Coriander is one of my favourite herbs to grow. It grows really well in most gardens, and the coriander seeds are easy to collect.
I harvest my own coriander seeds because it’s a lot of fun to harvest something I grew.
By collecting your own coriander seeds, you can enjoy fresher coriander than what you buy in the spice aisle of the grocery store.
Also, the plants adapt to your garden conditions so the seed you plant that you collected tends to grow better.
My favourite reason for collecting coriander seeds from my garden — they’re free! Free seeds for cooking, and free seeds for next spring’s herb planting 🙂
If you are new to collecting and saving seeds, coriander is a great herb plant to start with. It produces a lot of seeds that are easy to collect.
I initially bought my coriander from RIchters herbs – they have a good selection of coriander-cilantro seeds and plants to choose from.
Coriander – cilantro herb in bloom – attracts beneficial insects to your garden
Coriander is an annual plant, meaning that the plant sprouts from a seed, grows and produces seed and dies, all within a year – coriander completes this growing cycle within a spring-to-fall growing season.
Green seeds will form on the coriander flower heads. Leave the seeds on the herb plant to ripen and dry. When the corinader seed is ripe, the seeds will look like little brown balls, ranging in colour from tan to dark brown.
Coriander seeds can be collected easily off the plant, once they are dry.
Ripe dry coriander seeds, ready for harvesting
I like to keep things simple, so my preferred way of harvesting dried coriander seed is to hold a bowl under the plant with one hand, and run my other hand up the dried seed stalk, knocking off the dried seeds into the bowl. Then, pick out any bits of coriander stem that may have broken off.
If it looks like the weather’s turning nasty, I can run out into the garden with a bowl and harvest the dry seeds before they get soaked by rain, or before heavy winds knock the herb seeds to the ground. Bowl in hand, I can collect the dried coriander seeds in a matter of minutes.
If you want your coriander herb to self-sow, harvest the seeds you want to use for cooking, and let a few seeds scatter on the ground as you are harvesting.
I like to leave some coriander seeds on the stems to fall off later on their own. The seeds will sprout in the spring – no planting required 🙂
Sprouted coriander from fallen seeds
If you are collecting coriander seeds from an area in the garden where you don’t want the coriander to grow next year, cut off the dried stems being careful not to disturb the seeds, and separate the seed from the stems indoors.
Store your coriander seeds in a dry cool place, and enjoy your harvest 🙂
Happy Harvesting,
Barb
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