Throughout history, how to grow parsley has had powerful symbolic connotations, including death and fertility among them. What a comedown to wind up in the 20th century as the world’s most boring garnish. The parsley plant (Petroseiinum kortense) is an old-world herb grown in practically every home garden and extensively grown in market gardens. It is a biennial that produces finely divided and curly leaves in the first year, highly valued for their aromatic-flavoring properties. The leaves neutralize the onion flavor. In the second year, the seed is sent up and produces a flat head of numerous small white flowers.
I do remember that among my girlhood classmates, eating parsley was believed to increase the size of the breasts. And a plate was sent back to the kitchen at lunchtime with parsley still on it. And health-conscious folk always extol parsley as a source of vitamins A and C as well as iron. Some of its aura has also returned with the recent resurgence of Italian broad-leaf parsley. Which is actually cut up and used in food instead of merely sitting next to it? But gone are the days when you could just wave parsley in front of an advancing army and cause the soldiers to retreat in terror if you believed Plutarch.
I would not be without it, nonetheless. A hardy biennial, parsley self-sows dependably in my garden, and new plants await me in early spring. In warm climates, you can harvest it all year. I grow both the foot-high curly parsley (Petroselinum crispum) and the slightly taller Italian (P. neapolitanum).
This is an important butterfly plant. Watch for some particularly gorgeous caterpillars on it, green and black striped with yellow spots. In return for a small share of you’re parsley crop, they will turn into black swallowtail butterflies that will hover around the flowers of your other herbs, especially the pink and purple ones.
How do I grow parsley? Parsley likes full sun or light shade. soil should be rich, well-lightened with organic matter, and moist but well-drained. Sow early in the spring or in the fall, soaking the seeds overnight to speed up germination, which can take up to three weeks. Or buy started plants for an earlier harvest Thin to about six to eight inches apart.
The plants grow beautifully if cut back, even to the base. If you are just snipping, take the outer leaves. Plants can be dug up in fall and brought indoors at the same time so that you will have some fresh plants by the time the old ones start to go to seed. The leaves are good fresh, frozen, or dried. Well, dry hanging upside down or on screens in a shaded, well-ventilated place.
Types and Varieties: There are a number of types and varieties of leafless parsley that are not as common as the curled leaf (Petroselinum hortense, var. crispum). Celery-leaved, or Neapohtan, is not generally grown in the United States. The fern-leaved variety (filiunum) is occasionally planted, while the Hamburg or turnip-rooted parsley variety (radicosum) is commonly planted in market gardens near large cities. Seedsmen lists extra Curled Dwarf, Paramount, Plain Dark Green, and Hamburg, with several selections.
Soil and Climatic Requirements: Parsley grows in all parts of the United States and at a wide range of temperatures. In temperate regions, it is usually grown as an annual and produces several crops. The early crop will require about 90 days to mature, while the second crop will be ready 30 days later. In the garden, older leaves are removed as they are not needed, and freshly formed leaves are formed. In market gardens, the whole plant is removed at one time, and the plants make a second crop and sometimes a third.
Moreover, the soil requirements are not very exact, except that the plants will field better on heavier loam soils that are well supplied with moisture. Soils for Hamburg parsley should have a deep and sandy texture, as this variety is grown for its flavor. The soil should, of course, be well drained and contain a herbal supply of organic matter. It should be flavored with pulverized limestone.
Cultural Directions: Parsley seed germinates slowly, and weeds crowd out seedlings. The seed can be sown in the greenhouse and the seedlings transplanted into the garden—a satisfactory procedure for the home garden. The seed can be sown in rows 15 inches apart, and a small ridge of soil an inch high is placed over the seed. In ten days, the ridge is leveled down to soil level.
This kills the weeds that are germinating, and the parsley seedlings will be ready to come through with little interference. This may be a dangerous practice, however, if the ridge is not removed soon. A stake should be placed at the end of the row containing the planting date so that not more than ten days will elapse. Seedlings should be thinned to 6 inches in a row. Hamburg parsley is thinned to 4 inches in rows.
Because of the plant’s hardiness, parsley may be grown in protected places during the majority of the winter. It can be grown in frames, with some protection, during freezing weather. Parsley should be dug from the garden in the fall to be placed in six-inch pots to be used as a kitchen plant.
Thus, a deep saucer should be placed in a south window and watered from the bottom of it. By removing the older leaves for cooking, the plants will always be attractive and fresh. When parsley is harvested, the leaves are picked and bunched together, making a bouquet of curly green leaves.
Insects and Diseases: There are no serious pests for this crop. A borer sometimes gets into seed stalks, but this only causes damage in seed fields. The celery worm sometimes eats the young foliage but may be controlled by dusting the plants with rotenone dust.
General Recommendations: Parsley should be kept growing with liquid fertilizer and side dressings. The seeds should be kept down until the second year, to keep the base leaves from growing. The leaves may be dried and stored in jars for flavoring purposes.
Throughout history, How to Grow Parsley has had powerful symbolic connotations, including death, and fertility among them.
