Peculiarities of growing leaf and root parsley in open soil

Types of parsley and growing specifics

There is leaf parsley, which does not produce a root crop but only a root bunch, and root parsley.

Parsley is a cold-hardy plant. Leaf parsley can be grown via transplants (sowing in late March), while root parsley, like any taproot crop, is best not transplanted, and therefore I recommend sowing it directly into the soil in early spring.

In regions where there are no winter thaws, parsley can safely be sown before winter in November. In the North-West, sowing before winter is not recommended because during a thaw, all cold-hardy crops will emerge and may die from a sudden frost without snow in the middle of winter. It is better to sow in March. To do this, beds and furrows on them should be prepared in the autumn.

Spring sowing algorithm:

• In autumn, prepare a bag of dry soil and leave it in a shed.
• In March, sweep the snow off the bed.
• Water the furrows with hot water from a kettle.
• Lightly sprinkle the furrows with ash and sow the parsley.
• Cover with the prepared dry soil on top and throw snow onto the bed.

The emergence will be uniform and early. Such parsley will not be affected by any diseases.

Agrotechnics and pre-sowing preparation

Parsley is not demanding of soil fertility. However, it loves phosphorus even more than celery, so before planting, about 3 tablespoons of superphosphate should be incorporated into the soil for each running meter of the area (when applying AVA fertilizer, do not add superphosphate). Parsley is quite indifferent to nitrogen and never accumulates it for future use, but it does need potassium. Ash is sufficient (1 glass per meter).

Plant care:

• For leaf parsley, cutting can be done as soon as 5–6 well-developed true leaves appear. Cutting can be done to the root 3–4 times per summer.
• For root parsley, it is better not to cut the leaves in order to get good root crops.
• Leaf parsley can be fed a couple of times with a weed infusion, and root parsley with ash.

In wet weather, ash can be scattered in the rows on moist soil. In dry weather, the soil must first be well irrigated, and after that, it should be sprinkled with ash.

Parsley seeds, like dill and carrot seeds, contain a large amount of essential oils that prevent germination, which is why these plants take a long time to emerge. If, before sowing, the seeds wrapped in a cloth are held for half an hour under a stream of hot water, they will germinate faster. You only need to spread them out on paper just before sowing and dry them slightly until they are free-flowing.

When sowing into the soil, I recommend mixing 1 teaspoon of seeds with 1 teaspoon of the dust fraction of AVA fertilizer and half a glass of sand. Sow this mixture into the prepared furrows as if you were salting food. Place a few lettuce seeds into the furrows to mark them, cover with soil, compact the furrows with a board, and cover the sowings with an old film until the lettuce emergence. The film will preserve moisture in the top layer and will not let the sprouted plants dry out if the weather is dry or windy. Then the film should be removed and the sowings covered with spunbond or lutrasil.

Irrigation should be done without removing the cover, directly through the covering material. All these plants take a long time to emerge, from 10 to 15 days, so the beds must be free of weeds, otherwise they will overwhelm the crop sowings. You can clear the beds of weeds by growing weeds on them beforehand:

1. Cover the beds directly over the snow in early spring with a film.
2. As soon as the weeds emerge, remove the film, loosen the bed, and leave it without the film for 24 hours. The emerged weeds will die.
3. Cover the bed again with the film and wait for the emergence of the next batch of weeds from a deeper layer of soil. Destroy them in the exact same way.

Soil preparation and parsley sowing

Now the beds are free from weeds, but they must not be ploughed; they can only be loosened before sowing to a depth of no more than 6–7 cm, otherwise, by ploughing the soil, you will bring seeds from a deeper layer to the top layer, and weeds will appear on the bed again.

Sometimes you can read this recommendation: soak the seeds of these plants for two days in running water (or change the water several times during this period). The essential oils will be washed out of the seeds, and the emergence will be uniform and faster. If you are growing greens, then this technique can be used, but if you are growing a root crop or seeds, then this technique is not suitable because, along with the essential oils, potassium is washed out of the seeds. The plants, although they will emerge uniformly, will be weakened from the very beginning. Believe it or not. In addition, essential oils serve as a kind of barrier that obviously weak ones cannot overcome. You do not need them anyway.

Growing and using the parsley harvest

Parsley root can be left to overwinter in the soil. In early spring, you will have greens immediately, before the newly sown ones grow. However, overwintered parsley quickly goes to seed. From that moment on, its leaves immediately become coarse, so the greens are edible for literally two weeks. In winter, you can obtain forced greens from parsley and celery roots in an apartment. To do this, it is enough to plant the roots in pots with soil, place them on a windowsill, and water them moderately.

There is a variety of leaf parsley called curly parsley. It is of no interest because its greens, although beautiful, are very coarse. It is usually used for decorating dishes served at the table. Because of its beautiful greens, it is used in flower beds.

I grow leaf parsley from transplants by sowing seed at home in early March. In early May, I transplant the bulk of the transplants into the soil, but I plant exactly 5 plants in the greenhouse and start using their greens very early; these five bushes are enough for the whole summer. For autumn preparations and drying, I grow parsley in the open soil.