How to grow cilantro

Cilantro is the leaf-and-stem stage of Coriandrum sativum, a dainty annual in the carrot family that grows about two feet tall on finely divided, lacy foliage. Home gardeners grow it as a direct-seeded herb for its bright, citrus-like leaves, used fresh in salsas and Asian and Mexican dishes, sown a quarter inch deep and thinned to a close stand. Left to flower, the plant produces small white blooms and then seed heads; once dried, those seeds are coriander, giving the crop two harvests from one sowing and fitting a garden into short, repeated windows.

The hardest part of growing cilantro well is its tendency to bolt as the weather warms. University of Maryland Extension notes that cilantro bolts as plants mature late and temperatures rise, and Clemson Cooperative Extension confirms it sends up a flower stalk in hot, humid weather. A second-year gardener who plants one batch in spring, treating it like a perennial herb, will find the leaves turning sparse and bitter by early summer as the plant channels energy into flowering. Cilantro does not regrow its leaf flush once bolted, so without a new batch every few weeks, there is a stretch of summer with no fresh cilantro.