Q: I’m interested in growing parsley and rosemary as my first herbs, are they hard to maintain?
A: Herb gardening is an excellent entry point into edible gardening. They don’t take up too much room, they are (generally) less fussy about growing conditions, and fresh herbs really add a lot to home cooking.
Perennial herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme, bay laurel, marjoram and oregano produce all year round, but their flavors will be strongest during the summer and early fall months. These herbs are all well-adapted to our Mediterranean climate and will grow well with minimal attention.
Parsley, cilantro, dill and basil are annuals that will grow for one season and die with the first frost. They, too, will grow very well in our climate, but they will need to be replaced every year.
Q: My cilantro plants always bolt before I can even pick it. Same with dill. When do you plant to have success?
A: Many annual herbs will bolt quickly – some as soon as there’s the slightest hint of warm weather. Cilantro has an unfortunate tendency to bolt very quickly. Sometimes you can extend the harvest by cutting off the bolting stems, but the flavor will decline regardless.
Look for varieties of “slow-bolt” cilantro and parsley. They won’t produce all summer, but they will give you a little more time to harvest the leaves before they become tough and tasteless.
I have had some success with saving seeds and re-sowing continually through the summer. When the cilantro starts to bolt, remove and discard the plants that bolt first, Save the seeds from the last plant to bolt and re-plant those immediately. Repeat this process and you will have selected your own slow-bolt cilantro.
Q: I grow all tomatoes in containers. Easy to water, watch, move to sunny areas, pick, and protect from gophers. Also, I can give them the perfect soil mixture, not the horrible stuff in the earth here. It’s difficult, time consuming, and expensive to recreate this mixture every year. How important is it that I make up all new mixtures every year? Would that increase the cost and effort by 100% to get a 10% improvement in the plants?
A: If you are growing vegetables or other edibles in containers, and don’t have any issues with diseases such as fusarium or verticillium wilt, you don’t have to start from scratch every year when you plant new veggies.
Keep in mind, though, that when you harvest fruit (or leaves) from container-grown edibles, you will need to replenish the soil. I recommend adding finished compost or vermicompost (worm castings) to the existing soil in your pots. When you pull out the spent plants, soil ends up getting removed, so just “top off” with some compost.
We have also used slow-release pelleted fertilizer to help things along. Avoid using more concentrated granular fertilizer because it might be too concentrated for containers.Have questions? Email gardening@scng.com.
Looking for more gardening tips? Here’s how to contact the Master Gardener program in your area.
Los Angeles County
mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/
Orange County
ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; 949-809-9760; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/
Riverside County
anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; 951-683-6491 ext. 231; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/
San Bernardino County
mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu/
The Link LonkMay 06, 2021 at 11:56PM
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How to get started with herb gardening and how to keep cilantro from bolting - Press-Enterprise
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