Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: missmoneypenny on April 16, 2021, 08:59
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I love parsley but last years effort was mediocre at best. The leaves were small and turned yellow quite early in the season. Any tips? Do they like semi shade? Rich soil? Lots of space? Last years were in full sun, maybe that was a bit much. I’m even wondering if they’d be better off in my back yard, in large pots. I have lots of healthy looking seedlings that need planting on. Thanks for any advice.
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We usually buy a ready-planted pot from the supermarket, and pop it in a spare bit near some fruit bushes!
It can be a bit awkward to get going I agree, and a big pot could be an ideal solution!
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They do like a bit of shade from the mid-day sun and even moisture - last year was a very dry year, wasn't it.
They do ok in pots use a soil-based compost or mix some soil in if you only have multi-purpose stuff.
Keep up with the watering so they don't dry out (but don't get them waterlogged either )
They aren't really that fussy, honestly :lol:
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Is there a good way to germinate the seeds. I never have much success, this year I have a propagator if that helps.
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Is there a good way to germinate the seeds. I never have much success, this year I have a propagator if that helps.
Parsley is in the same family as parsnip, so isn't quick to germinate even in ideal conditions, which is somewhere around 25C (but not much more than that.)
I've had no problem germinating them on a sunny windowsill indoors, although must admit every other year I buy a supermarket pot of growing plants, separate and plant them out - this does seem to knock them back for a while but they soon recover.
Agree that they are one of the relatively few herbs that seem to prefer some shade.
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I grow my Parsley in 8-10 inch pots. Just use garden soil to topup the previous pot soil and mix it all up with a little fresh seed compost before sowing new seed.
I sow the seed in a succession of pots from February to about now and leave indoors near a window, until the seedlings get to about an inch high.
I then move the pots slowly outside to acclimatise. They never really seem to mind the jump.
I have all my pots placed at the foot of a fence, so could say is semi-shade depending on the time of day.
Do water the pots a few times a week if its not rained.
Parsley does take a good 14 or more days to germinate. But once up, grows quick.
I always grow flat and curly seeds in separate pots and they always both come up the same.
The way I grow it I am picking Parsley from the pots the first year and second year before it eventually starts going to seed in the second year Autumn. I always keep one of each pot variety and move them to a darker part of the garden to flower the next spring and collect the shake off the seed.
Have over the years tried transplanting small seedlings, but find they do not grow into good plants.
Regular cutting is the key to Parsley, do not be afraid, the more you cut the more your get.
Do sow carefully too, try and space the seeds a good 1/2inch apart. The seeds are small but it is worth taking the effort, otherwise you are wasting seed and crowding the seedlings. The seedlings when small are not easy to pick out without disturbing the others..
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Thanks guys, this is all really helpful advice. I am going to hedge my bets and plant some at the allotment, maybe near the currant bushes so they’ll be in partial shade, and I will keep some in pots in my back yard. I agree with you Lettice small seedlings do not take well to being moved, I find that across the board eg beetroot as well.
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Parsley is same family as carrots so weak, yellowing plants could be caused by carrot fly.
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My flat-leaved Italian parsley grows in full sun here in Georgia. It stays out all winter as well. Ours grows in a pot (2 gallon maybe?) If you are not growing from seed, Growster's grocery store idea is absolutely the ticket!
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Is there a good way to germinate the seeds. I never have much success, this year I have a propagator if that helps.
When I grew parsley years and years ago I used to soak the seeds for 24 hours before sowing. They are notorious for takling a long time to germinate.
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have been growing both flat and curled parsley for some years now basically the same as lettice has said we just fill small black plastic pots with compost sow the seed and put them in the poly tunnel then when there big enough put them in a row down the allotments or keep some for selling on my wife's got a old wives tale you cant give parsley away its bad luck :(
but having said that we had some left over in pots from last year i left them on the garden basically forgot about them and there come back bursting out of the pots i must have done something rite for a change :D
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This year I bought my parsley seeds from Suttons (moss curled 2). On the packet it said to soak them in warm water for 24 hours prior to sowing. I have never seen this before and dont know whether it just applies to this variety. They are soaking as I write.
I have just noticed that al78 used to do this. Does anyone else soak their parsley seeds?
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@Subversive_plot just noticed you are in Georgia ( is that USA or Caucasus?). Either way it sounds exotic!
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My way is to take a large'ish pot fill with compost and the sprinkle say 25 seeds on the surface very lightly cover , water and keep at a nice temp . When they are through let them grow on a bit and thin into open ground and keep well watered.
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@Subversive_plot just noticed you are in Georgia ( is that USA or Caucasus?). Either way it sounds exotic!
Hi Miss Mp!
Yes, I live in Athens, Georgia (USA). It's why I type with a southern accent!! :D :lol:. Athens is home to the University of Georgia (I earned my PhD in geology here).
Athens is also where a lot of rock bands got there start (lots of other musicians, too!). R.E.M. and The B-52s started here, if you know those bands!
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I've come to the conclusion, that they probably like some bottom heat to germinate quickly :D
For the first time ever, they went in the heated propagator, as I had room - only because I haven't started the courgettes and squash family yet, and they were up in a few days ::)
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Thanks for that subversive plot. I read an article on growing tomatoes in the southern USA ( I’m wild like that) and it said that there are months in the summer when you can’t grow most crops, it’s too hot. Coming from England when we can’t grow most crops for at least half the year because it’s too cold, I found that amazing.re the bands, my best friend won a trip to the southern states back when we were in our twenties and broke (🤢). Unaccountably, she took her sister not me as her plus one, and they met Michael Stipe in a bar, I forget the town, it could have been Athens. She also talked her way into a top stud farm in Kentucky. It took me a while to recover from my jealousy on that one :).
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Thanks for that subversive plot. I read an article on growing tomatoes in the southern USA ( I’m wild like that) and it said that there are months in the summer when you can’t grow most crops, it’s too hot. Coming from England when we can’t grow most crops for at least half the year because it’s too cold, I found that amazing.re the bands, my best friend won a trip to the southern states back when we were in our twenties and broke (🤢). Unaccountably, she took her sister not me as her plus one, and they met Michael Stipe in a bar, I forget the town, it could have been Athens. She also talked her way into a top stud farm in Kentucky. It took me a while to recover from my jealousy on that one :).
Miss Mp:
There are certainly things our climate prevents me from growing, or at least requires that I change how they are grown. For example rhubarb does not do well here, though some people try growing it as an annual, started from seed indoors in August, or try growing heat tolerant varieties in the shade! I grow peas, but I planted mine in December to January to have peas now, in April. Other crops, like tomatoes or peppers, grow just fine, but still may require more water or shade than they would up north.
Regarding your friend's southern trip, and Michael Stipe, when I started school here (1986), my fellow graduate students and I noted that virtually anyone in Athens trying to come off as cool, or 'in the know' musically, claimed to be friends with Michael Stipe, or know him or members of REM personally. Which probably meant they saw him once at a distance of 100 yards! I joked with friends, threatening to have a T-shirt made proclaiming 'only person in Athens who's not a personal friend of Michael Stipe'. REM was famous for showing up at local clubs and playing under a pseudonym, to mostly people that really did know the band, or that were let in on the secret.
If you are still in touch with your friend, ask if the town was Athens? The Uptown Lounge, and the 40-Watt Club, were popular music bars back then. Absolute dives, but the place to hear good (and sometimes bad) live music. The 40-Watt Club was painted black inside and, at it's original location, allegedly lit only by a single 40-watt light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Both clubs have opened and closed several times, and moved around as well.
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That's really interesting subversive plot. We are still very much still in touch, although it was a while ago so not sure she’ll remember where the bat was. I will ask her.
Growing things here is all about making the most of every scrap of sunshine ( I don’t have a greenhouse), apart from the odd heatwave, which even in London only usually lasts a week or two. Happy gardening!
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Hi Subversive
Sorry to say the only reason I know Athens is because of REM and the B-52s! I was 19 in 1989 so that scene was known over here on the indie circuit before REM became big-big. Happy days ;-)
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Sadly, I never saw REM live, but did see the B-52's live at a concert at the University of Georgia's Legion Field! That was a blast.
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Hi Subversive
Sorry to say the only reason I know Athens is because of REM and the B-52s! I was 19 in 1989 so that scene was known over here on the indie circuit before REM became big-big. Happy days ;-)
Seen REM live twice once in Edinburgh and once in Stirling... brilliant!
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Miss Mp:
Since parsley is biennial, I have to replace the (adult) plant I have now with new plants, or raise from seed; my "adult" plant is already showing signs of bolting to seed.
I sowed seed of flat-leaved Italian parsley (saved from plants that went to seed last year) on April 26. Here it is, 10 days later, the seeds have germinated. So, if you are growing from seed, sow your seed during a cool-to-warm spell with lots of water and you should be able to germinate parsley from seed in 2 or 3 weeks. When your parsley bolts to seed, don't be too hasty and toss it out, a single parsley flower stalk produces a lot of seed, just save the seed when it turns brown. I'll let you know the quality of the parsley later, but I assume since there is no other parsley nearby, the plant is self-pollinated, hoping the quality is similar to last years.