Parsley as a herb has been known since ancient times in countries with warm climates. But the vegetable came to the corners of the globe where summers are cooler with early frosts not so long ago. The plant has gained popularity due to the unique taste and aroma of both green petioles and roots. To grow parsley in open ground, you do not need to have any special agrotechnical knowledge. It is necessary to create a number of conditions so that the spicy crop produces healthy greens all summer.
Types and varieties of parsley
Among the types of vegetable plants, there are biennial and annual herbs, characterized by:
- erect stems;
- feathery green leaves of dark and light tones;
- root system in the form of a cone-shaped rod;
- heart-shaped flowers of whitish or greenish color;
- small oval seeds.
Parsley is distinguished by its high resistance to low temperatures, as well as its moisture-loving properties.
There is a distinction between root parsley, which in the first year of growing season produces a cream or white fruit that looks like a carrot. Use parsley roots in food as a spice, and also for medicinal purposes. Popular varieties of this type of vegetable include Berlinia, Eagle, Berlin root, and Sugar root.
Many people prefer to grow vegetables for their greens. Green petioles with fragrant leaves are obtained during the first year of the plant's life. They are ready for cutting 40-60 days after germination. It is impossible to imagine salads, main courses, and soups without juicy spicy herbs. Many gardeners sow parsley every 2 weeks, supplying themselves with useful herbs throughout the summer and winter.
Of the varieties of leaf parsley, the following are valued:
- strong Festivalnaya bush;
- early ripening Harvest;
- high yield Green Crystal;
- Disease-resistant Natalka.
Curly parsley is used as a decorative plant; it has a dense rosette with corrugated leaves with wavy edges. Varieties of curly plants have been developed: Bogatyr, Esmeralda. Among the “foreigners” we can note Mooskrause parsley, Rialto, Italian giant, Titan.
Parsley: combination with other plants
Among the secrets of vegetable growing one can highlight proper crop rotation at a summer cottage.For every vegetable, there are best predecessors and bad neighbors with which the culture finds it difficult to get along. When you don’t think about this and plant plants as you please, it’s difficult to get a rich harvest of vegetables.
For parsley, as a representative of the Umbrella family, you need a plot where there were previously beds with onions, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. Spicy herbs feel good in place of cabbage and cucumbers.
The herbaceous plant is often planted together with dill, cilantro or carrots. Beds with grass are located next to plantings of tomatoes and legumes.
Beds with aromatic herbs will provide excellent protection for strawberries and strawberries from pests.
When to plant parsley
Depending on the region where the spice crop is cultivated, it can be grown by seedlings or directly from seeds into the garden.
In the first method, boxes with a nutrient mixture are prepared. Then grass seeds are placed close to each other in moist soil. The optimal time for planting seedlings is 1 month before transplanting into open ground. If they prefer propagation by roots, then plant later. For this method, root vegetables weighing 50-60 grams and less than 15 centimeters in length are used. The length can be shortened by cutting off the lower part with a blade and sprinkling with wood ash.
To sow directly into the ground, choose the time when the snow has melted. Since the seeds are not afraid of low temperatures, the vegetable can be planted at the end of April - before May 10. If the planting material is prepared correctly, the seedlings will appear on the 20th day.
Until the end of July, sow parsley once every 2 weeks to constantly have fresh herbs.
In winter, seeds are planted as cold weather sets in.When the temperature during the day is 2-5 degrees Celsius and with slight frosts at night, dry seeds are already placed in the furrows, sprinkled with soil on top. It is necessary to protect them from germination so that the spice does not die. To do this, cover the bed with mulch and film on top. The main thing in pre-winter sowing is that the weather becomes colder and snow falls faster, which will save the seeds from freezing and death.
Preparing seedlings
If you want to get parsley leaves already in mid-spring, you need to adopt the seedling cultivation method:
- The boxes are prepared in advance with a depth of 20-30 centimeters. After disinfecting the container, fill it with nutritious soil. It is good when there is a layer of drainage at the bottom, which will allow moisture not to stagnate in the container.
- The soil is needed from two parts of garden soil and one part of peat and humus.
- It is better to immediately feed the soil mixture with mineral fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium.
- Leaf varieties are chosen with early ripening periods.
- Before placing the seeds in the soil, they are disinfected for 20 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate.
- Seeds are planted in the holes to a depth of 1.5-2 centimeters.
- After planting, water the soil generously with water at room temperature.
For seedlings to appear on time, they need fresh air and regular watering. The air temperature should not exceed 20 degrees and not be lower than 17.
At the level of two leaves, the seedlings are thinned out, leaving a distance of 1-2 centimeters between them. Two weeks before transplanting parsley seedlings, they begin to harden them by taking them out into the open air.
You can grow vegetable seedlings in containers on a windowsill or in a greenhouse.
Features of planting parsley in open ground
More often, open ground is chosen for growing herbs so as not to make it difficult to care for the seedlings.
In a lighted place, prepare the soil in advance. In the fall, rotted manure or compost is added to it at a rate of 4-5 kilograms per square meter of bed. It is also necessary to think about mineral fertilizers if vegetables are planted in winter.
Seed preparation includes soaking in:
- warm water for a day;
- growth stimulant;
- vodka solution for 20 minutes;
- infusion of wood ash for 5 hours.
Choose one of the methods that will allow the seeds to germinate faster in the ground. To speed up germination, add a little quicklime into the furrows. But seeds simply soaked in water will germinate quickly in moist soil.
When planting in autumn, the planting material must be dry, otherwise its rapid germination will lead to the death of seedlings from frost.
Parsley seeds are planted along with a small percentage of lettuce seeds. The latter sprout faster, and the direction of seedlings is determined by them. This way it’s better to loosen the soil, helping the seeds break through the crust.
The planting depth of parsley is 2 centimeters. It is better to plant parsley in the country in two-line ribbons with a distance of 40-50 centimeters between them.
Seedlings of the vegetable plant will appear in 15-20 days.
Many people propagate the vegetable by roots. The prepared product, cut to 8-10 centimeters and disinfected, is buried inside the soil, leaving a stump 2 centimeters above the ground. Greenery will begin to form within 2 weeks. All that remains is to take proper care of her.
How to properly care
The spicy root vegetable is unpretentious and easy to care for. But agricultural technology for aromatic crops cannot be imagined without:
- regular watering;
- application of fertilizers;
- thinning;
- loosening and weeding the beds;
- mandatory trimming of petioles with green leaves.
The appearance of seedlings in the garden bed is a signal for inter-row cultivation of plantings with a hoe or cultivator to a depth of 5-6 centimeters. The procedure is performed 3-4 times during the summer.
Between shoots, weeds are controlled manually.
The first thinning at the level of 2 leaves is carried out, leaving a distance of 2 centimeters, after a month - 5 centimeters. Those shoots that are pulled out are used for their intended purpose as food or for canning.
Watering parsley
Herbs need watering to maintain the succulence of the leaves and petioles. With a lack of moisture, the foliage will begin to turn yellow, and the leaf rosettes will taste harsh and lose their unique aroma.
Water the vegetable bed once every 2-4 weeks, depending on weather conditions. You should not over-hydrate plants. They wither and stop growing.
For humidification, use water at room temperature, settled.
Feeding parsley
During the growing season, the vegetable needs fertilizing in the form of organic and mineral complexes. If manure was applied to the site before planting, then after the first thinning of the plants, a complex of ammonium nitrate (15 grams), potassium salts (10 grams) and superphosphate (20 grams) is added. All components are dissolved in 10 liters of water.
The second time, 2-3 weeks after the first procedure, the amount of nutrients is increased by 1.5 times.
It is necessary to fertilize a bed with grass along with moistening the soil. This way, beneficial elements will be better absorbed, speeding up the growing season of the vegetable.
Parsley trimming
Leafy plant varieties are regularly pruned so that green growth occurs continuously. For the procedure, shoots 10 centimeters high are selected.It is better to start cutting from the outside of the bush. No need to pinch off just the tops. Cut the shoots to the ground. In this case, the bush will recover faster.
Pruning at the end of summer is done in order to prepare greens for storage for the winter. Later, the twigs and leaves will begin to lose their juiciness and beneficial properties.
Protection from diseases and pests
Of the fungal diseases, the plant most often encounters:
- powdery mildew;
- pillar;
- Alternaria blight, or black rot;
- white spotting, or septoria;
- rust.
Pathologies appear as a result of improper care. The infection can be determined by spots on the leaves and their drying out.
To get rid of the lesion, special drugs are used: “Hom”, “Barrier”. For prevention, they fight against plant residues, destroying them.
Among the dangerous pests are the larvae of the swallowtail butterfly, flea beetles, and woodlice, which destroy the greenery of the plant. Insecticides will save you from parasites. They are treated 2-3 times with an interval of 10 days.
Harvest and storage
Parsley is harvested depending on how long it grows. There are varieties that take 55-60 days to reach technical maturity, while for others 100 days is not enough. Greens are pruned throughout the entire growing season of the plant. It is frozen or dried to be added to food in winter. The yield per square meter ranges from 2 to 5 kilograms.
Autumn harvesting of vegetable roots ends no later than September 25. The fruits are cleared of soil and allowed time to dry. Then they are placed in basements or cellars with good ventilation and air temperature within 0 degrees. Root vegetables will be preserved better in wet sand.
The chopped or crushed roots are dried under a canopy and placed in glass jars.Sliced fruits are also frozen and used as a seasoning for dishes.
