Parsley – cultivation, planting, care & harvest

When the small plants are so far that the first “real” leaves develop, they are isolated. You can encourage branching by carefully shortening the roots. Isolate them either in a larger flower pot or in the garden. However, the parsley in the flower pot is not an ideal solution. It is actually quite difficult to cultivate, something that should only be done by carpenters with a great deal of sensitivity. It does not tolerate waterlogging at all, but on the other hand it dries out pretty quickly in the apartment. Proper irrigation alone is quite a tricky business here. In addition, it needs fertilizer in the season, which is very difficult to dose to the satisfaction of the Petroselinum crispum, and completely new soil in the next year.

The parsley professional prefers to sow his parsley in the garden anyway, the selected seed then comes directly into the bed at the right time and in the right location:

Location and sowing of the parsley

In nature, parsley prefers to grow on rocky slopes, for example in the sunny heights of a Mediterranean coast. Even if, unlike many other herbs, it accepts and appreciates more nutrients, a humus-rich soil, the aversion to frost persisted. If you are sowing Petroselinum crispum in the garden, you should definitely wait for the ice saints in mid-May. You can also sow the parsley very well in July or August. The warm temperatures are actually good for their development. The soil should be nutritious and moist, and so loose that the moisture can never build up. The parsley tolerates a sunny location, but like almost all plants has nothing against it if it is in partial shade in the glaring midday sun.

However, it cannot be ruled out that the parsley is a bit “bitchy”. You should therefore keep an eye on the seed area. This will be easier if you sow a few radishes in the same row as “marker seeds”. If they have long been eaten and digested and you still don’t see a parsley seedling after a good four weeks, despite further even moistening of the soil, you have obviously chosen the wrong place for “Princess Parsley” and can try a little further start.

The fact that parsley germinates poorly or develops poorly may be due to the wrong neighbors or the wrong bed. Petroselinum crispum should neither like lettuce next to it nor thrive in the same location as the previous generation. Parsley should be planted in the same location after four years at the earliest. This wide crop rotation is said to be perhaps the most important secret in cultivation. Because in the soil around the parsley, parsley-loving elk colonize, which multiply far too much in the same location. Another danger in parsley soil is fungi, which can kill the parsley. These fungi can also develop less well if the parsley is moved to a different location every year. They should generally be kept in check by that you sow the parsley very late. It should also be possible to drive away the Ählchen in advance by planting the later parsley patch with marigolds in the previous year.

Cucumbers, leeks and radishes, tomatoes and onions are usually accepted as neighbors, in addition to radishes (and radishes), the parsley scent is even said to drive away fleas. If the parsley hesitates anyway, it could also be because you have just fertilized the bed fresh (and with artificial fertilizer), and if it is not, it may simply not feel like it, should happen with parsley.

Caring for parsley in the garden

When you have found a piece of garden in which the Petroselinum crispum has developed satisfactorily, you have actually already done most of the maintenance, you would only have to pay attention to the following subtleties:

• Parsley wants to be watered evenly, but moderately, too much water quickly resents it.
• You should therefore always water when the top layer of the earth feels dry when you place your hand on it.
• However, when it’s very hot outside, it needs extra moisture.
• If your parsley is to grow vigorously, it needs some nutrients, but again it is quite picky, it doesn’t like fresh fertilizer.
• Therefore, you should prepare the bed well by incorporating ripe compost into it.
• Normally, the two-year-old Petroselinum crispum gets over the winter well with us, in very cold locations you can treat it to a little brushwood as winter protection.
• In the spring of the next year, you might be able to add some algae lime and rock flour.
• The biennial plant can then take care of its successors in the second year if you let the now developing flower mature.

Depending on when you sowed, you will only be able to harvest really vigorously in the second year, first the Petroselinum crispum is busy with the root formation, then come the leaf rosettes. The sowing should still be worthwhile, it should produce particularly strong plants.

Parsley varieties

First of all, a distinction is made between two types of parsley:

• The leaf parsley is grown for taste in the leaves.
• The root parsley (parsley root, tuber parsley) should actually end up with the lowest part in the soup green, but its leaves can also be used.

Then there is flat and curly parsley with leaf parsley. It’s still simple with flat-leaf parsley, it simply goes by the name of flat-leaf parsley, flat-leaf parsley or Italian parsley, with curly parsley it’s less simple:

• There are initially three groups of “ripples” with special names.
• “Fern leafed parsley” is very finely curled in international trade.
• Very fine to finely curled the “parsley type Mooskrause”, also called “extra curled” or “double / triple curled” in the trade names.
• The “parsley type Paramount” is medium-fine to coarsely curled, also labeled “curled” or “perlé” in international trade.
• Then there is a scale from 1 to 9, on which the “strength of the ripples” is precisely classified.

All of this is partly expressed in the botanical name, partly not. In the case of garden parsley, there are also many cultivars of a botanically identical Petroselinum crispum. If you want to “play” with different varieties in the garden, you should buy from a knowledgeable specialist dealer.

Harvest Petroselinum crispum

No matter how smooth or curled your parsley is, you should only pick the outer leaves at a time. If you cut off the heart leaves inside, the plant will no longer develop.

Cut the parsley as soon as possible before use. You could store it in the refrigerator (closed container) for a few days, but it will lose many vitamins in the process. You can avoid this if you have parsley in the garden.

If you’ve harvested too much parsley, it’s best to freeze it in small portions. The parsley is really not very suitable for drying.

Conclusion
It can take a while to find a suitable location for the somewhat stubborn parsley in your garden. Nevertheless, you should definitely try the cultivation – even curly parsley from the garden soil is a single aroma bundle, and there are many uses for the vitamin-rich herb.