How to grow Parsley

Parsley (Petroselinum crispumis) one of the most used herbs in the garden, easy to grow in the UK and it's good for you to. So why would you buy a limp bunch of parsley when you can grow your own.

Growing Parsley- How to grow your own in the home garden

Growing well in pots or in the ground, parsley will do well in a humus rich, moist well fertilized soil. Full sun to part shade is best . You can try growing from seeds, which can be planted out into a cold frame however be patient as it may take 4 - 5 weeks to germinate. Much simpler is to buy some seedlings or plugs and plant them in the vegetable garden.

Like most plants prepare the soil by digging in some well rotted compost and old cow manure a few weeks before planting, water seedlings in well with some liquid seaweed fertilizer and just remember to keep moist.

Parsley will eventually 'bolt' or start to go to seed, at this time remove the plants and plant new ones. Some people keep parsley plants for two years, we replace ours each year, sometimes twice.

Parsley comes as either 'flat leaf' or 'curly leaf'. Flat leaf Parsley is sometimes referred to as Continental parsley wich has more flavor and is easier to grow.

Harvesting is easy, simply cut off what you need as you need it, try not to leave plants to become large with coarse leaves, the younger leaves are tastier. Can you collect you own seed, yes if you wish, simply dry the seed heads as normal, but personally we just plant seedlings or 'plugs'.