Growing Cilantro: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 18, 2026
Cilantro is a genuinely short-lived crop in most climates: it wants cool weather, grows fast, and bolts to flower the moment real heat sets in, converting its leaves’ flavor from bright and citrusy to soapy and thin almost overnight.
What to expect
Direct-sow seed about 1/4 inch deep around 2 weeks before your last frost — cilantro doesn’t transplant well, so skip starting it indoors. At 9 plants per square foot, it’s dense and quick, reaching harvestable size in around 50 days. Because it bolts fast once heat arrives, successive small plantings every couple of weeks produce a steadier supply than one large planting all at once.
Common problems
Plants that shoot up a tall central stalk and stop producing new leaves have bolted — this is a heat response, not a disease, and once it starts the leaf flavor declines fast. If you want the seed (coriander), let a planting bolt on purpose rather than fighting it. Thin, leggy growth usually means the plants are too crowded or not getting enough direct light.
Where this fits in your garden
Cilantro pairs well with other cool-season, non-competing crops like spinach — see the full companion guide for cilantro. Its dense 9-per-square-foot spacing and short season make it a good crop to tuck into the Garden Designer as a quick-turnover filler between slower, longer-season plants.
Companion planting guide for Cilantro · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-10. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Direct sow — Direct-sow outside — Cilantro doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
Spacing: 9 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing).
Varieties worth considering
- Slow Bolt — True Leaf Market markets Slow Bolt specifically for its delayed bolting in heat, giving a longer harvest window of leaves before the plant switches over to flowering and seed (coriander) production — worth choosing over a standard variety if your springs warm up quickly. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety — we haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy cilantro seeds
Some links on this page go to retailers we may eventually earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews — see the sources cited on each item.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing cilantro" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video — results vary and aren't vetted by us)