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Parsley is one of the most basic spices in our cuisine, it is simply impossible to imagine a festive feast without it. Salads, snacks, cold cuts, hot dishes – nothing can do without it. It stimulates the appetite and helps improve digestion. Every summer resident should know how to grow parsley, or at least how to plant parsley in his area. It can be grown at home on the windowsill all year round.
Soil preparation
Parsley loves light fertile soil, moisture and sun, but it is better to grow it in slightly shaded places, protected from drafts. If there is a lot of water in the garden or the soil is too dense and dry, parsley will grow poorly, give little greenery and weak roots that are not suitable for storage. It is better that there is enough moisture, and the soil allows air to pass to the roots.
The bed for her in the fall is fertilized with humus. It is best if the manure was applied under the previous crop, for example, cucumbers or cabbage, and parsley will grow well in this place next spring. In the spring, before planting parsley (or how to sow parsley), you can apply complex mineral fertilizers. You can add superphosphate, because she loves phosphorus and potassium, but is practically indifferent to nitrogen. Therefore, some summer residents plant parsley in the spring among tomatoes, next to which it grows well. Many do not allocate separate beds, grow dill and parsley throughout the garden, this does not always lead to a good harvest.
You can grow dill and parsley at home on the windowsill all year round, only in winter at home you will have to add lighting so that the greens do not stretch too much. Most often, leafy greens are grown at home from seeds in medium-sized pots or boxes with a depth of at least 20 cm. But it is possible to plant root parsley, you can even plant a root crop in a pot on the windowsill, just choose a deep pot, and cut the root a little to make it easier for him to receive water under new conditions.
In order to grow dill or parsley at home on a windowsill or balcony, it would be right to take a light, nutritious land, it is imperative to arrange a good drainage layer. On the windowsill, greenery sprouts quickly, all you need is an optimal watering regime and light.
Video “An example of landing for summer residents”
Demonstrative video with an example of how you can plant greens in the country.
How to soak seeds
Dill and parsley seeds are sown before winter or early spring. In autumn, you can do this if the winter is not too severe or there are no thaws. If a thaw happens, the seeds can germinate, and then the frost will kill them. Parsley can withstand temperatures not lower than -8 degrees, more severe frosts are fatal for it. It is safer to sow dill and parsley in early spring when the ground has thawed. Around the end of April, this happens in the middle lane. If dry, unprepared seeds are sown in the garden, they will germinate for a long time, so in the spring they are usually soaked or even germinated at home.
You can put the seeds on a cloth soaked in water, cover with gauze on top, you can simply fill them with warm water, cover the container with glass. Experienced gardeners do this: pour the seeds with hot water, drain after cooling, pour hot again – this is done for 1 – 2 days. After that, the seeds are folded on a wet cloth and left until they hatch (several days). Planting parsley with sprouted or germinated seeds is a common practice, this is done in order for the greens to sprout quickly.
It must be said that seed soaking has opponents. There is an opinion that along with the ethereal shell, due to which the greens of parsley, dill, carrots rise so slowly, the potassium reserve also dissolves. This leads to the fact that the crop can germinate quickly, but the sprouts are weak.
You can check everything only in practice, because everyone decides for himself how to grow parsley, whether it is worth soaking the seeds. Summer is not too long, waiting for the greens to sprout not 1 week, but as many as 3 – this is not everyone will choose. In addition, you can apply fertilizer before planting parsley.
Landing in the ground
After the earth has thawed, excess water has come down, mineral fertilizers have been applied to the soil, you can start sowing. Grooves are made in the garden, 2 cm deep, seeds are laid, watered, covered with earth on top. Some gardeners shed furrows before sowing with hot water, and then they no longer water from above. 1 g of seeds are sown per 0,5 square meter of beds. A distance of 15–20 cm is left between the furrows; the seeds are not laid too often.
In the northern regions, parsley and dill are sown in the spring as follows: in March, snow is swept from the garden beds, the furrows are shed with boiling water, sprinkled with wood ash, seeds are planted, sprinkled with dry earth, and snow is thrown onto the bed. Seedlings are very friendly appear quickly, as soon as the ground thaws. For this method, it is necessary to prepare grooves on the site in the fall, and hide the bag of earth in a barn so that it does not freeze.
You can grow seedlings at home on the windowsill, and as soon as the ground thaws, plant them in open ground. This method is only suitable for leaf crops, but the root crop must be immediately sown in a permanent place, because the taproot cannot be transplanted from place to place in order for it to grow well. At home on the windowsill at a positive temperature, seedlings will appear quickly, for 5-6 days. After 1 – 1,5 weeks, a pair of true leaves will appear. After that, you can transplant the plants – plant them in the garden or just less often plant them in other pots at home.
How to care for parsley
If you sow parsley or dill often, you will need to thin them several times. To form a good rosette, the distance between plants should be at least 10 cm in the garden, and at home on the windowsill or balcony you can leave 5 cm. She loves moisture, so she needs to be watered, but do it moderately – if the water stagnates, the plants will rot. It would be correct to arrange drip irrigation from the time the seedlings emerged from the seeds.
Oddly enough, this is easier to do in the garden than at home – at home on the windowsill it is difficult to keep track of the humidity level, so you will have to pay attention to dill and parsley every day. Soil moisture needs to be checked and adjusted. The rest of the care for dill and parsley in the garden is the timely elimination of weeds, periodic feeding (if required).
When a stalk appears with three fully grown leaves, you can harvest. You need to cut off the outer stems near the ground itself – this stimulates growth, parsley will quickly grow greens. Picking leaves from the tops will slow growth. 60 – 70 days after it has risen, maturity sets in: there are at least 6 branches in each outlet, the leaves grow up to 15 cm with proper care.
During the summer, parsley gives 4 crops. Parsley and dill have a spicy smell that insects don’t like, you need to use this – grow them throughout the garden (if you can create optimal conditions). When growing them at home on the windowsill, you can not worry about flies and mosquitoes all summer long.
Video “Secrets of growing parsley”
An informative video on how to grow your own parsley and which varieties to choose.
