How to grow parsley from seed
Start this essential herb now for a windowsill supply. By Sam Haysom
You'll have a bounty of green leaves in the summer if you place a potful of seeds in the warmth and light of your sunniest window.
Parsley is a biennial plant: it grows leaves in the first year, then flowers, sets seed and dies in the second year. It is tricky to germinate, so softening seeds in warm water before starting the process is a good idea. The green-fingered even suggest sowing radishes beside rows of parsley outside as the fast-growing salad crop will mark where you've established the slower-germinating herb.
Parsley should ideally receive as close as possible to eight hours of sunlight a day, with a minimum of six hours. If begun in February, the herb's leaves should be ready for harvesting from late spring through to the beginning of autumn. Fill a 9cm pot with potting compost and thinly scatter parsley seed on top. Cover with a thin layer of compost or vermiculite. Alternatively, sow seeds in a propagator: a seed tray that has a transparent plastic lid which helps to generate and retain warmth for germination. Once the seedlings have developed two true leaves, thin out by transplanting two or three young plants into 9cm pots.
You can transplant them to the garden when they are larger (hold by the leaves not the delicate stem) and there is no longer the threat of frost. Sow 1cm deep in the soil, leaving 23-30cm between rows and the same spacing between the seedlings themselves; you will need to thin out the plants again when they have grown. Once there are enough leaves to harvest, keep picking to encourage new foliage and a continuous supply. Grown with other herbs such as basil, mint, thyme and rosemary in a bed or, if space is tight, in a trough outside the kitchen door or even in a window box, and you'll have a mini herb garden full of flavours to add to country cooking.
Carry out a second sowing towards the end of the summer to continue production into autumn, but take care to protect with cloches over winter (click here for our guide to making or buying cloches).
Where to buy parsley seeds
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