Growing Parsley
Quick Tips on Growing Parsley
Growing parsley is sometimes more challenging than growing other herbs, but it is still something a beginner or intermediate gardener can handle. Parsley is a popular herb grown in Mediterranean and English herb gardens, and now in the United States as well. You can use it for a garnish or for flavoring. It's also useful for neutralizing breath smells, like garlic.
Parsley is considered a biennial herb, but most gardeners grow it like an annual, since after the first year, results are poor. You may need a bit of patience if you take up growing parsley, because of its longer germination period, which is generally between three and four weeks. Parsley needs warm temperatures to germinate, so it's best to start it indoors, where you can regulate the temperatures more closely. Sow a few seeds or more in each pot, and then thin off the smaller ones and keep the strongest seedling.
You can move parsley outside after it establishes itself, into containers or directly into soil that has been well-tilled. If you plan to grow your parsley outdoors, sow the plants indoors for approximately six to eight weeks and then move them outside.
Parsley needs more than a fair amount of sunlight and will grow best when it gets about six hours of sunlight each day. It can tolerate partial shade, especially if that takes place during the mid-day period when the sun is strongest.
A moisture-retaining soil that drains well is a plus for growing parsley. If your plants are to be left in containers, make sure that there are drainage holes, and check to see that they're not blocked by packed soil or the like. Parsley is a bit more intolerant of unsuitable soils than many herbs are, and it thrives best in a soil that has a content of nutrients and organic matter that has rotted. Parsley prefers a pH in soil of about 6.0 – 7.0.
To help your seedlings grow, make sure that the soil does not dry out. Be sure to water more often during the hotter months in your area. If you add mulch to your soul, it may help the soil retain moisture and will also help cut down on weeds that compete for sun and water and nutrients.
You may apply a fertilizer to the soil where you are growing parsley, once every four weeks or so, and this will be enough to help it through its entire growing season. You can dig up and bring inside outdoor plants and it will extend their season of growth. Starting with its second year, parsley plants will produce seed only, and it will no longer be usable to harvest.
Growing parsley is a bit more time consuming than growing some other herbs, but parsley is truly an herb with many uses. If you wish to store it, you can freeze it or dry it, for use later.