Brown thumb? Get parsley!

[Cassandra]

Did y'all have any idea this stuff was so hardy? I planted a parsley plant last year (under what turned out to be the confederate rose bush I have mentioned earlier.)

It has not had great conditions. It was shaded most of the summer once the bush started growing (after I sawed it down.) There's a bunch of clover in the bed with it, too that I don't want to get rid of because I like clover. LOL

I had fresh parsley from this one scrawney plant ALL WINTER long! I never did anything to it. No fertilizer, never watered it. It lived through the first snow I have seen in 14 years--got burried under it and stayed green. And now this spring it has shot up and is filling out again.

I love parsley which is why I planted it, but I was sure it would die. Every once in a while, it would get a stem of yellow leaves on it which I would pull off, but otherwise it has been a real trooper. It's over a foot tall again.

It's getting a bushy head on it. (flowers? Seeds?) Can I do anything for it? I feel like I owe it some respectable treatment. Will it propogate itself? Any way I can encourage it to make more?

Cassandra

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I think it is bolting. After surviving all that cold, that is what a lot of veggies/herbs will do when it gets warm again. Nothing you can do. But save the seeds and then you'll have even more parsley!

 

[Cassandra]

How can I harvest the seeds?

I just read that bolting parsley can get a slightly bitter taste, but I suppose the guinea pigs and chickens might still like it. It's 'pose to be good for them, I think.

Cassandra

 

[Urban-farmerette]

parsley is a biennial, which means it takes 2 years to compleat its life cycle, make seeds, and then peter out. although it can take a while to come up after sowing, it is extreamly hardy and will provide for you all winter long.

you should sow some more seeds now so that you'll have a new batch since this one won't be good for eating now that it is getting tough.,

have fun

 

[DrakeMaiden]

If you want lots of healthy seeds, you may want to let the plant be (ie. don't harvest any more leaves). It needs those leaves for energy while it makes seeds.

Let it flower. It will probably develop seeds by mid-summer, possibly earlier. Keep an eye on it, if you want to collect them, and then collect them when the weather has been dry. Otherwise let them fall where they may.

If you want to grow lots of really healthy parsley, start some seeds, like Urban-farmerette says and then the seeds you collect from those plants will be stronger, because there will be greater genetic diversity.

 

[patandchickens]

the seeds germinate faster if you water them into their pots with boiling water, or presoak in initially-very-hot water for 6-12 hrs. They still kinda take their time tho.

my mother is Pennsylvania Dutch, I was raised to believe that parsley is a vegetable and can't imagine not having it!

Pat

 

[beefy]

not to be a Debbie Downer, but in all likelihood some caterpillars are going to come along any day now and chow down on your beloved parsley plant.


what kind of clover do you have? i love clover.

 

[S0rcy]

I agree, my first experience with parsley was much the same surprise. I had to remove my greenhouse at the landlords request and instead I put in two small bed boxes and without anything to put in them (no money for topsoil) I shoveled the sand that had been the floor of the house into the boxes. I planted parsley, lavendar, rosemary and mint.

That parsley not only grew, but grew REALLY well. No food, nothing but rain. It survived a whole winter, it was amazing. The lavendar eventually gave up, the mint was creeping out, the parsley had reseeded itself, and the rosemary was blooming by the time we left.

 

[Cassandra]

not to be a Debbie Downer, but in all likelihood some caterpillars are going to come along any day now and chow down on your beloved parsley plant.


what kind of clover do you have? i love clover.

LOL Debbie Downer. What kinds of caterpillars like parsley when it is in its second year?



I have a couple of different kinds of clover. One the the white puffy flowers and one with the lavender flowers. The tenants at the apartments I manage will often complain this time of year about "when are you getting the grass cut, the clover is getting awful!" And I'm thinking, "You want me to cut it down!?" LOL Well, of course we cut it down.

But I wouldn't care if most of my yard was grown up in clover. I think it is beautiful and I love to walk barefoot in it. I guess that wouldn't look great in the wintertime, though if there was no grass growing under it.

Cassandra