Cilantro Succession Planting and Fall Gardens with Megan Cain |Bonus Episode
Click here for Megan Cain’s YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEtSd45qpUY&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=Creative+Vegetable+Gardener+Community&utm_campaign=b735563d18-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_25_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_939b3d6015-b735563d18-121273165&mc_cid=b735563d18&mc_eid=72627ad344 ( Tips for Growing Cilantro All Season Long) I think it’s something that’s on a lot of people’s minds this year because it’s summer One thing that’s good to know is cilantro doesn’t really like the summer! It doesn’t like the heat! Even I live in the Northern climate but it still get’s hot in the summer. Plus the increasing daylight although it was just the solstice but now we actually have getting decreasing daylight. But the increasing sunlight cause things to bolt and go to flower After you get one or two harvests you’ll see it’s trying to push up a flower which means it’s bolting It’s gonna try to set seed often because it’s stressed which is often because of the heat A common questions when I’m out and about and at classes People ask me “How do I grow Cilantro?” It likes conditions it likes are cool not in the summer better luck in spring and summer or fall some people might be listening in winter Try to plant it as early as possible plant cilantro a month before my average last frost mid may OR plant in mid April If conditions are ok you want to plant about a month before last frost it’s gonna be a lot happpier If you have a cold frame or low tunnel, you can plant it even a month before that mid March. I have been experimenting with that! But even if you plant it early, its gonna go to seed, it’s gonna bolt So one tip is just keep PLANTING! You don’t plant it once and think you are going to have it for the rest of the season. So keep planting. It’s one of the vegetables best for succession planting I wrote myself last year, remind myself to plant cilantro every two weeks! Just keep planting a row every week every two weeks You’ll notice as it get’s close to summer it bolts pretty quickly I harvest it and try to cut it short, to prevent it from bolting. Some of the leaves grow back This is my cilantro this year had already bolted back at the end of June. What do you do after it bolts? Do you pull it out, let it go to seed? After it bolts I love the flowers! I think they’re really pretty Beneficial insects like it. I found ladybugs and other insects on there let it flower go to seed gets top heavy We had rain over vacation, and it flopped over and covering them, so I yanked it out in general I tell people that once a plant isn’t producing get it out so you can get another crop in there keep in mind for insects too carrots or beets wait a little space empty planting fall garden another tip is if you can keep it cooler in the summer you might have better luck! plant in garden that is shade I went to visit these friends and they put it in a place that is shady which is not that great for veggies or salad greens in August I don’t have a lot of salad greens or cilantro They had a full lush bed, because they had it in such a shady bed So if you have a shady part in your garden, great place to plant that don’t like the hot weather Shade Cloth An experiment I am doing this year is I bought some shade cloth lightly woven black mesh If you look online you can see there are different thicknesses that blocks out a certain amount of light I got one that blocks about 30% of the light because I need some light to grow vegetables But in the late afternoon shade cilantro salad mix in there can I keep salad mix growing throughout the summer with some shade cloth Often I take a break in the summer from eating lettuce because it also bolts Three awesome... Support this podcast