Parsley is one of the herbs that can be grown both in the summer in the garden and in the apartment all year round. In winter, parsley growing in a pot can delight with its greens and provide vitamins. It will not be difficult to take care of such a planting, moreover, if all the rules for growing parsley on the windowsill are observed, its yield will not yield to open ground plants.
Varieties of parsley for growing on the windowsill
Many varieties of parsley are sensitive to lack of light and low humidity, so they are not suitable for indoor cultivation. It will be difficult to create optimal conditions for them. But modern breeding can offer a number of varietal plants that are sufficiently resistant to indoor conditions and ripen at an earlier date. Among them there are both ordinary leafy varieties and decorative curly ones.
For example, among leafy parsley, especially aromatic and tasty, these are:
- Appetizing - a variety with non-decaying foliage;
- Beads - medium-sized delicate leaves;
- Gloria is a variety with dark green foliage.
- Emerald lace is a mid-early variety with shiny leaves.
- The Italian hero is a mid-season shade-tolerant parsley with large foliage.
- Ordinary is a moderately shade-tolerant mid-season variety.
- Prima is an early cold-resistant parsley.
- Russian feast is a high-yielding variety with large leaves.
- Universal - forms lush mid-season bushes.
- Morning freshness is an early fast growing variety.
- Fitness - foliage grows quickly and almost does not turn yellow.
Among curly parsley, less fragrant, but remarkable for its beautiful foliage:
- Fragrant alley - with early ripening large leaves.
- Aster - forms medium-sized bushes with dark green foliage.
- Grandma's bed is a high-yielding early variety.
- Vorozheya is a parsley with very aromatic foliage of medium early maturity.
- Green pearls are a beautiful and tasty variety, bushes up to 35 cm high.
- Curly Sue - the foliage grows quickly and does not fade for a long time.
- Kucheryavets - the foliage is bright green and ripens in medium terms.
- Petra is a disease-resistant variety with rich green leaves.
Typically, seeds suitable for potting are marked on the packaging. Curly parsley is slightly inferior to leafy in taste, but it is considered less demanding and develops faster in an apartment.
Preparation for growing parsley
Although parsley is very unpretentious, it is possible to achieve good yields from it only if the basic requirements for growing are met. For healthy growth, the bushes need a lot of light (in winter you can use additional lighting), a certain temperature and a suitable soil.
Seat selection
To provide plants with enough light, they are most often kept by a window.Preference is given to the southern direction, but the bushes can grow well on eastern or western windowsills. With the arrival of spring, plantings located in the bright and scorching sun should be slightly shaded from it. This will help protect the delicate leaves. In order for the plants to develop evenly, the container with them is regularly turned relative to the sun.
Another condition for growing parsley is the absence of cold drafts. When airing the room, it is recommended to remove the pot with it from the window, and also not to keep it in the path of air currents.
You should not put parsley on the kitchen window, even if it is the lightest in the house. Temperature changes and exposure to steam from the stove can adversely affect the development of the bushes.
Capacity selection
So that the parsley is not too cramped in the confined space of a pot or container, deep containers are selected for it that can freely accommodate its developed roots. Regardless of the type of parsley grown, the pot must be at least 20 cm high.
So that water does not stagnate in the ground, the container must necessarily have drainage holes at the bottom. To prevent the liquid from spilling out onto the windowsill, it is necessary to provide for the presence of a pallet or pots. The material of manufacture of the pot itself does not matter. The pot or box can be earthen, plastic, or made from treated wood. Sometimes parsley begins to grow in small seedling pots, moving it to a larger container as it grows.
The appearance of the pot also matters - as with other houseplants, it should not spoil the view of the window and get out of the general interior.
The soil
Soil composition plays a key role in growing parsley at home. If the plant in the garden is able to draw the necessary substances from the soil throughout the season, the soil in the pot is depleted much faster. Plants will thrive best in a loose, neutral or slightly acidic substrate. You can use store-bought mixes or prepare the soil yourself. To do this, mix compost with turf, peat and sand. The resulting mixture is disinfected by freezing for a week or steaming in the oven. Another method of processing is spilling the soil with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or boiling water. If the finished soil is too acidic, you can add a little lime solution to it. Mineral supplements will not be superfluous. Dry potash or phosphorus fertilizers are applied to the soil and mixed thoroughly.
Before pouring earth into the pot, a drainage layer with a thickness of at least 2 cm is laid on its bottom. In this capacity, pebbles, brick debris or coarse sand can be used.
Preparing for landing
The timing of the harvest depends largely on the choice of seed. Parsley grown from seeds allows you to harvest from it for more than a year, but the first leaves from it can be removed only a couple of months after sowing. Planting root vegetables is considered a faster way to get greens. In addition, this method provides a guaranteed plant of the desired variety. But the rhizomes quickly deplete the soil in the pot, so such bushes will need to be transplanted.
Before sowing seeds or planting parsley roots in a pot, they must be prepared for planting. Parsley seeds have a peculiarity: they are literally saturated with essential oil, which prevents them from hatching quickly. If you plant them in the ground just like that, seedlings will appear only after 3 weeks. To speed up the process, the seeds are soaked. The seed is spread on a layer of damp light cloth (for example, gauze), covered with another layer. You can place the seeds between cotton pads. So that the cloth with seeds does not dry out, it can be tidied up in a bag or placed in a closed jar standing in a warm place. Under these conditions, the seeds are left for several days, making sure that the fabric is constantly damp.In this case, it is recommended to replace the water periodically. But seeds should not "float" in water.
Before sowing, the seeds are treated in a pale solution of potassium permanganate, and after disinfection they are sown in a pot, deepening only slightly. Such measures allow the seeds to germinate within 7-10 days.
If parsley is grown from rhizomes, they are preliminarily examined, choosing only the strongest and healthiest specimens with several buds. For suitable rhizomes, the thickness varies from 2 to 4 cm, and the length is from 5 to 15 cm. If the root crop is too long, it can be cut off so that it can become saturated with moisture faster and also fit better in the pot. If greens have already grown on the rhizomes, they are cut off. To accelerate development and rooting, you can treat the planting material with a growth stimulator.
After shoots appear in the container with sowing parsley, they should be thinned out. Plants should have enough space, so at least 3-5 cm are left between the bushes. In this case, parsley from the rhizomes can be planted almost closely.
In whatever form the parsley is planted, the soil in the container with it should not dry out or become too waterlogged. Excess water accumulating in the pan must be poured out. So that the surface of the soil in the pot does not turn into a crust, loosening is carried out after watering. Greens from parsley are not cut off immediately, but only after the bushes are sufficiently strong.
Features of growing parsley on a windowsill
The growth of parsley will largely depend on the conditions in which the plant is kept. In the beds, this culture begins to develop in the summer, it does not like the cold, but at the same time it does not tolerate extreme heat. Ideally, parsley should be grown in moderate heat - it should keep about 18-20 degrees in the room with it. A higher (about 25 degrees) temperature is needed for seedlings only during the germination period. To prevent the bushes from overheating, you should not keep them in the immediate vicinity of hot heating devices in winter. To protect against their heat, you can use screens or rearrange the pots closer to the glass. At home, bushes can grow not only in winter, but also in summer. With the onset of warm weather, you can transfer containers with plants to the air.
Parsley should have enough light, the bush should be lit for at least 12 hours a day. During the cloudy off-season and in winter, during the period of especially short days, it is recommended to use special lighting. For this, LED, phyto- or agrolamps with a power of 40 watts or more are used. They are installed at a distance of at least 20-25 cm from the bushes. Reflective screens are used to improve the efficiency of such backlighting. Most of all, parsley will need sufficient lighting in the early stages of seedling development. Lack of sun during this period significantly affects the appearance of the bushes (they turn pale and stretch) and the rate of their further growth.
Sufficient air humidity is equally important for parsley. The proximity of the batteries significantly lowers the battery level, therefore it is recommended to install humidifiers near the plants. Their role can be played by both special devices and simple home-made means - open containers with water, a pallet with wet pebbles. Alternatively, cover the battery with a cloth, the edge of which will be submerged in water. Another way is to place snow or ice near the pot. By gradually melting, it will humidify the air and slightly lower the temperature near the plant. You can periodically spray the bushes with a spray bottle. But it is not worth solving the problem of moisture with more frequent watering - this can lead to decay of the roots.
Growing parsley from seeds
Having decided to grow parsley from seeds, you should be patient. From the moment of sowing to collecting the first greens, it takes from 1.5 months. The process itself, from sowing to collecting foliage, includes the following steps:
- The seeds are soaked in a damp cloth for several days;
- The parsley pot is filled with soil mixture, not forgetting to lay a drainage layer on the bottom;
- The soil is slightly moistened;
- Half an hour before sowing, the seeds are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
- Shallow (about 0.5 cm) grooves are made in the ground;
- Seeds are sown in grooves, lightly sprinkling with earth or placing them superficially;
- Crops are carefully sprayed;
- Cover the container with parsley with a foil and put in a warm place;
- Until the emergence of shoots, the soil is kept slightly moist;
- After seed germination, the shelter is removed and the pot is transferred to moderate coolness and light;
- Too thickly risen parsley is thinned out;
- If necessary, use additional lighting lamps;
- After the bushes have grown up enough, you can harvest them from them.
Sometimes parsley is not grown in soil, but hydroponically. This method also gives good results.
Growing parsley from a root vegetable
Planting root parsley also has a number of features.
- Rhizomes are stored in the fall, before the onset of frost, carefully digging them out of the ground;
- The pot is filled with soil, placing drainage on its bottom;
- The grown greens are cut from the rhizomes;
- You can shorten too long roots, rhizomes about 5 cm long are suitable for growing, but the apical bud is not touched when pruning;
- The roots are planted so that the top protrudes slightly above the ground, you can place them almost end-to-end;
- Plantings are watered and placed in the light in a cool (about 16 degrees) place;
- Moderate soil moisture is maintained in the container;
- With the appearance of sprouts, the container is transferred to a warmer (from 18 degrees) corner;
- After about three weeks, foliage can be harvested from the bushes.
Parsley care
Taking care of parsley is simple, but for a good harvest and plant health, its basic procedures must be carried out regularly.
Watering
The most fragrant parsley greens are formed only in sufficiently moist soil. Growing parsley needs moisture especially. During watering, the soil ball must be completely saturated with water, and the excess must be removed through the drainage holes. The foliage of parsley, which lacks moisture, will begin to turn yellow. But excessive watering for plants is also harmful, it can lead to decay of the roots. As a rule, watering is carried out 2-3 times a week, allowing the earth to dry out a little.
On hot and sunny days, watering is usually carried out in the morning or evening. Well settled water at room temperature is suitable for this. Until the sprouts of the seedlings get stronger, it is recommended not to water them, but to spray them. Such measures will prevent soil erosion and seed displacement.
Top dressing
Usually, mineral additives are added to the soil when parsley is planted, but over time, this supply of nutrients can also be depleted. The weak and yellow foliage of the bushes indicates that they lack fertilizer. Parsley will especially need to stimulate growth after cutting the foliage.
For feeding, homemade mixtures of nitrogen, potassium or phosphorus additives or ready-made complex formulations for the growth of bushes are suitable. Do not apply too much fertilizer. For safety reasons, after the introduction of nutrients from the bushes, foliage is not cut off for food for at least a couple of weeks.
Collection and storage of greens
You can cut foliage from plants after their stems grow to 10-12 cm in height. Greens are not cut at the root, but leaving the stalk itself. To get several waves of harvest from one bush, no more than half of all leaves are removed from it. First of all, for this, the longest branches with large foliage are chosen. After pruning, the plants can be fertilized.
The harvested parsley can be used fresh, frozen or dried for longer storage.
Diseases and pests
Parsley in unfavorable conditions can get sick. Among the main diseases of such plants are white spot and powdery mildew. Affected plants must be treated with a fungicide, for example, Fitosporin.
The main pest of bushes is considered to be aphids. If its signs were noticed on the parsley, the leaves are sprayed with an insecticide (Fitoverm can be used). Before using such a drug, you must carefully study the instructions and do not eat the foliage of the treated bushes earlier than the period indicated there.
To prevent possible infection of parsley bushes in the future, care for them needs to be adjusted.
Possible difficulties and main mistakes
Problems with growing parsley most often begin due to violation of the basic rules of sowing or caring for bushes. Among them:
- Unsuitable, too high or low air temperature;
- Excessive deepening of seeds during sowing;
- Lack of light or growing away from a window without lamps;
- Using a substrate that has not passed the disinfection procedure;
- Too frequent and abundant or insufficient watering;
- Too small and cramped pot;
- Heavy soil, poorly conducting water and air
- Lack of feeding, leading to a lack of nutrition.
If you find a problem, you need to try to correct it. If you follow all the simple requirements of such plants, they will reward you with a good vitamin harvest.
