How to grow Parsley (Plain Leaf)

Petroselinum crispum

🌿 Herb 🌱 Grown each year

Parsley Plain Leaf, also known as French Parsley, features serrated fine leaves with a slightly better flavour and texture than curly parsley. It's the 'true Parsley variety' used widely on the continent. This versatile herb is excellent in sauces, stews, or as a garnish, and is surprisingly rich in vitamin C and folic acid, especially when eaten raw. It's a key ingredient for 'Bouquet Garni'. Though a biennial, it's typically treated as an annual for best flavour. Requires regular picking for fresh leaves and winter protection in colder climates. Patience is needed for germination, but it's a productive herb.

At a glance: Sow late March to mid July, harvest from mid May.

When to sow, plant and harvest

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Sow outdoors

Harvest

Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.

Growing Parsley (Plain Leaf): what it needs

Light: Full sun · 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 75 days from sowing
Hardiness: USDA zones 4–10
Difficulty: Easy

Step by step

Late March – mid July · 3 weeks before the last spring frost
Sow Seeds Outdoors
Sow thinly in shallow drills where they are to grow. Parsley is slow to germinate — soak seed overnight and keep the compost moist.
21–42 days after “Sow Seeds Indoors” · Mid April – early May
Check Germination
Seedlings should appear in 21–42 days. Keep the compost moist. If sown outdoors, thin to 20 cm apart.
33–54 days after “Check Germination” · Mid May – early June
Start Harvesting
Cut outer stalks at the base; the plant keeps producing and usually survives winter for a spring crop. Take a photo for the journal.
21–28 days after “Start Harvesting” · Early June – mid June
Sow Another Batch (optional)
A midsummer sowing gives leaves through winter and the following spring.
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.