Time Taken / Energy Needed
This is a low-energy activity, unless you need to clear some ground in which to plant the seeds.  If this is the case, consider working on your plot in small bursts until it is ready, or plant your seeds in containers of compost. The energy is mostly needed to set up your equipment and then put things away afterwards, so take your time and have a rest as and when you need to.  Sowing the seeds only takes 5 minutes.

Equipment

•  A sunny patch of well-drained soil
OR
•  A plant pot.  The bigger the better. The larger your pot, the stronger your plants will be and the less often you will need to water them.  You can grow coriander in a small pot on a windowsill, but it will be happier in something larger.
•  Peat-free compost (on a potting tray if you need to sit down, otherwise, take the pot to the bag and scoop it straight from the bag rather than trying to carry heavy compost around).
AND
•  A packet of seed.  Use seed sold for sowing not cooking, as culinary coriander seed has often been steam cleaned and the heat kills it. Once you have saved seed from these first plants, just set some aside each year to grow on the next, rather than buying more.
•  A trowel
•  Labels and a pen / pencil


Instructions
When?
To benefit from both leaf and seed, sow coriander in the late summer, so that it can become established before the cold of winter. Given a little protection under fleece or a coldframe, it will keep you in leaves until after Christmas. Sow any later than March/early April in the spring and you are more likely to get a wonderful crop of seed than leaf.  This will vary with the year-to-year changes in the season and the latitude of your garden, i.e., whether the plants have time to establish lots of leafy growth before the warmer, drier weather that triggers bolting arrives.  

How?
1.  Make a shallow drill (trench) in the ground about 5cm wide and 1cm deep, or, fill your plant pot with compost, leaving a couple of centimetres empty at the top.  Level the surface and firm it down gently.
2.  Water the drill/compost well before scattering the seeds roughly 1cm apart  across the surface of the drill/compost and covering them lightly.
As a rule of thumb, only ever cover seeds to twice their own depth, or they will not have the energy stored to reach the surface.  Don’t worry too much about accurate spacing.  Any that come up too close together can thinned out later and eaten as baby leaves.
Watering the drill first means the ground beneath the seeds will be in direct contact with nice moist soil, less will evaporate from the top, and your seeds will stay where you put them instead of being washed along the drill by the flow of water.
3.  Don’t forget to label your row so you don’t come along next week and plant something else through it (oops!).
4.  For containers, keep the compost damp, never wet, and feed weekly with a liquid feed.
5.  Leave your seedlings to grow until they are lush and bushy.  Pick a few leaves from each plant at a time to allow the remainder to keep growing.

Alternatively, just scatter the seed over a patch of ground and water the area well.  I use this approach in my small salad bed, as it allows the annual coriander plants to fill in spaces between my perennial sorrels.  I do the same with parsley, and both plants then tend to self-seed freely, saving me a job.  The coriander flowers in the image below are self-seeded in an apple tree container. Any that come up too thickly or in an unwanted place I just eat as baby leaves.
Coriander FlowersCaring for your plants
When the plants produce flowers they may need some support.  Tie tall plants in to small garden canes, or jam twiggy branches in between them as they grow.  This prevents the plants from falling over under the weight of their seed heads and becoming dirty and damp.

SAVING THE SEEDS
Time Taken / Energy Needed
This is a very quick and low-energy activity. You need enough energy to walk to the plant, pick the seed heads and sit at a table processing the seed for a few minutes.

Equipment
•  Seed heads from your chosen plant
•  Scissors to cut the stems
•  A large paper bag (the type with handles is easy to hang up)
•  A large tray for collecting seed from the dried stems
•  A glass jar / airtight container / sealable envelope for storage
•  Labels and a pen / pencil

Instructions
1.  Cut the seed heads once they and the stems have turned brown.
2.  Tie the heads in bunches like a bouquet and place them upside down in a large paper bag.
3.  Hang the bag up in a cool, dry, airy place.  This will allow the air to circulate while catching any dry seed that falls off.
4.  Remove the seeds from the stems once they are completely dry. Hold each spray over a large tray and pull it through your hands to rub the seeds off.  Be careful of the tiny stalks on coriander which can be quite prickly.
5.  Separate out the chaff  by shaking and tipping the tray. The seeds will tend to roll down to one end, leaving the lighter waste behind.  If it’s a nice day, take the tray outside and blow gently across it so that this lighter ‘chaff’ blows away leaving the heavy seed behind.  
6.  Store the seed in a glass spice jar for your kitchen cupboard and keep some in an air-tight container or envelope in a cool, dry place for sowing next year.  The little sachets of silicone found in medicine jars and other items that need to be kept dry are useful for keeping your seed dry too. 

7.  Don’t forget to label it, including the year it was collected.  

Spice DrawerStoring Seed
Seed for sowing needs to be kept dry and cool, so never leave it in a shed or greenhouse where temperatures vary hugely with the weather.  

I store my seeds for sowing in labelled paper envelopes, gathered into plastic bags according to which month they will be sown in, and then sealed in an airtight plastic tub, which lives in the cool of my utility room.

Did you know?
Coriander’s Latin name is Coriandrum sativum, the sativum refers to its being a plant that is cultivated, and is also seen in the Latin names for garlic, peas, barley and oregano. It is also frequently associated with plants that promote good health; coriander is sometimes used in alternative medicine for digestive issues.

Some people find the leaves taste soapy and unpleasant and this is thought to be due to genetic variations in our tastebuds.  I’m glad not to have that gene!

OTHER SPICES TO TRY SOWING
Dill and cumin can be grown and harvested as in my instructions for coriander, as they are all annual plants.  I haven’t tried overwintering these, so would sow in the mid-spring, but it’s worth experimenting with a few late-sown plants.

Dill seeds are flattish and surrounded by a papery frill. They are commonly used in Scandinavian baking as well as in dill pickles. The seeds’ healing properties have been known for generations, being described in Culpeper’s Herbal of 1653 as, ‘a gallant expeller of wind’. It is still an important healing plant, with its seeds forming a key ingredient in the gripe water sold to calm colicky babies.  

Cumin is another store-cupboard staple, forming a core part of many Indian spice mixes and appearing in a huge range of dishes from Middle-Eastern Falafel to breads, salads, soups and pickles from all around the world.

Fennel, is a large perennial  that will come back from thick roots year after year and create huge amounts of seed from a plant that will be taller than you are, so site it carefully!   It is not really suited to pots unless they are pretty big. Just scatter a few seeds where you want them to grow, cover them, water, and wait.  

Fennel is often to be seen, with its plumes of feathery leaves and yellow flowers, dancing in the summer verges, particularly on dual-carriageways.  As well as having a delicious aniseed flavour, it is a fabulous plant for bringing in insect pollinators and predators like hoverflies, to hoover up your aphids.  

I have a fennel in a corner of one of my veg beds, where it comes back year after year.  Its hollow stems also provide overwintering spaces for insects like ladybirds, and when I cut them down in spring I bundle them up and make insect houses or push them under the hedge as shelter for the creeping insects.
Fennel’s strong aniseed flavour is good for breads, casseroles and curries and the green seeds have a powerful fresh flavour, lovely to eat as you pass by (if you like aniseed).

Do you have a spare corner where coriander could grow?

How could you use these spices in your cooking?