In the Garden
Here flat-leafed parsley (foreground) pairs with yellow cosmos in a a pretty herb garden.
A row of curly parsley grows lush in this vegetable garden.
Harvest parsley by cutting the leafy stems from the plant at their base. Take the larger, outer leaves first.Parsley is a lush plant growing up to a foot high in a beautiful rosette of green foliage. Use parsley plants as companions to annuals, perennials, and herbs in beds, containers, and window boxes. Plants make a nice seasonal edging and provide a striking contrast to colorful annuals, like yellow pansies or bright pink petunias. Curled parsley has a more ruffled appearance than flat-leafed parsley, but both are equally lush.
Planting and Care
Parsley is an annual in the North that grows until freezing weather kills it. However, in milder climates, the foliage grows very full the first year; the second spring the plant blooms, goes to seed, and soon dies. When you see it send up a flower stalk, yank it, because at this point it is bitter.
Plant in the spring or also in fall in zones 7 and warmer. Normal winters in the South and Southwest provide good growing conditions for parsley. Italian flat-leafed parsley is a bit more heat tolerant than curly parsley.
Set transplants in full sun or partial shade and rich, moist soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.7. Add a slow-release fertilizer to the soil before or at planting. Keep the soil moist. If the plant wilts, the edges turn yellow, and since it’s the leaves that you eat, this can really hurt the quality of your harvest. Keep roots cool and moist with mulch, but to avoid rot, keep mulch away from the crown of the plant.
In September, promote new foliage by cutting back plants set out in the spring; this is especially true for plants grown in vegetable and herb beds strictly for their harvest. You might not do that to those planted as a foil for flowers. In areas where parsley over-winters, replace plants set out the previous fall with new transplants in the spring.
Troubleshooting
Parsley is a favorite food of the brightly striped parsleyworm caterpillar, which becomes the black swallowtail butterfly. Gardeners often plant a few extra parsley plants for the caterpillars to eat and the butterflies to enjoy.
A serious pest is whitefly. To get rid of them spray the underside of the leaves thoroughly with an insecticidal soap.
Harvest and Storage
Gather parsley stems and leaves as needed. Cutting the leaf stalks at the base of the plant from the outside near the base of the plant makes the plant bushier.
Freeze parsley for winter use; although it is easily dried, it does not keep its flavor well.
Uses
Parsley pairs well with meat and egg dishes, potato and pasta dishes, vegetables, rice, salads, and soups, as well as cottage cheese and herb butters. Add chopped parsley to a dish near the end of the cooking process or sprinkle it on vegetables or salads immediately before serving to keep the fresh flavor. It is also a chief ingredient in bouquet garni.