Bury Your Dead
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Cottage at Glass Beach
Here is my amazing parsley plant. Isn’t it beautiful? The reason I find it so amazing is this: the plant will have it’s one year birthday this coming week.
I bought it as a one-inch seedling and planted it among flowers in my big pot outside the door. It has been the most faithful of herbs for a full a year.
I’ve grown flat-leaf parsley (sometimes called Italian Parsley) before in the midwest. I’ve never had it last this long. I’ve been giving this wonderful northern California weather the credit and it turns out I’m right. The truth is that in this mild climate parsley is a biennial. That means my plant will last one more year!
That’s a good thing because I use it in so many dishes. The nice thing about it growing near by is that when I need even just a little bit I don’t have to go to the market and buy a whole bunch. I just need to snip and chop only what I need.
I think all cooks have their own special uses for parsley. I find I use it in just about everything except sweets and desserts. I use it a lot with garlic. They seem to love being together. It seems to me that parsley is becoming more popular. Over the past few years I’ve seen parsley featured in such dishes as parsley pesto, parsley soup, parsley salad and so on.
I’d like to encourage all of you to add a pot of fresh parsley to your cooking supplies. Unless you’re a mega-gardener, I suggest you buy a seedling plant at your local nursery rather than a packet of seeds. They are rather tricky to grow from seed.
What I do is this: I put my seedling plant into a mix of soil and compost in a good sized pot. Then I water it once a week and keep it in lots of sunshine. Once it gets going good (about 6 to 8 inches tall), I start using it by clipping the outer edges.
As long as I’m already talking about how easy it is to grow parsley, let me add that garlic is super easy too. About a month ago I took a couple of old garlic cloves that were just starting to sprout. Rather than throw them in the compost, I stuck them down in the dirt next to the parsley. One of them is taking off and the second one (on the left) is a little slower.
During this past month the center of the plant has been spiking up. It’s as if it wants to bloom and create seeds. I’ll let it get about the size you see in the picture above. Then I’ll clip out those big center stalks.
Those stalks will be a special treat for our chickens. Yes, the “girls” love it. They fight each other for parsley. I like to think we benefit from their treat. No, I can’t see green parsley flecks, but I do believe their eggs have been flavor enhance by that parsley. Their eggs, with that bright golden center, are the best ever.
You may not be using parsley as a treat for chickens, but I hope you’re a regular user of the good green stuff. In the comment section tell us – what is your favorite way to use parsley?
This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature at Beth Fish Reads. Click the button below and it will take you there.
Your have a green thumb, Margot ! I’ll try to plant parsley in a pot this summer. Next one I tried to plant basilic but it was not fine. I never understoosd why !
I top many of my casserole recipes with parsley. You have quite the green thumb!
I grew parsley last year for the first time and really enjoyed it. Such a pretty plant! I used it mostly in tabbouleh — from your post I am determined to use it more this year.
Tabbouleh! I grow parsley in my front flowerbed every year along with chives, oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary! here’s my recipe for Irish Boxty
It’s a must in stocks and soups, don’t you think? Oh and Peggy Ann is right. Tabbouleh.
I am a big fan of the flat leaf, and use it mostly in tabouli, though also in some great oven potatoes. I’ll try offering my ‘girls’ some stalks. Thanks for the idea. Oh, and we live on different planets, honestly. I’ll be starting my parsley seeds soon – indoors under the lights.
I like adding the flat leaf to my salads; it adds such a refreshing taste. When I was a kid, my dad used to grow fresh mint and we always added that to our salads too
I use parsley ( the same plant I’ve had for a couple of years now) in meatballs, meatloaf, marinara sauce and potato salad. There’s probably a few more but those come to mind first.
Should I be trimming around the edges? I tend to cut the longest stems first to keep it looking even.
Your parsley plant looks so healthy. Love fresh herbs.
That is a robust parsley plant. I cannot wait to start planting herbs at our new house. We had deer at our old one so I could only plant rosemary, now the options are limitless – as long as I can get them to grow
Your parsley is so lush! I usually grow parsley and it does well. I love the fresh taste of it. Sometimes I use it instead of cilantro, and that I found difficult to grow. So nice you have fresh eggs!
I’m doing a small garden this year….I will have to make sure that I make room for herbs!!
I started growing some parsley and some rosemary earlier this summer. The plants are going well but I need to remember that they are out there so that I can start using them!
Oh it is a gorgeous plant Margot! My neighbor has a parsley pot on her porch and I am invited to snip whenever I want — and it is often! (I wish she’d put in some basil too ;>)
That’s really impressive! I feel like parsley and cilantro would be hard to grow because I wouldn’t know when to actually trim the plant and take what I want to use vs. letting it grow. I’m very bad with plants that way! I enjoy parsley, but not nearly as much as I enjoy cilantro. I think parsley has a much stronger taste, but I know many people who hate the taste of cilantro, too.
It’s great when herbs keep growing. Mine have all gone for the moment, and I need to replace them.
Wow, that is one hardy parsley plant. Good for you. I never thought about growing my own garlic before. Now, that I know is easy, I’m going to have to try.
Hi Margot.
I love parsley and have grown it in my garden many seasons. Isn’t it really wonderful being able to snip a few leaves whenever you need them? Parsley (as with most biennials) will bolt early in the season of its second year with the purpose of producing flowers and hence seeds. If you leave the flower heads alone, the seeds will drop into the soil below and you may be rewarded with baby parsley plants next season. You can certainly use the parsley leaves this season, but you may find that the plant is less prolific at producing leaves because its energy will go into producing flowers & seeds, not more leaves.
If you’re really lucky, you might discover butterfly eggs on your parsley plants and if you’re willing to share you parsley with the caterpillars, black swallowtail butterflies will follow! We were lucky to experience this in our garden several years ago when my girls were little. It was wonderful.
Enjoy that parsley!!
Parsley plant do not stay live for more time as it is planted according to the whether conditions that’s what the reason.