Coriander - a real problem

[Garvey]

I use loads of corainder in my cooking. I tried to grow it throughout last year but it just got very tall and leggy and never bushed up. Any ideas why this is?

[Two_Sheds]

Tell us how you grow it. What do you do?

[srodders]

Make sure you have coriander for leaf (cilantro) as opposed to the one for seed.

[zazen999]

And keep chopping it back, weekly, if you aren't using it.

[Garvey]

Nothing special. Just pop it in posts of compost and let it grow. Same thoing occurs when I seed it in the veg patch?

[Glutton4...]

Are you sowing it too closely, so it competes with its neighbours?

Just a thought... I know nothing... except Coriander is food of the gods!

[Eco-Chic]

I use loads of corainder in my cooking. I tried to grow it throughout last year but it just got very tall and leggy and never bushed up. Any ideas why this is?

Same happened with mine. I sowed it quite thickly and transplanted it into individual 7cm pots successfully but it didn't 'fill out'. I wonder if the light levels were too low last year?

[Eyren]

My coriander was great last year - I scattered chicken poo on my raised bed in late winter and let it weather, and the parsley and coriander from my 2007 sowings had self-seeded. Not sure if it was the chicken poo or the fact that the seed was nice and fresh, but I got absolutely masses of growth. This was outdoors in a raised bed filled with compost - maybe raising it indoors is the problem?

[Two_Sheds]

Coriander hates being transplanted.

You really need to sow it direct.

[Garvey]

Many thanks for the good advice Two Sheds and thank you to everyone who is contributing to my thread. I heard that coriander will bolt in full sun and needs cooler conditions to thrive. Would you suggest a shaded area to sow the seed?

[Two_Sheds]

My coriander bolted every year.
Last year I thought "s0d you" and just left it to go to seed. Hey presto - thousands of little baby corianders in autumn!

They do like a bit of shade if it's very hot (grow them like lettuce in between taller crops)

You aren't supposed to transplant them, but they were so thick that I had to divide the clump up a bit. I now have a dozen clumps about a foot apart each way.

There's more info here: Growing Coriander - Herb Expert (UK)

[Garvey]

Two Sheds,
Great advice - thank you. The heb expert web site is excellent.

[cupcake]

At a garden fair a couple of years ago, (or it may be more!) a chap from a herb nursery said that coriander was better in a slightly shaded spot. I had assumed that because it come from warmer climates it needed full sun. Trouble is I have very little shade!

[-pat m]

Hi
Might not be helpful but… I sow it like you buy it in the shops in pots. Like you I use a lot of coriander all year around and either indoors or in the greenhouse plant it every few weeks. No real problem but the quality does vary with regards to leggyness but because there is always co much about it is not a problem.

Regards
Pat

[Eyren]

Trouble is I have very little shade!

Maybe you could manufacture some? I have two raised beds in my garden, both south-facing, but I thought that this year I'd try shading one of them with climbing beans so that the leafy crops like spinach and lettuce would be happier, and leaving the other one (planted with outdoor tomatoes and suchlike) to get the full sun. We shall see...