The herb parsley is a staple in Italian herb gardens, as well as in just about any herb and vegetable garden. It is a versatile herb used in many cuisines. For cooking, Italian flat-leaf parsley is preferred as it has a more pronounced flavor than the curly leaf parsley.
Growing your own Italian Herb Garden is the essence of the best Italian cooking. And Italian parsley is an easy herb to grow in any garden.
Parsley is a compact and bright green herb, great for the border of your Italian herb garden.
Botanical name: Petroselinum crispum
Growing parsley in your Italian Herb Garden:
Parsley can be sown directly in the garden in spring, or sown earlier in pots and then transplanted into the garden. Although parsley is not supposed to transplant well, I’ve had no problem transplanting young plants from pots into the herb garden, or into larger garden planters.
Seeds can take 3 to 4 weeks to germinate, sometimes longer. To speed up germination, soak seeds overnight before sowing. Thin seedlings to 8 inchces (20 cm) apart.
Parsley is a hardy biennial, meaning it grows the first year and goes to seed in its second year. Most people however treat parsley as an annual, planting new plants every year.
Parsley grows about 1 to to 1 1/2 feet high.
Grow in full sun to partial shade.
Grow parsley easily in the Italian herb garden, on a windowsill, even indoors in a cool room.
Italian flat-leaf parsley also grows nicely in pots. Grown in containers, parsley plants can be brought indoors over the winter. What could be better than parsley in your own indoor Italian herb garden in the middle of winter. The parsley herb has a deep root, so deeper pots are better to accommodate the root.
Parsley is a hardy herb that can handle light frost, and I have harvested it in my herb garden after a light snowfall. I leave my parsley in the herb garden over winter, and enjoy fresh green leaves in the early spring after the snow has melted.
Once the parsley plant goes to seed, I let the seed drop, and most years am delighted with a small crop of ‘volunteers’ that form a new crop of Italian parsley in my herb garden. To delay the parsley plants going to seed, cut off the flower stalk when it appears in the second year.
Italian flat-leaf parsley is an easy-to-grow must-have for any herb garden. Whether you are growing an Italian Herb Garden, or adding a few herbs to your kitchen garden, be sure to include the Italian flat-leaf parsley herb.
Happy growing,
Herb Garden Gal
Copyright © 2010 www.HerbGardenGal.com. All rights reserved.
