On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 07:46:11 -0400, Pat Meadows
wrote:

On Tue, 5 Aug 2003 19:18:01 -0400, "Davlo"
wrote:

I'm new to the newsgroup and I'm hoping to find some advice about my
cilantro. I have a good looking plant going in my garden in afternoon sun,
but the leaves are wispy and thin, not full and hearty like cilantro I buy
at the supermarket. Am I supposed to pinch off the little flowers that form
(which is what I've been doing)? How can I get those full leaves growing?

Too late. Your plants have 'bolted' - changed their form
and produced flowers with the ultimate goal of producing
seeds. It's a one-way street, they can't go back.

Cilantro does this VERY quickly.

You can buy 'slow-bolt' cilantro seeds from Pinetree Gardens
(and probably other places) or you can just cut your
cilantro as soon as it looks like cilantro....

It may not bolt as quickly in cooler (spring/fall)
temperatures, although I'm not sure of this.

I haven't noticed a great deal of difference between 'slow-bolt' and
plain ol'. Summer here is just too hot. I'm going to plant some right
now in hope of a fall harvest.

To Davlo -- you may note that if the supermarket cilantro is sold with
roots on, the bundles are of *many* plants. So each marketable plant
is young and has maybe a dozen good-sized leaf stalks. If you want
lots of cilantro, you gotta plant lots of cilantro. And, for the most
part, it isn't "cut and come again" like many other herbs.

When it begins to flower, it's culinary usefulness is over (I beg to
be corrected). Don't remove flowers; just wait to collect seeds for
the next crop. Cilantro produces seeds very generously. And of course,
the seeds are what we call coriander -- a useful spice in that form.