Contents of the article:
The story of a person’s acquaintance with this culture begins in the Mediterranean countries and dates back to the era of the construction of the pyramids and ancient Hellas. Parsley deserved the greatest recognition later, from the Romans, who introduced the other Europeans to the spicy grass. The Latin name for parsley, Petroselinum crispum, most likely can be translated as curled celery growing on stones. This indicates the similarity of cultures, but does not mean that in Ancient Rome you could see modern curly parsley, which gardeners all over the world are well aware of.
Wild plants, still found throughout Europe, in the European part of Russia and in the North Caucasus, have flat leaves with a jagged edge. This variety is still called Italian parsley, and neapolitanum is added to the main name of the species. The youngest parsley, root, has a prefix tuberosum, and Europeans prefer to call these varieties Hamburg.
Curly parsley, with a characteristic shape of leaves that form dense green caps with heights from 15 to 40 cm above the beds, is called Petroselinium Crispum var. Crispum.
In Russia, this variety appeared relatively recently, but in European countries, curly parsley belongs to the palm among the listed related species.
How does parsley look curly in the photo
It is interesting that the reason for the spread of curly spicy herbs, for example, in the UK was not quite showy leaves or great taste. Even in the Middle Ages, in the beds planted plants with smooth foliage, primarily feared because of their similarity to the dangerous weed Aethusa Cynapium or dog parsley, which grew in abundance everywhere.
To understand what curly parsley looks like, you just need to look at the photo, which depicts both leaf species side by side. Such a plant can not be confused with any cultivated or wild relatives. In ordinary garden parsley, the lower leaves that form the rosette have a triangular shape, blunt jagged ends and a smooth sheet plate of a dark green shade.
Greens of the same curly parsley are more rounded and cut. Dental teeth, which is clearly visible on young plants, are also rounded, and the leaf plate acquires a pronounced wavy shape as it grows. The remaining signs of related forms are almost identical. However, disputes between culinary specialists and gardeners about the merits and weaknesses of curly and Italian parsley have not subsided for several centuries.
Those who prefer varieties with a wavy shape of leaves, speak of a greater decorativeness of the plant and its simplicity:
- Curly parsley grows great in open ground and in greenhouses.
- Due to the corrugated sheet plate, the culture loses moisture less on hot dry days.
Therefore, when growing parsley at home, experienced gardeners are advised to choose curly varieties:
- Garden parsley with smooth foliage can please the bright aroma inherent in the foliage of the crop and its roots.
- The smell of parsley is preserved after heat treatment, which is not typical for a curly variety.
Curly foliage, with sufficient watering and having a softer and more juicy texture, is used fresh. Chopped foliage is good as a condiment for many dishes, it is used to make juices, mashed potatoes and sauces, as well as dried.
How to plant and grow parsley curly in the open field?
Before planting parsley, they prepare a place for future beds in the fall. In order for the harvest of spectacular greenery to be amicable and plentiful next season, it is better to break the plantation for parsley on the site where you previously grew cabbage, cucumbers or other types of pumpkins, potatoes, eggplants or tomatoes. If you sow curly parsley in the place of related plants, you can unwittingly reduce the harvest, because the causative agents of culture-threatening diseases and larvae of pests can remain in the soil.
How to grow the parsley to prepare the beds for this crop?
- Under the winter, they dig up the site, while introducing humus, rotten compost or manure.
- And in the spring, when the snow melts, the soil is necessarily loosened, combining this process with the introduction of mineral additives.
Tightly germinating seeds of curly parsley before spring planting, washed in warm water and left to swell for 18 hours. Since the culture has good frost resistance, it is already possible to sow seeds in open ground since the second half of April. Sowing curly parsley is possible until August. And before winter, dry seeds are buried in the ground until November, with the expectation that shoots and juicy greens will appear in early spring.
The grooves with a depth of 0.6–1.2 cm are made at a distance of 7–10 cm from each other, seeds are lowered into the ground at the same distance. In the open ground in one hole, you can sow 2-3 seed, to later thin out planting and select the strongest sprouts. After the parsley is planted, the beds are carefully watered so as not to erode the soil, and mulch. If the spring is long, and the danger of freezing has not passed, it is better to cover the beds with foil.
Dry seeds will emerge only in 2–3 weeks, and germinated seeds will delight with sprouts a week earlier.
Leafy parsley varieties can be sown during the summer to the end of July. For the formation of green mass curly parsley twice during the summer period is fed with nitrogen-containing fertilizer. For example, saltpeter per meter should be between 50 and 60 grams. We must not forget about watering the landings. To the foliage is not subjected to burns, water the beds better in the evening.
The first greens can be cut in July, and collected until the cold. The photo shows what parsley looks like next year. This season, curly parsley will delight a dense cap of foliage in April or early May.
Growing parsley at home
Eating fresh greens not only in the warm season, but year-round can be if you put the curly parsley in an apartment, on a windowsill, on a balcony or loggia. In this case, the sowing is carried out in February, so that the emerging shoots are strengthened when the light day is extended.
Seeds are presoaked and sown in soil consisting of two parts of garden soil and taken along one part of sand, peat and humus. Further cultivation of parsley at home almost coincides with agricultural technicians in the open field. Special attention should be paid to irrigation, because in a limited volume the soil loses moisture faster.
You can simplify the production of curly greens if you use annual parsley roots for forcing. How to plant parsley in this way? In autumn, annual rhizomes are dug out and transplanted into deep pots with a 2-centimeter layer of drainage and loose nutrient soil mixture. Before planting parsley, the roots can be treated with a growth stimulator, which activates their growth and bring the appearance of greenery closer.
For cultivation on the windowsill, they select even, large roots with healthy apical buds, which, when filled, remain above the soil level.
Sometimes it is advised to plant parsley roots almost closely. This will produce a lot of foliage, but will quickly deplete both the rhizomes and the ground. Therefore, in this case, do not do without regular dressings. Home-grown curly parsley, if watered and sometimes fertilized in time, after a month and a half, gives a dense cap of foliage, ready for cutting and consumption.
Parsley Cultivation Secrets -
video https: //www.youtube.com/ watch? V = 6qpaW_6XanQ
