Cilantro is a cool-season herb with a brief but prolific growing and harvesting window. Sensitive to both heat and sunlight hours, it quickly bolts and goes to seed when exposed to too much of either. Several methods exist for extending the harvest, one of which is to prune and harvest plants regularly. Find out how to keep cilantro growing, along with other tips on extending the season for this finicky herb. When to Prune Cilantro With most herbs, pruning equates to harvesting since you'll use leaves and stems you've removed. Once established, cilantro grows fairly rapidly and requires repeated pruning. Start heading back early when several stems reach 6 inches tall, removing 1 to 2 inches of top growth. How quickly your plant grows depends on the variety, with conditions a major factor, so watch for signs of bolting. These include the appearance of small white flowers and the emergence of a tall, thick central stem with smaller, finer leaves. Avoid working with wet leaves and stems by pruning between late morning and early evening. How to Prune Cilantro Without Killing the Plant Cilantro stems grow from a central rosette, which becomes fuller and bushier with consistent pruning. It has a deep tap root and growth habit similar to parsley and carrots, but with a shorter season and a greater tendency to bolt. Keep a pair of sharp, sterile scissors or herb snippers handy and follow these steps to get the most from your cilantro plants. Begin pruning when plants have produced several stems 6 inches tall, snipping out the top inch or two just above a leaf node. As new stems emerge from the center of the plant, prune back the outermost stems to 4 to 6 inches in height. Check plants at least once each week and continue to prune back growth around the outsides of the plant. As plants become fuller and bushier, you can remove the outermost stems at the base to encourage more center growth. Once spring temperatures start to rise above 65°F, look for flower buds forming at the tips of long stems and snip or pinch off stems below the bud. Watch for a thick stalk to appear in the center. To extend the harvest, try cutting it out at the base. Once temperatures exceed 70°F with more sun exposure, your cilantro will likely produce too many flowers for continued pruning. The thick center flower stalk indicates the plant is ready to bolt. You can pull the plant or let it go to flower and seed. Cilantro flowers attract pollinators, and mature seeds are used as the spice coriander. How to Prevent Cilantro Plants From Bolting Keep the soil moist. Give plants an inch of water each week, but be careful not to overwater. Mature plants need less but thrive in soil that stays consistently moist. Plant in part shade. Choose an area in the garden protected from hot afternoon sun. Prune early and often. Keep plants trimmed to a rounded, uniform shape and remove flower buds. Removethe central stem. Remove the thick central flowering stalk at the base. Choose a heat-tolerant variety. Look for seeds labeled 'Slow Bolt' or 'Summer Cilantro.' Grow in a pot. Consider growing cilantro in a container for better control of growing conditions. What to do with cilantro seeds In certain climates, cilantro plants allowed to go to seed may reseed for the best start on next year's crop. Alternatively, you can harvest seeds for saving and replanting. Allow them to dry completely to a hard, cracking stage and store in a cool, dark location. Dried seeds are used in recipes calling for the spice coriander. Pruning Tips Start pruning cilantro early in the season when several stems are 6 inches tall. Prune often, at least once a week, during the growing season to prevent bolting. Prune back stems by one-third around the outsides of the plant or remove them at the base to keep new leaves growing Remove yellow and damaged leaves. An herb snipper is a good tool for cutting back and removing small flowers. Cilantro leaves and stems are tender and bruise easily.

Looking to plant some sweet potatoes, but aren't quite sure where to start? Growing sweet potatoes can actually be quite fun, no matter your skill level as a gardener. In this article, organic gardening expert Logan Hailey walks through how to plant, grow, and care for sweet potato in your garden this season! They’re not potatoes, nor are they yams: Sweet potatoes are a highly versatile yet misunderstood garden vegetable. These nutritious fiber and carb-rich roots are renowned for their “superfood” health benefits and delectably creamy sweet texture when cooked. Though they are somewhat shrouded in mystery (are they like potatoes? are they tubers? why do they start from “slips”?), these relatives of Morning Glories are intriguing and straightforward to grow. Sweet potatoes are beautiful plants with edible roots and nutritious greens that will vine through your garden, climb a trellis, and even hang out indoors as a trailing houseplant. If you’ve been dying to try out a rainbow array of sweet potato varieties unavailable in stores, or you just want to add diversity to your summer garden, this warm-weather root crop is a joy to grow and eat. Let’s dig into how to plant, grow, and care for the most delicious sweet potatoes you’ve ever tasted! History and Cultivation As one of the oldest root vegetables in the world, the earliest records of sweet potato cultivation date back to 750 BC. With their ability to cure and store for up to a year, the carb-rich smooth flesh has been an important energy source for Latin American cultures. In the modern day, they are cultivated throughout the U.S., with about 50% being commercially grown in North Carolina. These heat-loving plants can be grown in zones 5-9 as annual vegetables, however they are only perennial in zones 10-11. Here’s everything you need to know about the history and cultivation of this scrumptious vibrant root. Defining Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are not potatoes or yams, but rather a tropical root vegetable. They are perennial vegetables (herbaceous perennial vines to be exact) most commonly grown as an annual vegetable in temperate gardens. The popular orange-fleshed vegetables are often mistakenly called tubers or potatoes, but they are in fact root vegetables that grow from the enlarged tips of winding stems beneath the surface of the soil. As a member of the Morning Glory (Convulvaceae family), sweet potatoes are related to bindweed, morning glory varieties, water spinach, and the wood rose. They thrive in warm, tropical climates, however farmers and gardeners have adapted their growing methods to produce them in temperate northern regions as well. Most varieties require 90 to 150 days, or at least 4 or 5 completely frost-free months to produce full-size roots. Sweet potatoes are a humble and underappreciated “superfood”. The nutrient-dense vibrant flesh can be creamy white, yellow, purple, or orange-tinted. The fibrous orange, tan, or purple skins are rich in beta carotene and antioxidants. Their pale to dark green edible leaves are often used as a salad green in hot southern summers. When the leaves die back and the roots are ready to be harvested, the entire plant is pulled and sweet potatoes are removed from their underground stems to be prepared for curing and storage. Where Do Sweet Potatoes Originate? Like potatoes, sweet potatoes hail from Central and South America, where they have been a staple in indigenous food cuisines for millenia. Ancient records of their cultivation show origins in Peru around 750 BC, however newfound archaeological records also reveal sweet potato relatives growing as early as 2500-1850 BC in Polynesia. Due to the resemblance between the Polynesian word for sweet potato kuumala and the Quechuan/Andean native word cumal, anthropologists speculate that the orange tubers traveled over the Pacific from the west coast of South America long before historians initially thought. Needless to say, by the time European conquistadors arrived in Central America in the 15th century, sweet potatoes (called camote) were a well established crop and staple food in the cuisines of Peru, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, and the Philippines. Samples were taken back to Spain and Belgium to attempt small scale cultivation. Captain James Cook also picked up the root vegetable in Polynesia in the late 1700s and contributed these genetics to the ever growing germplasm of sweet potato breeding projects back in London. The tropical vines were never widely successful in northern Europe without their ideal hot, moist native conditions. However, when they were introduced to American colonists in the mid 1600s, the crop finally took off as a staple crop in the American south. Not a Potato, Not a Yam The name “sweet potato” is full of linguistic and botanical confusions. To start with, sweet potatoes aren’t actually potatoes at all. While regular potatoes are members of the Solanaceae family (along with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant), sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family, Convulvavaceae. Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) were first confused with regular potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) when Christopher Columbus brought the orange-fleshed roots back to Spain in the 1500s. Europeans called them potatoes due to the similar rounded shape and starchy texture. Further confusion arose when the native Caribbean Taino word for sweet potato (batata) was confused with the Italian word for Solanaceous potatoes (patatas). To make matters more confusing, they later became conflated with African Yams. Though they are often mislabeled or used interchangeably on supermarket shelves, true yams (Dioscorea batatas) are completely unrelated. The tropical yam vine is native to Africa and has black or brown thick bark-like skin and a tan flesh with nutty flavor and slippery or sticky texture. They are not sweet like a sweet potato, and instead used for making doughs, breads, thick porridges, and different types of custards. True yams can grow over 7 feet long and even weigh up to 150 pounds! Sweet potatoes are far humbler, typically averaging 4 to 6” in length and weighing about 4 to 6 ounces (however, the Guinness Book of World Records documented an exceptional 81 pound sweet potato grown by a gardener in Spain)! Nonetheless, the American sweet potato is best enjoyed at a moderate size when its tender, dry, sweet flesh can shine in the kitchen. Propagation Sweet potatoes are not typically grown from seed. Instead, they are propagated vegetatively via pieces of stems called “slips”. Slips are available from seed companies and nurseries in the spring. These shoots are technically rootable cuttings that are grown from mature plants and shipped to farmers and gardeners around the country. You can certainly grow your own slips, but the quickest way to get started is to order certified planting material from a reputable source and skip to the propagation steps below. Making Slips Sweet potato slips are essentially sprouts that are snipped from the lush growth of a mature Ipomoea batatas plant. With the proper setup, you can grow your own slips from a root that you already have in your kitchen. In your home, you can produce slips in two main ways: Use toothpicks to suspend half of a root in a jar of water and allow it to sprout over the course of 5-8 weeks. Provide warmth with a seedling heat mat and keep the water fresh. Plant a root in a shallow tray of soil, keep it moist, and wait 2-3 weeks for sprouts to grow. Either way, be sure to start with an organic sweet potato of the variety you wish to grow. The slips will be exact replicas of the parent plant. Selecting certified organic is also important because conventional store bought sweet potatoes may be treated with sprout inhibitors or pesticides that could impede this process. When the sweet potato has grown plenty of new sprouts with green leaves, it’s time to cut your slips: Once sprouts have grown 5-6” long, you can cut them off the plant. Take the green sprouts and submerge them in water for 3-5 days. You may need to switch out the water a few times to keep it fresh. When the roots on your cuttings have grown a few inches long, they are ready to be planted in trays or directly in the garden. The soil-grown slip route is the quickest way to produce slips. This is how commercial producers grow the slips that are shipped to you from seed companies. One mature sweet potato can grow 10-12 slips that can each be rooted into a new plant. Propagation From Slips The easiest way to grow sweet potatoes is by leaving the slip-starting to the experts. Order your slips in early spring and select the shipping date recommended for your zip code. When they arrive, they may appear wilted, pale, or dried out. Don’t worry, this is a normal part of the shipping process! Just like bare root strawberry crowns, sweet potato slips are pretty resilient and will readily bounce back once planted. They may or may not have roots, but as long as the stems are still green, they should produce viable plants. Ideally, Plant Slips Right Away Begin by unbundling the slips and misting their roots with water. Keep them protected in the shade as you prepare your garden beds with the instructions below. The soil must be at least 60-65° before planting slips, so be sure to use a soil thermometer to check the temperature. If it is still too cool, use a method below to hold your slips until the garden soil has warmed. If Planting is Delayed, Soak or Bury the Slips Sometimes the weather or life’s schedules are not in your favor. If you can’t plant your slips immediately upon arrival, you have two options for holding them until your garden beds are ready: Whichever method you choose, just be sure that the slips do not dry out or get exposed to intense conditions. They should be kept at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, and safe from wind or pesky rodents. Planting Planting sweet potatoes is a fun and intriguing garden project for children and adults alike. They are unique from other plants because they are grown from slips rather than from tubers (like true potatoes) or from seeds like other vegetables. They require warm soil, so don’t plan to get these babies in the ground until late spring or early summer in northern climates. Usually the best time is at least one month after the last spring frost date. Use a soil probe to ensure that the soil temperature is above 60°F. You may want to heat the soil with black plastic for 2-3 weeks before planting. Alternatively, you can build raised beds that will warm faster in the spring. You can also opt to plant your sweet potatoes in containers, if you don’t have much space.

Mild, wrinkled, and incredibly flavorful, ‘Shishito’ peppers are growing into mainstays of American cuisine. One specimen produces dozens of wrinkly chile peppers on a compact plant, making it a perfect choice for gardens big and small. Learn how to nurture this variety alongside seasoned pepper gardener Jerad Bryant. When you bite into a blistered ‘Shishito’ pepper with salt and pepper, there is a chance it surprises you with slight spiciness! Most ‘Shishito’ peppers will be very mild, from 0 to 200 Scoville units; occasionally, a fruit sprouts with the heat of a mild jalapeño. The first time I tried this variety, I didn’t believe some of the fruits could be mild, while a few contained considerable heat! After eating a dozen, though, I bit into one of the spicy ones. It filled my mouth with a warm sensation, and I quickly reached for my water glass; to my surprise, the spiciness faded quickly. Before I knew it, I was popping more ‘Shishito’ chiles in my mouth. Use them as you would any other variety—they are versatile in the kitchen. ‘Shishitos’ are one of the most flavorful specimens. They taste decadently fresh, especially when you blister them in olive oil with salt and pepper. This variety mixes well in salsa, soups, and stews; the mild flavor lends well to fermented goods. What Is It? The ‘Shishito’ variety is a descendant of Capsicum annuum species from the Americas. Portuguese traders hauled peppers to Japan, where they traded them for other goods. Growers in Japan then took them, bred them, and created unique varieties that have since spread across the globe. ‘Shishito’ is one of them. Native Area Although the Capsicum annuum species are originally native to the Americas, ‘Shishito’ first sprouted in Japan. It prefers warm, hot summers with lots of direct sunlight and airflow. Japan is a maritime country, and its proximity to the ocean leads to lots of moisture falling on the land. This excess moisture hydrates ‘Shishito’ plants while they bask in the sun. Characteristics Like other species of Capsicum annuum, ‘Shishito’ blooms white star-shaped blossoms. These are bisexual or “perfect” flowers, and they are self-pollinating. Peppers, like eggplants and tomatoes, prefer to cross-pollinate with other plants—they self-pollinate when there are no other partners to mingle with. ‘Shishito’ plants are nice and compact, reaching maximum heights of two to three feet in maturity. Although they look like cute little adults, they produce fruits as if they’re ten feet tall! One plant creates dozens of chiles during its lifetime. ‘Shishito’ fruits elongate to two to four inches long. They’re tastiest when green and have slightly wrinkled yellow-green skin that ripens red. Red fruits are edible, although they lack the satisfying crunch of the green ones. Pick both and try them yourself to see which you prefer! Planting Due to their compact nature, ‘Shishito’ plants thrive in containers and raised beds. They tuck in neatly under taller plants and flourish in most garden settings. Choose a spot in full sun with occasional airflow. They appreciate moist, fertile soil—when the ground is loose loam, their roots creep deep below the surface and anchor the plant. Amend clay or sandy soil with a healthy helping of compost or a similar organic amendment. Compost inoculates the dirt with bacteria, fungi, and critters like worms and bugs. Over time, consistent doses transform sandy or clay soil into humus-rich loam. How to Grow As garden plants, ‘Shishito’ develops similarly to eggplants; they’re upright and bushy, and they appreciate staking or caging for support. Offer them full sun, fertile loam, and ample water, and they’ll reward you with abundant harvests from summer through autumn. Maintenance ‘Shishito’ needs little maintenance. It enjoys growing up a stake, trellis, or cage, as it appreciates the extra support. This type may benefit from pruning if it is overly bushy or sprouts crowded growth. The leaves up top shade out the fruits and flowers below. Prune a few top leaves as needed to allow sunlight to reach fruits on the interior. Cut less than one-third off at any time to avoid shocking the plant. Near the end of the growing season, fall frost approaches and threatens the fruit ripening process. Cover plants on cold nights with a cold frame or similar structure, and hard-prune them. Hard pruning convinces the cultivars to redirect their energy towards fruit ripening—to do this, cut all stems above ripening fruit and remove a third of the leaves. Pinch off new growth like flowers, leaves, and sprouts.