That looks good. What kind of fertilizer do you use?

No fertilizer at all, so far. If I see it needs anything, I might give it Miracle Gro at some point during the season. But it's just water and the soil in the planting bed.

I'm going to start cutting bunches of it and giving it to neighbors. It's getting to where its even too much for ME to use, and that's saying a lot! :-)

Kill it! Kill it! Cilantro tastes awful! :o) Just kidding... very nice... I've never grown it, since I can't stand the taste.

LOL! What really tastes awful is CULANTRO. OMG! I bought one plant last year and it was horrid. I couldn't wash the oil off my hands. Horrid smell!

gboro,

Can you tell us what zone you are in, what the average day / night temps are and how much direct sun the cilantro is getting please ?

It looks fantastic !

Im in Zone 7, North Carolina. The cilantro made it through the winter, completely unattended. It was hardly anything during the winter, I never expected it to come back. But around February, new growth appeared, I was surprised so early. By the time the warmer temps hit, 60 and above, it started growing like crazy. Even when it fell below freezing for a few days, it was unaffected. It gets about 5 hours of direct sunlight a day, the rest filtered. I do nothing but water it, and weed, and I'm constantly harvesting from it to cook with.

Temps here were below freezing for quite a while. Lately, it's been in the 80's. It's very hot and humid here in North Carolina, where I am, and the cilantro seems to love it.

I am in NC as well and I would like to try to overwinter cilantro and parsley this year. When did you plant these? When did you start cutting them back?
thanks

The cilantro was planted, from seed, in the spring of 2006. It did nicely the first year (much better than the container cilantro I did the same year....bolted too fast).
As far as cutting them back, I didn't really. I harvest from the plants all the time, and when the season was over, the cilantro kind of died out, and there were just a little vegetation that remained on the ground come winter. You couldn't even tell what it was. Never expected it to come back. But as I said, in February I noticed the area becoming green. And when the warmer temps hit, it started growing like crazy, til it's where it is now. And in between that February time, there were freezing temps. Seemed unaffected by it.
As far as harvesting, for me I use it a lot, but if you don't, just grab parts of the plant all over and rip off a bunch of the top leaves...fistfuls. Seems as I constantly do that, it just gets more dense and lush and doesn't bolt.

Jenniesue, parsley is a biennial and becomes strong flavored the second year or completely looses the flavor. I have had both and although they look the same I can't tell without tasteing. If you have a quiet spot the second year parsley attracts butterfly larva which start out looking like small black dots. Sad to say I attended a lecture several years ago on butterflies where many of the attendees had no idea that the spots where what they were trying to attract.

You have plenty to harvest there. If it grows much longer it will start to bolt and then you can't use it except to collect the coriander seeds. Cilantro is difficult to preserve. Chopping and freezing can help a little, or you can dry it. Unfortunately the natural oils in it are very volitile and so it loses most of its aroma and flavor very quickly. Cilantro is a shade lover and doesn't do well in the heat.

It's gorgeous! Hurry up and chop it down and make salsa and guac and cilantro pesto! Oh I'd be in heaven with so much cilantro. Mine are still itty-bitty seedlings at this point.

I'm constantly harvesting it to use in different things I cook. I'm also giving it away. Even if I am not using it, when I see it's getting too big, I will just go down the row and ripe off bunches. Not before I've made some pesto, though! But as long as I maintain it, I don't think it'll be a problem and I can postpone it bolting.

Hi there. My Cilantro always wants to bolt not long after planting,maybe I should try it from seed instead of in a pot and in more shade!? To gborosteve:I really would like to know how to make that Cilantro pesto! Thank's Annette.

gborosteve, that's a great patch of cilantro! Last year I had two cilantro plants and from the seeds, this year have hundreds. Yesterday I harvested most of it and made cilantro pesto to put in the freezer. I'd like to know how you make your pesto.

Annette, to make my pesto I fill the food processor bowl well with the cilantro, add about 1/4 cup olive oil and process. Guestimating on the amount of oil. I don't normally measure it.

I've also made a cilantro pesto that mixes it with some parsley. With basil pesto I add pine nuts. I did that with at least one batch of the cilantro last year. Good luck!

Becky

Becky,
Bascially, I use about 4 cups of cilantro, a couple cloves of garlic (maybe three, because I LOVE garlic), for cilantro pesto I used walnuts (I think...could have been the basic pine nuts), the zest of juice of one lime, and then EVOO til it was the right consistency. And of course, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Kosher salt. I'm usually easy on the salt, as the parmesan cheese has a tendency to be salty. I leave out the parmesan cheese until I am ready to use it. When the time comes, I will take it from the freezer and thaw it in the refrigerator. I will then scoop out the jar and put the contents in a bowl, and add finely grated parmesan cheese (the real stuff!), and fold it all together. I don't reprocess it in the food processor.

My cilantro is growing like crazy. I've cut it back three times since the picture posted above. I could make container after container or cilantro pesto!

Does anyone have a problem with ants loving cilantro?