Curse you, coriander!

I was so cocky, so full of bravado. I was convinced I could succeed at a pursuit no Sydneysider* has triumphed at before – at growing coriander.

Herb garden planted in February

Not just any coriander mind you – the luscious, rich green bunches of the stuff that you buy at Woollies. On second thoughts, maybe not just like the ones at Woollies, but I think they probably were once luscious, rich and green – right before they became limp and pathetic.

Back in February I planted the small bed next to the garage with coriander, dill and parsley. The parsley has thrived, the dill is coming on strongly now, but the coriander fell foul of the slugs. One day I came out and even found a lizard munching on it. Come on – if my efforts are being thwarted by lizards, what hope do I have?

Today my order from Eden Seeds arrived, which included a new packet of slow bolt coriander. I knew I needed to come up with a new strategy (primarily one that excluded the local wildlife), so my new plan was to grow the stuff indoors. The only wildlife to contend with in there is juvenile homo sapiens, and I’m pretty sure they don’t like coriander.

Bokashi compost with dynamic lifter

I bought myself a new pot from Kmart for the purpose, which has a matching saucer to protect the furniture. I filled it with compost that originally came from my bokashi bucket. It had been buried for a couple of months, and is looking great. On top of that I sprinkled a small amount of dynamic lifter, and over that I spread some seed raising mix.

On the windowsill, next to the pineapple

The place I have picked out is on the windowsill in the kids’ playroom. The window is North-East facing, so gets plenty of direct morning sun and then bright indirect light for the rest of the day.

It better thrive.

Or I’ll cry.

*None that I know of, who I believe, and whose allegedly home-grown coriander I have actually eaten.

Coriander Seed