similar thing.  It would create long, leggy, soft transplants.  So that’s what I did, and it worked like a charm!

I filled a 10-inch plastic pot with potting soil and sowed a bunch (see below)of seeds. I covered them with about ¼ of an inch of seedling mix. Then watered it and waited.

Here’s the start and finish..

I had quality cilantro for 2 to 3 months.

Details:

       Heat, not day length is what causes bolting.  Once it bolts, it loses most of its flavor.

       Need to sow seeds thickly

       Use planting pots with trays so you can water from below.

       Move inside and out (as long as it’s not hot outside) or just inside – if you have lights or a very bright window

       Heavy fertilizing - Use a liquid fertilizer when you water as needed.

       Depending on your usage – start a new planting every 2 to 3 months or so

       Buy seed in bulk  check out Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply - they sell organic cilantro seed by the quarter pound for about $10.