Coriander (cilantro), 2 g, AGRONOM

• Species: Coriandrum sativum — coriander
• Producer: AGRONOM, Agrofirma Sėklos (Lithuania)
• Packet: 2 g (~200 seeds)
• Height: 50–60 cm
• Leaf crop: 25–30 days after emergence
• Seed crop: August, 90–110 days from sowing
• Sowing: direct, April to July, 1.5–2 cm deep
• Germination: 10–18 days
• Spacing: 8–10 cm between plants, 25–30 cm between rows
• Position: sun or light shade (shade delays bolting)
• Soil: light, free-draining, pH 6.0–7.5
• Uses: leaves in salads and soups, seed in baking and pickles

Sow where it is to grow. Coriander has a taproot and will not take transplanting: a moved plant bolts within a week and gives no leaf. Raising it as transplants is pointless.

Sow in succession. For leaf, sow every 2–3 weeks from April to July. One sowing yields leaf for 3–4 weeks and then buds and flowers — that is its nature, not a fault in your care.

Delaying bolting. Long days and dry heat push it into flower. Sow more thickly, keep the soil evenly moist and give light midday shade, and you gain another week or two of leaf. In high summer sow into part shade outright.

Cutting. Cut the outer leaves and leave the centre — the plant regrows. If you want seed, leave a couple of plants untouched and take no leaf from them.

Harvesting seed. Cut the umbels when the seed has browned but not yet shed. Dry in bunches inside a paper bag, somewhere dark and airy, for 1–2 weeks. Dried seed smells citrussy — the green seed smells of bedbugs, which is where the plant's old name comes from.

Self-seeding. Let some seed fall and coriander returns on its own next spring, often earlier and stronger than a sown crop.

Watch out for. Heavy wet soil (root rot) and aphids. No sprays on a leaf crop at all: wash aphids off with a jet of water.