Green Food

 

 

How to Grow Parsley

Parsley with its attractive crinkly leaves is well-known and used for garnishing and for sauce, but is little used nowadays as a tonic. As it can be dried in a slow oven to retain its colour, it can be had for all purposes at any time of the year if stored in a dry, cool place after drying. The most ancient of all garden writers wrote: "Parsley loveth the shade" and this is as true today as when it was written thousands of years ago; but not the shade of dripping trees. Seed is very slow in germinating so should be sown when the soil is warming up in April and although the young plants can be trans­planted, like all tap rooted subjects they make better plants in most cases if the seed is sown thinly and the resultant plants thinned out to about 1fl--12 inches apart. The place for parsley is alongside the garden path as not only does it make an attractive edging, but is conveniently placed in all weathers to gather the few odd leaves required. Although old plants will continue production for several years a second sowing is best made in July or August to stand the winter. In some districts it may be necessary to protect the plants by covering with cloches or by planting a few plants in a cold frame to provide how to grow parsley

growing it close to these plants: As the leaf is the portion used it is not advised to spray with anything strong smelling as a preventative. Triple curled and Myatt's Garnishing are two good varieties.   This is a dual purpose vegetable, the roots being used like parsnips and the tops as parsley. Seed is sown in deeply cultivated ground in early April, making the rows t inch deep and 15 inches apart. Thin out seedlings so they stand 9 inches apart.

fresh leaves during the winter months. The richer the soil the better the leaves, but parsley succeeds in almost any soil. Harvest by cutting off the leaves in August and dry on paper in a cooking oven, do not cut hard from plants intended to provide fresh leaves for winter use. Remove old coarse leaves when no longer fit for use and destroy any slugs found hiding there.

Pests and Diseases.

There are few, but in dry seasons it may suffer from root aphis; copious watering will reduce this risk.

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