Holy Cilantro!

Today I was out fiddling with my compost bins and took a look over at my bare decrepit gardens.  My rosemary is still going strong, but that has always been a herb that isn’t difficult to maintain.  I planted a cilantro plant I bought from Fresh Market last year in hopes of being able to make my own salsa.  Well, my tomato crop was pathetic last year.  My onions were even worse.  My jalapeno peppers – never produced one pepper.  However, that cilantro lasted the whole garden season and I just let it be…

I looked over at my cilantro and rosemary today.  The cilantro was just a big ole beauty winking at me!  So I googled how to harvest cilantro.  What I found was you want to keep cilantro from bolting and to have it last a very long time.  In order to do that you harvest 2/3 of the plant – the top 2/3 – and leave the bottom 1/3 of the plant to grow more leaves in the future.  You are also supposed to harvest the plant once a week.

I got my scissors and went over to that beauty and gave her a trim. She is nearly bald now, with some leggy shoots sticking out of the ground.  I don’t know if all those leaves will grow back in one week, but I am greatly satisfied with my first cilantro harvest.

 

I think I will search for some more cilantro plants and put them down because they seem to thrive in that garden.  Might as well work with what I got, right?

I am so proud of myself for this.  It has been so long since I harvested my own herb or vegetable and after such a crappy garden season last year I needed a pick me up for starting my garden this year.  I am drinking some cilantro in my green juice as I type and it’s mmm mmm good!  Thank you to the cilantro gods!