Greens & herbs
Cilantro & dill
Sow Jan to Feb and Sep; skip summer.
- Outside
- Direct Jan to Feb and Sep
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun; light shade slows the bolt
- Water
- Every few days; dry roots trigger bolt
- Harvest
- Mar to Apr, then Oct to Nov
Care
- Water
- Keep both evenly damp with the finger test; dry roots bolt them as fast as a hot spell does. Here that means watering the cool-season rows in dry spells, when the rest of the bed barely wants anything.
- Sow
- Direct sow, never in cells: a disturbed cilantro root bolts on the spot. The Texas dates are exact, January or February for a spring crop and September for a fall crop. Sow shallow and thick.
- Feed
- Light feeders grown fast and cut young: compost in the row at sowing is plenty. Rich feeding buys lush, flavor-thin leaves rather than bolt resistance; dry roots and cold snaps are what actually bolt them, and the calendar here is built to dodge both.
- Ready
- Gather whole fistfuls at the base once a stand fills in. When they bolt anyway, run with it: dill heads flavor the pickle crock, and cilantro seed dried on the plant comes back as coriander.
- Trouble
- Heat and dry roots gang up on both, which is why the sowings sit in the cool months here and skip summer entirely. Little else bothers them; leave the black swallowtail caterpillars alone, they are a bonus.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 3–5 gal bag.
- Water
- A bag dries faster than a bed even in the cool months; water often enough to keep the mix evenly damp.
- Feed
- A pinch of compost at sowing is the whole program.
- Sow
- Sow both straight into the bag and cut whole handfuls; never start cilantro in cells to move over.
The salsa garden's finishing herb, on exact Texas dates: sow in January or February and again in September, and let summer have the bed.
Growing
The state's cilantro sheet is unusually specific: sow in January or February for a spring crop or in September for a fall crop, and dill shares the September window and the late-February spring window; dill winter-kills near 25F while cilantro shrugs toward 10F, so dill waits out the coldest weeks. Cilantro answers transplanting with an immediate flower stalk, so sow it in place, thick, and cut whole handfuls at the soil line. Even moisture stretches the stand; let the roots go dry and both herbs answer with flower stalks. When the heat wins in May, let it win: the schedule already moved on.
Varieties
The Texas sheet lists Long Standing, Slo Bolt and Leisure for cilantro; a slow-bolting strain stretches each window a little.
In the kitchen
Cilantro is the finishing herb of pico de gallo and salsa verde, and the September sowing is what puts fresh cilantro over the whole fall salsa season. Dill still belongs to the cucumber jars.