Parsley is the most famous green seasoning, an indispensable component of many dishes. When cooking, parsley leaves and its root are used. Carved, spicy leaves adorn the dish and add flavor, and the root gives a unique flavor to broths and marinades. Did you know that parsley has more vitamin C than lemon and more vitamin A than carrots? Of course, such a useful plant is a permanent resident of my garden!
Is it a parsley root or a leaf? Flat-leaf parsley is familiar to all of us Petroselinum crispum, delivered fresh . Flat-leaved parsley has only leaves, the roots are not eaten. Parsley root is characterized by a large, thick root, it goes in sauces and for pickling. Greens, parsley root can also be eaten, but it tastes rougher, and it can not be used to fully ripen the root, otherwise it will become small and brittle.
Planting parsley
The soil for parsley should be normal or slightly acidic and have a loose structure. For planting, you can choose full sun or partial shade.
Parsley can be planted in the ground where last season we grew cabbage, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes. After parsley, the same crops (carrots, coriander, thyme, dill) are best planted in 3-4 years.
Sowing parsley
Parsley is a biennial plant. Seeds after harvesting are stored for about 2-3 years.
You can get fresh herbs from the garden from early spring to late autumn . To obtain young greens, many gardeners use the so-called conveyor method, in which sowing is carried out at intervals of 2-3 weeks and can continue until late autumn (suitable for flat-leaf parsley).
Beds for planting are best prepared in the fall, while organic and mineral fertilizers are added to the soil below the digging. In the spring, an additional potassium-phosphorus fertilizer is added, urea and ammonium nitrate can be added.
The seeds should be soaked for a day in water or 0.2% solution of potassium permanganate. Then put them in cheesecloth and germinate until white sprouts appear. If you need them to germinate quickly, soak the seeds for 4 hours in milk, and then in a solution of potassium permanganate.
On the beds, make grooves 1-2 cm (0.4-0.8 inch) deep with a distance of about 15 cm (5.9 inch) from each other. The grooves are finely sprinkled with quicklime at intervals of about 15 minutes several times.
After planting, seal the soil by lightly patting it over the mulch and humus.
Seedlings will appear within 9-15 days.
For sowing, you can use dry seeds. However, such seeds germinate 7 days later than previously soaked ones. Dry seeds are used for sowing before winter, in frozen ground.
Reproduction parsley
Parsley is propagated by seeds. At the beginning of full ripeness in the second year, the seeds are collected. To do this, leave the parsley heads with the seeds.
Mow or cut the plants and put them in rows to dry after a few days, then dry the seeds and remove the husks.
Caring for parsley
Parsley care is extremely simple, for this purpose, water the greens in the evening, free them from weeds and loosen the soil.
If you constantly take greens from the garden (you can eat at any time of plant development), then there is a natural thinning of the bushes as they grow. If you have planted a parsley root, it must be thinned out regardless of whether you need the greens.
At the first weeding, there should be about 3 cm (1.2 inch) between the plants. After a couple of weeks, it is thinned again, the final distance between the plants should be 5-10 cm (1.2-3.9 inch).
Make sure that the parsley leaves are healthy without signs of disease and insect damage, so that you can take action and not lose the crop.
Collecting and storing parsley
Parsley root is harvested in autumn, the leaves are cut off, stored in a cool place, sprinkled with sand (like carrots). You can not dig up the root of parsley, then in early spring there will be fresh greens. The roots of parsley can be used in winter for forcing greens – for this, it is planted in pots and placed near the window.
Flat-leaf parsley is cut at any stage of development and dried in a darkened, but not dark place or frozen.