Saving Parsley

[nes]

Is there anyway I can save my parsley for next year? It hasn't flowered at all (unlike my dill, I have seeds for the entire neighbourhood!).

Should I dig up a section and bring it inside? Would it last all winter and still grow next spring?

[applestar]

Parsley is a biennial, so if you grew yours from seed, it won't go to flower and seed this year. You can pot it up, bring it inside and harvest from it all winter. It may or may not bolt at first sign of spring. Prepare a decent-sized pot for it as it has a taproot (it IS a member of the carrot family). Watch out for aphids and whiteflies.

[nes]

Thanks app! Helpful as always

I'm changing the entire garden around and it can't stay where it is so I'll bring some in!

[ZacchaeusCrawford]

Tell ya what, I love parsley so much more that I've grown it myself. It tastes better than any other parsley I've ever had. I brined some in salt water and use it as garnish on soups , even bloody mary.

[rainbowgardener]

Isn't gardening wonderful! I used to think I didn't like parsley until I grew it myself. I love my garden grown parsley and cook with it all the time. I didn't bring any in this year, because I was running out of indoor room for things, but the stuff outdoors is still going strong despite several frosts, so I can still run out and harvest some.

[applestar]

I love being able to say "You know, what this pasta needs is some chopped fresh parsley, and, instead of getting wilted, yellowed parsley out of the fridge (if I have any at all), step out to the Kitchen Garden and snap a few crisp dark green leaves.

Same thing the other night when I made some creamy turkey pasta sauce -- "What this needs is some greens" so I went out in the dark and some Swiss Chard and Mustard Greens. Yum! Oh, and last night when we had salad, I had a choice of week old store bought carrots or carrots out of the garden (I "discovered" a forgotten carrot patch the other day -- gues which I opted for? I actually went out in the dark, scrabbled around in the dirt where I remembered the carrots were, and found a nice big one by the feel. We ended up with scrubbed, unpeeled (skin is so tender right out of the ground), waffle sliced 1-1/2" rounds tossed in the salad. Very pretty.

[rainbowgardener]

I also did dry some of my parsley. It's not as good as fresh, but still better than store bought.

[hendi_alex]

Here in zone 8 parsley overwinters, and continues to produce in all but the coldest periods. Mine is planted in containers which can be moved to a south side of a warm wall, or they can be placed in the cold frame. But usually we just leave the plants outside and harvest a little whenever the need arises. The plants do grow a lot slower in the winter. Be sure to start some fresh plants in early spring as the overwintered ones will soon start to flower and become less productive. We start a fresh batch of a few plants at a time every few weeks throughout the summer. That insures a continuous batch of vigorous young plants. This year I let the overwintered plants go to seed. Those seed were then planted to start fresh plants in the fall, and now they are now being overwintered. We always plant lots of extra parsley to serve as a host plant for the large black swallow tail butterflies.

[Gary350]

Dig it up, bring it inside for the winter even if it only lives until spring. A lot of dry grocery store herbs taste like bailed hay. I never knew parsley could take so good. Savoy, rosemary, thyme, oregano, cilantro are all much better fresh.