Saving Seeds: Coriander

I tried to harvest all my spring-crop cilantro before the weather got really warm this summer, but some of it managed to send up seed stalks before I could get to it. No worries, when a crop goes to seed before you can harvest it, there's an opportunity for seed saving. In general, I try to save some seeds from non-hybrid varieties that I especially like and/or do well in my garden. In this case, I wasn't planning on saving seeds, but got some anyway.

Dried seed stalks:

When the seeds were fully formed and beginning to dry, I pulled out the stalks and let them dry in our sun room...they've been drying in there for the past week or so.

In British English, the fresh herb and the seed are both called coriander... but here in the US, we tend to call the fresh herb cilantro, while the dried seed is called coriander. I can't remember whether this particular crop was a hybrid variety or not, so I'll just use the seeds in cooking.

I'm not sure why, but it seems like I always have several packets of cilantro, basil, and carrot seeds in my seed box, even though I never remember buying them. Anyway, I've planted more cilantro for an autumn harvest....these little guys will probably be ready to harvest sometime in October:

Coriandrum sativum

And finally, here's my cat, Cheeky. She is really funny, and can always make me laugh. She's in the neighbor's tree that looks right into our sun room. She looks kind of crazed, but she's really ok. She is in the middle of a "meow" in this photo, calling out a little "hello" when she saw me through the sun room window.

Cheekiandrum Funnivum