How to grow parsley - planting and care guide

One of the most popular herbs used in cooking is parsley. Parsley is not only easy to grow but also has great ornamental appeal. As well as this, Parsley is reknown for its health benefits and is commonly used after meals as a natural mouth freshener. With so many attributes, and the fact that parsley is easy to grow, parsley is an essential for any garden.

Parsley is a small, compact herb, which grows to about 25cm high. The foliage has the appearance of clumps of ruffled fern-like leaves and the plant is very hardy. Parsley can handle very hot conditions right through to cold and frosty weather.

POTTING
When planting into a pot, choose a sunny, warm position. It is important to use a pot large enough to satisfy the water demands of parsley, so the pot should be about 25-30cm wide. If you choose a smaller pot, you will need to water very often as parsley does like regular watering. By far it is easier to use the larger choice of pot.

POTTING MIX
Fill the pot with a premium potting mix. Searles Herb & Vegetable Mix is ideal for parsley. It is a specially designed mix for herbs and vegetables in pots and contains many added benefits which ensure strong, healthy plant growth.

WATERING
Parsley will need watering about 2-3 times per week. If parsley runs out of water, it will let you know by wilting. However, as soon as you rewater, in no time it will be standing back upright again.

A trick with parsley is that they do not like to sit in saucers, where the mix in the bottom of the pot is constantly wet, so position the pot onto some pot holders, bricks or timber which will allow free drainage.

FERTILISING
To fertilise parsley, use SeaMax Organic Fertiliser Liquid, which is a fully organic fertiliser. SeaMax Organic Fertiliser contains both fish and seaweed fertilisers plus trace elements and minerals, and promotes marvellous healthy growth with deep green foliage. Fertilising parsley is a must as you will probably be constantly taking prunings for your meals, so they need the extra food for new growth. Apply fertiliser once a week for strong growth.

HARVESTING
Parsley can be harvested at anytime and is great in most cooking applications. In fact, the constant harvesting of foliage keeps the plant regenerating new growth. They grow back very fast and prolifically. A tip is to always leave some leaves on the plant after harvesting as it will need some foliage to regrow more.