More Pathetic Parsley

[Marb67]

Well, I absolutely have no idea why year and year after year I fail to get a decent crop of parsley. I see it growing thick and lush green in people's borders pretty much uncultivated and yet mine comes up promising only to go whispy and pathetic, despite planting in deep compost (raised beds and containers) in full sun. This is about the best I can get

The tall stem in the middle is Coriander (which of course has bolted)

[Plot70]

I bought a pot of seedlings from a supermarket. They sometimes appear in the reduced to clear shelf.
You can either plant the whole pot or split it up.
The harvest will be poor but any that go to seed will produce seedlings that will come up and grow well. The seeds keep fine on the dead flower stems.
I harvested my biggest plant twice last year and again a couple of weeks ago.

[smallblueplanet]

We also cheat and buy a supermarket curly-leaved parsley. Split it and planted in the veggie bed it romps away and crops the same year, only a hard frost seemed to slow it/kill it.

[Marb67]

Sadly I can't even get those results from shop bought Parsley either.

[annie8]

I am a bit hit and miss with herbs too. Some years it works great, others not. I started parsley from seed earlier this year in the greenhouse and it did ok, but gets to a point where that is too hot, so I just plant out. This year it is doing ok. I don’t find it easy to grow in a pot in warm weather.

[smallblueplanet]

Sadly I can't even get those results from shop bought Parsley either.

Curly we can do, flat leaf not really.

[Bren In Pots]

It took me ages to get Flat leaf parsley to grow but now it self seeds all over the garden.
It’s a real bonus without any input from me.

[Marb67]

Why oh why oh why can I not grow this hear year after year. It gets plenty of sun, good compost in deep pot and yet still pathetic. 😥

[Plot70]

I would knock it out of that tin bucket and look for roots. If there are no roots against the metal it may be the rust resistant finish on the metal restricting the roots. They are tap root plants and need deep soil.
My best plant from last year had aphids on it and was soon covered with hover fly maggots with aphids sticking out of there cake holes.
The flower stems are rising fast.
I have one plant that have not got its roots deep enough before the soil dried up and it looks poor.

[Marb67]

I have tried them in the ground previously with little or no success. I just seem to have an invisible force stopping growing these, and other plants.

[Plot70]

Slugs are the main problem. They are of the kind that hide under the soil. they are not the ones that emerge later when the weather warms up. We have had a cold start and the nasty slugs have been worse than usual. Slug pellets on the soil before hedgehogs emerge is the way to go. Turning the soil several times in freezing weather also helps.

[Marb67]

Yes but these are in a Container hanging out of reach of slugs. Here are the roots. It doesn't make sense as they are not under/over watered and have new Compost with vita q just added but still are puny.

[Plot70]

I find that parsley needs to access clay before it grows well. There is something deep down that they need that you can get from composting other tap root plants such as comfrey.
There is no substitute for letting them find there own bedrock nutrients though.

[Marb67]

I find that parsley needs to access clay before it grows well. There is something deep down that they need that you can get from composting other tap root plants such as comfrey.
There is no substitute for letting them find there own bedrock nutrients though.

Well I have planted them out in the raised bed between the curly kale for a last chance saloon.

[Plot70]

Was there any roots against the sides of the tin bucket?