Cilantro Loves the Cold

An essential ingredient in cuisines ranging from Mexican to Chinese and Indian, you can buy cilantro by the bunch in the produce section of the market. But with almost no work at all, you can enjoy several months of non-stop picking from your own garden.

Cilantro, also known as Chinese parsley, prefers full sun, although it will tolerate light shade. The seed will germinate in very cold soil, shrugging off spring frost and snow. Now is a good time to plant.

If you like cilantro very much, you’ll want to start from seed. It takes too many seedlings to make buying transplants practical, and they don’t transplant well. As each individual plant is rather small, space the seeds an inch or two apart. Later you can thin them to a spacing of about four inches, eating the ones you remove. The small round seeds need darkness to germinate. Bury them about half an inch deep, directly outside where you want them to grow. Tap roots offer some drought tolerance, but don’t let the plants dry out completely.

 

Thyme: Thymus vulgaris

APPEARANCE

This common thyme is a green foliage plant that grows 12-15 inches high and up to 2 feet wide with purple, white or pink flowers.  Although used for cooking, this variety is not reliably hardy over the winter. It is an attractive plant and worth considering for your garden. Your choices for thyme include many scented varieties as well as the creeping thymes that form wonderful groundcovers.

CULTIVATION

Thyme vulgaris requires 10-12 inches of spacing between plants, low to moderate water and well drained soil. It will tolerate dry conditions in full sun to partial shade in Zones 5-9. To prevent unattractive winter dieback, site in locations with good snow cover during the winter. Alternatively, water monthly during the winter.

Thyme comes in upright and prostrate forms and is considered non-aggressive. It may be started from stem cuttings or by dividing another plant. Harvest the aerial parts for cooking. Other reasons to grow thyme are to deter cabbage worms and encourage bees to visit.

LANDSCAPE USE

This standard kitchen herb is rarely browsed by deer. Depending o the variety, thyme is useful as a creeper between stepping stones or as a turf substitute in some landscapes where foot traffic is light. This plant blooms profusely in early summer but does not compete with other plants.

Contributed by Nadine Salmons, Colorado Master Gardener. For answers to your horticultural questions, contact the Master Gardener Help Desk at 636.8921 or CSUmg2@elpasoco.com.

Photo courtesy of  Leslie Holzmann.