Herbs - Parsley

Parsley is a plant, rather than a bush like some herbs. You can grow it from seed or buy a pot. There is another alternative. My local supermarket sells "growing herbs" amazingly cheap (50p). The idea is to have them on the window sill, and use the leaves until you finish off the plant. However, if you nurse the plant well, you can end up planting it outside. When bought, this plant was absolutely collapsed, with bedraggled and limp leaves, and bone-dry soil. But I watered it well, and potted it, kept it on a window sill for a few days (still well watered) and then hardened off outside before planting. The hail storm was unfortunate... Hardening off means putting outside, in the pot, possibly bringing in at night, so as to accomstom the plant to outside temperatures rather than inside. This is particularly important for this type of plant, kept in a supermarket in the warm.

I am trying to grow it myself, from seed.

There are two different varieties of parsley, curly leaved and flat leaved.

Curly leaved parsley:

On window sill

Hardening off outside (in hail!)

Planted out

Leaves

Grown from seed

Flat leaved parsley:

Planted out

Leaves

Click on photos for large version.