How can it be Friday already? I’ve been playing catch up since returning from the Accessibility Summit in the DC Metro area–a day late thanks to US Airlines cancelling their Sunday night flight to Des Moines because they couldn’t assemble a crew willing to fly to our state capitol.
Who doesn’t want to fly to Iowa in April?
Along with unpacking, doing the laundry, debriefing the conference, and mentally composing a letter of complaint to the airline (they paid for our hotel, but did not issue flight vouchers or pay for meals and extra parking fees), I’ve given considerable thought to the cultivation of cilantro.
Why cilantro?
Because at Monday morning’s flight-bumped breakfast in DC, my egg wrap (minus the cheese) at Busboys and Poets included a cilantro-heavy salsa that almost made the extra day of travel worth it. (Please don’t pass that tidbit on to US Airlines.) The deliciousity of the salsa motivated me to return cilantro, which I mentally banished from this year’s herb garden, as a resident in this year’s herb garden.
Why was it banished?
Because for 3 years running it bolted before I could pick it. A quick internet search led to www.Sunset.com and an article about how to grow cilantro. Several problems with my cultivation techniques surfaced:
- Cilantro grows best in cool weather. Like tomorrow would be a good day to start planting.
- Once weather turns hot, it needs a shady spot. Mine’s been on the south side of the house.
- Frequent haircuts keep it producing longer.
Guess what’s happening at our house this weekend? One of us will do the heavy potting soil lifting, and one of us will sow cilantro and brush up on plant barbering. It’s gonna be fun…and quite possibly in the near future, very tasty.
What about you? Have you fine tuned the fine art of raising cilantro? Do you have cultivation or barbering tips? Please leave a comment.
Photo Source: www.sunset.com
