Everyone loves her, but by no means everyone is lucky with parsley from their own garden. Because the indispensable herb has a few peculiarities, that you have to know.
What would fresh beans be, braised mushrooms, Potatoes or bread dumplings without parsley? It makes almost every dish tastier and healthier: Parsley contains a lot of vitamins A and C, also phosphorus, iron and calcium. The herb was originally cultivated as a medicinal plant, because it is good for the stomach, dehydrated, helps against gout, rheumatism and liver diseases. The active ingredient is parsley camphor (Apiol), a poison, that is harmless, when the parsley is used as a spice and not as a vegetable.
Who starts it right, can harvest all year round. From March the seeds are planted, mixed with radish seeds, which emerge earlier and mark the row of parsley. Harvested from June.
The interim period is bridged with plants from the previous year, which can be harvested before they bloom. Because parsley grows biennially: The leaves develop in the first year, in the second year it comes into bloom, must then no longer be used and dies. After all, the plants sown in March survive the winter with a cover of pine branches or brushwood. And to be on the safe side, you can sow again in pots in July/August or pot individual plants in autumn.
Parsley needs constant change
Parsley is not green by itself: She secretes substances, which she cannot tolerate and must therefore be given a new place every two years at the latest. Experienced gardeners even recommend a four-year cycle. If you don't follow this basic rule, the plants wither or do not develop at all, no matter how good the location may be.
A second reason for stunted growth and yellow leaves is nematodes in the soil. Against them, marigolds and marigolds help as an intermediate- or presowing.
As for the locations, parsley is not very demanding. It thrives in sun and partial shade, if only the soil is permeable and loose, slightly damp, but free from waterlogging. You don't get fresh manure at all, the nutrient supply is better with good compost. Even with mulch you can moderate for, but ensure a regular supply of nutrients. The ground cover also has the advantage, that it keeps the moisture in the soil longer and the plants therefore hardly ever have to go thirsty. The water supply can also be improved, if the soil is hoed after watering. This is the only way to properly moisturize it, and all roots can absorb water.
Since parsley is quite insensitive to cold, it survives the winter cold quite well with a brushwood cover, and so fresh green can be cut even in November or December. The cold resistance also has a positive effect during sowing:
As early as March, the seeds can be planted at a row spacing of 10 to 15 cm into the still cold ground. The young seed can be protected against snails with growing foil. Douching with stinging nettle manure or other plant-strengthening broths gives her a good start.
But you can also see it in nature, how to sow: From August the seeds are ripe and fall out and simply remain and germinate in the last warm weeks of autumn. Next year they will be the first, that are putting out fresh leaves again.