Overwintered cilantro!
It’s not a hardy herb at all, and I’m not at all sure how these little seedlings made it through the extreme cold spell we had the week before Christmas—and all the other winter Northeasters that hit our area since November.
But I’m delighted it’s in my garden.
Now, I don’t care for cilantro at all. At least for eating. (Okay, a bit is nice in guac but that’s as far as I go!)
And this plant can self-seed so prolifically it can get invasive if you let it get established in one of your food-growing beds.
So you might wonder, why am I happy about finding cilantro already thriving in early April?
Well these cilantro plants’ head start means they will be in flower far earlier than usual. And pollinators love the flowers! Cilantro flowers are only small clusters of tiny white blossoms but they will bring in lots of different pollinators. You’ll see tiny beneficial wasps working the blossoms over, and lots of other little beneficial insects too.
And since it self-seeds, it’s the gift that keeps on giving…for free!
Cilantro is a small plant, and doesn’t take much space, but it makes a big impact on your garden’s pollinator population.
In my upcoming gardening class, “Grow a Homestead-Style Food Garden,” scheduled for April 18, one of the topics we discuss is the role and importance of pollinator-attracting plantings. Because let’s face it, you can’t grow a range of food without pollinators!
If you think the class sounds promising… It actually inspired my free ebook, Little Farm in the Garden. All the class content and more is in the book. If you’d like to take a look, just click on the book cover to your right!
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