Sowing parsley

[Ricard with an H]

I plant them out in big pots (old tree pots) in May and enjoy parsley right up until they go to badly to seed which is about the begining of June.

MW

I'll put mine in pots this year, last year I planted them amongst other stuff in a very fertile bed and they went crazy to the point I was giving massive bunches away regularly. They were still producing new growth in November after I hacked them down to the ground.

Nice pots are so expensive and my team-manager doesn't like plastic pots in areas regarded as domestic garden or patio, I agree mostly because large clay pots look so nice. Also, I find I have less of a chance of over-watering if I use clay pots. Also, now we have a collection of clay because I buy a couple/few each year only clay will do.

(Yes, I'm still erring on the wet side)

Sorry to digress, last year was the first year I didn't loose my expensive lavender plants because I studied the needs of lavender. Big clay pots lend themselves to lavender and other mediteranian shrubs, now, I need another four of those big clay pots and they're close to £20 each.

And grit, all the plastic pots without grit get green algae on top. Clay pots less-so and clay pots with grit don't go green.

[Motherwoman]

Agree about having nice pots in the garden areas. We had an odd corner at the bottom of the garden (think long skinny triangle) which was full of odds and ends of wood and the bonfire heap so it got cleared and the second hand greenhouse got put about half way up and a double row of the plastic pots to one side by the path to the GH. Soil was ok under the greenhouse but full of rubble where the pots are stood.

I use them for things I want to hand such as parsley and salad leaves and a few early spuds. Everything else goes up the allotment. I have to cover them with some net though to keep the chicken off!

MW

[Ricard with an H]

Agree about having nice pots in the garden areas.
MW

I still haven't push-the-boat-out for more big clay pots though I am about to grit my teeth and go for it. Just the mints that Geoff sent me will take three pots, then parsley, tarragon, chives, marjoram and I'm sure I could think of more. Parsley and mint alone can take up a lot of space when they are happy so keeping them 'In-barracks' seems a good idea. Out of the two small strips of parsley seed I sowed, each strip had six seeds. Each seed has sprouted so I have the potential of twelve plants yet my sorrel has at least 50% failure. This is my excuse for always sowing more than I need and whilst this thread was started because of the difficulties some of you have growing parsley I went into it with confidence because of last seasons success.

I'm sure most of you are annually optimists when it comes to your gardening though surely we are all affected by our failures and successes. I have grown spring onion though the last two sowings failed and I'm aware I'm not the only one, nothing on the packages suggests special treatment so Ill join the optimists.

[Johnboy]

I sow my Parsley very thickly across the top of a module tray with very sparse compost sieved across the top and sprayed quite liberally with water and propagate in a lightless heated propagator and when a few have germinated (whispies) I remove from propagator and place them on the bench in the tunnel. Generally the full germination follows within seven to ten days and the whispies are pulled out.
This has worked for me for over thirty years.
Commercially the trays used were 576 modules and whatever grew in an individual module got planted up into trays of 9 and marketed.
Today I use the the same trays but only about one eighth filled with compost using the same method.
JB.