Herb Garden Question

[ColleenSwerb]

So I planted some herbs to grow in our kitchen window back in April (Cilantro, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary). My cilantro is growing like CRAZY so I think I need to transfer it to a bigger pot (which I have, I just want to spraypaint it white and seal it first).

My main question though, is how do I snip the leaves off the plants? Or more accurately, WHERE do I snip them? Having never done this before, I don't want to snip off to much and then have the stalk die, cuz I'm pretty sure each stem will keep regrowing leaves, right? :confused:

Totally clueless here, any help or tips are greatly appreciated!

[Darcy Baldwin]

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/herb/how-to-harvest-cilantro.htm

If you are talking about cilantro. We can't keep ours from bolting fast enough..so have planted a lot to get it while we can.

For any of the herbs, if you harvest from the top, you'll get a tall leggy plant. Harvesting from the mid point, you'll get a fatter plant. Try to cut while leaving a little bit of leaf stock for it to generate more -don't cut it at the ground unless it's something like lettuce or chives.

ETA..you can freeze fresh herbs now if you're getting more than you can eat to use during the winter when fresh is out of the question :)

[ColleenSwerb]

The basil plant is doing really well too. Oregano and Rosemary are slow going, but they'll get there. I'm just shocked I haven't managed to kill them somehow, lol!

Thanks for the link Darcy! It sounds like it couldn't be easier, LOL! I def need to move it to a newer bigger pot soon. It's growing pretty tall, but I think a deeper pot will give it stronger roots and stronger stems. Maybe I'll work on that tonight after my run. I basically just dumped a bunch of seeds in some potting soil and waited to see what would happen, LOL! I'm such an awesome gardener :p

[Nettio]

Thanks for asking this Col because I was given a cilantro plant as a gift and it's totally gotten out of control. I think based on that link it's probably bolting? which I had no idea there was even such a thing since I know absolutely zero about plants. :unsure:

It had been doing really well but I had a friend take care of it the week I went to Disney and it came back to me totally slumped over with tiny little leaves instead of the nice cilantro-looking ones. I guess that's what happens when it starts bolting? We made salsa over the weekend and there wasn't even enough leaves for the 1/4 cup of cilantro we needed so I think it may be time to just be done with this plant experiment. :(

[Darcy Baldwin]

Lynnette - if it's flowering, it's bolting. Cilantro bolts really easily - which is why it's good to plant it in staggering waves so you have new plants growing in case.

[Nettio]

Yeah, it's definitely flowering, and it's grown to where it looks more like a vine than a plant, haha. It came as a gift in one of those biodegradable pot things so all the label said was you plant it and make sure it was in bright sun and watered. See, this is why I don't do plants because there's always some kind of magic rule I don't know about. :D I think I might just get rid of it at this point and not worry about it since we'll be leaving in a few weeks anyway and it's definitely not going to survive us being gone for that long.

[ColleenSwerb]

Hmmm, I need to see if it's flowering. I didn't think it was, but I wasn't really paying attention. I just know it's a super thirsty plant, lol.

Bagging and freezing some is a great idea too Darcy, thanks. I think I have 2 bigger planters that I can put more cilantro in. I still have a lot of seeds, so maybe I'll start another batch after I transfer my current ones to a new pot.