How to grow Parsley

Parsley is from the same family as carrots and celery, requiring cold weather to thrive. How to grow parsley – It’s easy and a very hardy plant. Plant early in the spring once the ground can be worked. It grows from spring to late fall, as it can withstand some frost and, with some protection, it will grow until hard frost in December in the Northeast; further south in a milder climate it will produce all-year-round. It’s a biennial but, on the second year, it will go into seed production relatively quickly. Grow it as an annual.

Parsley is used to garnish foods and considered in many places just an ornament on your plate, but think again. This very nutritious plant is considered one of the healthiest things to eat.

Types of Parsley to Grow

• There are two types of parsley commonly grown in the West.
• One is the flat-leaf Italian parsley, which has celery-like leaves, and plants get to be around twenty-four inches tall. The flat leaf can be easily mistaken for cilantro but, upon touching the leaves and smelling them, you will distinguish it easily. This variety is sweeter and stronger tasting, and thus preferred in cooking over the other curly-leaf variety.
• The curly variety has shorter plants that grow to twelve inches, with twisted dissected leaves. The curly is more vigorous and hardier.
• There is also Hamburg parsley that is grown for its parsnip-like roots and the Japanese parsley that has a strong bitter taste, both are used in Asian kitchens.

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Seeding

Start seedlings indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost. Then set the plants out a few weeks before the last frost. Plants can withstand light frost but not a strong freeze. If temperatures fluctuate and suddenly drop below normal during the evening, place a row cover for protection. See video on 4 Advantages of Row Covers

Place plants at ten to twelve inches apart in the row, and as close as eight inches if you have a raised bed and good organic soil.

If direct seeding, this is the hardest part of growing parsley, as patience is needed to wait for them to germinate, which can take a month. Therefore, soak the seeds in warm water for a day to help speed up the process.

Light Requirements

Parsley prefers full sun but will tolerate partial shade. In the heat of the summer, it is best if other plants, like tomatoes, are planted near them. As the tomatoes grow they will provide partial shade during the summer months when the plant tends to wilt easily due to extreme heat. Tomatoes, asparagus, carrot, chives, onion and roses make good companion plants. Read blog on companion planting.  It made my tomato plants grow bigger, and they were better-tasting. But you must be your own judge.

Fertilization and Watering

They require fertilization as the season progresses. I like using compost tea after thoroughly watering the plants once a week. Read blog on compost tea.  It is best to water early in the morning, as the water gets trapped in the folds of the leaves and the droplets act as a magnifying glass once the sun gets strong, later in the day. The plants will readily wilt if they get dried out. Use straw mulch, as it works best to keep the moisture uniformly and therefore requires only once a week watering.

Harvesting

The way to keep parsley in your kitchen all season long is to continually harvest the outer stalks of the plant.  Always leave the center bud alone. The plant will continue to send out more shoots as it grows, and the outer leaves can get quite large- over a foot long.  I like to cut them at the base when they reach ten inches in length.

Problems

Black Swallowtail Larvae – They love parsley and, even when you think they have killed the plant because they eat the whole thing, leave it alone. As long as the bud in the center was not eaten, it will come back full force. The larva are capable of consuming the whole plant in a day or two. The choice will have to be made to move the larva or to let them develop into a full grown caterpillar (they have three instars before they are totally developed). If birds don’t eat them, they go into the pupa state and eventually become an adult butterfly.

Celery Mosaic Virus and Cucumber Mosaic Virus – any of the viruses will have the same similar look.  The leaf has spotted or mosaic-looking leaves, where they will have yellowing intermingled with darker green spots. The leaves can become curled and twisted due to the aphids that are the usual culprit in the transmission of the virus. Keep an eye out for aphids. When this occurs, I harvest the whole plant, disposing of the bad leaves and utilizing the balance.

Leave a few plants for the black swallowtail to develop or plant dill in a pot near the garden, which they also love.