PlantSowGrow
How to grow Chervil
Anthriscus cerefolium
Delicate, parsley-like leaves with a gentle aniseed flavour — one of the French fines herbes. Prefers cool, lightly shaded spots.
At a glance: Sow mid March to mid August, harvest from early May.
When to sow, plant and harvest
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Chervil: what it needs
- Light
- Part shade · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Keep evenly moist; water pots daily in hot weather
- Soil
- Fertile, well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 20 cm
- Height
- 30 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- A liquid feed every two weeks for pot-grown plants
- Harvest
- About 50 days from sowing
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 4–10
- Difficulty
- Easy
Step by step
- Mid March – mid August · 4 weeks before the last spring frost
Sow Seeds Outdoors
Sow thinly in shallow drills where they are to grow. Sow where it will grow; it doesn't transplant well.
- 10–14 days after “Sow Seeds Outdoors” · Late March – early April
Check Germination
Seedlings should appear in 10–14 days. Keep the compost moist. If sown outdoors, thin to 20 cm apart.
- 36–57 days after “Check Germination” · Early May – late May
Start Harvesting
Pick regularly — little and often keeps plants bushy. Take a photo for the journal.
- 21–28 days after “Start Harvesting” · Late May
Sow Another Batch (optional)
Sow again every 4 weeks; it runs to seed quickly in summer heat.
- Mid October – early November · around the first autumn frost
End of Season
When plants run to seed or the frost gets them, pull them up for compost — leave a few to self-seed if you like.
More herbs to grow
Photo: Schlaghecken Josef / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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