Anyone growing cumin?

I'm interested in planting a patch of cumin (cuminum cyminum).  I'm curious about a few things:

I'm in zone 4a and I'm wondering if it will have enough time to produce seeds?  Supposedly we average 103 frost free (36 degrees) days and 124 freeze free (32 degrees) days per year.

How big a patch (or how many plants) would generate a cup of cumin powder?

How well does it self seed?

Thanks!

I haven't successfully grown cumin, but based on the characteristics of other members of the family that I have grown, I estimate that it would require about a 10 foot row to produce one cup of seeds.

Thanks Joseph!  I take it you mean a single 10' row of plants, not a 3' bed 10' long?

Mike Jay wrote:Thanks Joseph!  I take it you mean a single 10' row of plants, not a 3' bed 10' long?

Right. I don't grow anything in beds, so I don't even think about beds in my writings.

Awesome, thanks!

If you do it, please post about it! I am super interested.

Will do!

I'm still interested in other folk's experiences regarding if they think it will make seed in my climate and if it will self seed...

I've grown it in England once, I kept it in a greenhouse and it set seeds no problems at all. I thought at the time it would do ok outside, it didn't give a huge amount of seed, but that's probably a lack of polinators I grow corriander for seed here in Denmark we have around 120-150 frost free but it doesn't take anywhere near that long, more like 90-100 to be ready to pick

Every member of the family that I have grown self seeds prolifically.

Wikipedia says that "Cultivation of cumin requires a long, hot summer of three to four months."

Thanks everyone, I guess I'll give it a shot.  My summers aren't hot and long but we like it that way

I tried growing cumin last summer in the Four Corners region of Colorado, hot days, cool, nights, short season. Interesting result, the darn plants went to seed WAY too early to get a good crop, less than 60 days, and only a few seeds per plant. I think they were very stressed plants, and I wasn't about to determine what the stressor was. But, it figures that cumin CAN produce in well under its packet listed season length, and that idea production should follow from syncing up its season length with your own, I would speculate that you and your cumin can form a relationship to produce seeds over a few years of breeding and experimenting. I intend to experiment further with cumin myself.