Overwintering Parsley: How to Do It Successfully
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) belongs to the umbellifer family. Depending on care and use, it is an annual to biennial herb. As parsley is hardy, you can overwinter the herb without any problems. You can find out what you need to bear in mind here in this article.
This Article Contains:
Quick Overview
The Right Location for Parsley
- windless and sunny to semi-shady
- Soil deep and humus-rich
Overwintering Parsley
- Parsley is hardy
- Provide winter protection in cold areas
- Or place in a bright and cool place indoors and water regularly
Propagate Parsley
- Parsley grows as a biennial, i.e. it flowers in the summer of the second year
- After flowering and ripening of the seeds, you can cut off the inflorescences and dry the seeds
The Right Location for Parsley
To get your parsley through the winter well, it is important to choose a suitable location. It thrives best in windless, sunny to partially shaded areas. The soil should be deep and humus-rich and allow water to drain well. The herb does not tolerate waterlogging particularly well. You can find out more about Planting, Sowing and Caring for Parsley in this article.
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View Library NowOverwintering Parsley: What You Need to Consider
Parsley is hardy and copes well with our winters. However, if it has not found a suitable location, you should take the precaution of providing it with light winter protection. This is also an advantage in very cold regions. Suitable materials for this are straw, leaves and brushwood. Otherwise, the herb actually needs little to no care in winter. It is only important that they do not dry out.
Overwintering parsley indoors, on the other hand, is somewhat more difficult. It needs a cool, bright place and must be watered regularly. It is also more easily attacked by aphids and fungus gnats in winter. You can find even more Helpful Tips on How to Overwinter Perennial Plants here.
Propagate Parsley: This Is How It Works
Like most umbellifers, parsley is a biennial. This means that in the first year, the plants only produce leaves. The herb then flowers in the summer of the second year. Until then, the leaves can be harvested. When the parsley has finished flowering and the seeds have ripened, you can carefully cut off the inflorescences. The whole plant can then be removed, as it will no longer produce tasty leaves after flowering. Leave the seeds to dry for a few days in a well-ventilated place and put them in a paper bag to save them.
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Ann Sophie
Ann Sophie is studying agricultural sciences at the University of Hohenheim. There, she grows vegetables on her balcony. She also enjoys spending her free time in nature, preferably hiking with friends.
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I'm trying my hand at postelein and lamb's lettuce for the first year. Hopefully the postelein looks okay, but the lamb's lettuce doesn't really want to. I'm still growing both in propagation trays. I started this on September 29th. The Postelein has already been outside for about 10 days (still in growing plates). The plan is to plant it out this weekend. The lamb's lettuce was pre-grown indoors. This also germinated within the normal period. Since then, however, only a few more leaves have been added to the cotyledons. I keep it indoors between 15°C and 19°C in a south-facing window. I've also tried putting it outside (maybe 15-19 is too warm after all?). But nothing happened there either. I always keep it moist, but not soaking wet. Do you have any tips? Am I just too impatient? Am I too late with this? Am I doing basic things wrong? Maybe I'm not alone in this situation.
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This week I finally made it back to the garden. The leaf list is already full of mulch for next year, and the trees are still full of leaves. A few weeks ago, I had already built a small hedgehog castle in the basement made of bricks and a sturdy cover plate on the 'first floor' and covered it with some brushwood. I really hope that no hedgehogs live here, because our backyard is in the middle of the city, almost completely enclosed and the individual plots are neatly fenced in with wire mesh. I dare to doubt whether there is enough food here, and the fences are a nasty trap. But if there is one, at least it has a nice quiet, sheltered den. I imagine the entrance was also a little flat and I'll keep an eye on it. Who knows if and who has moved in. In any case, all the foliage will provide good warmth, as some of it will probably have rotted by spring and give off heat accordingly. The nice thing about the box is that it holds as many leaves as would otherwise lie loose in a pile three times the size. You can stuff quite a lot in there so that there is enough mulch until next summer. In addition to the flowers, the cats always like to sit on it and keep watch. 😺 I've also put some cuttings from the sweet potatoes, a shrub basil and a variegated nettle in the stairwell as a trial. It's relatively cool and bright there. As the basil and nettle both unexpectedly survived a light frost two weeks ago, I'm hoping that they can be overwintered after all, although that's not supposed to work with basil. If it doesn't work, I can always dispose of them. Have you ever tried this with sweet potatoes and basil? LG Max
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I picked up the sweet potatoes today. I wanted to make it clear again why I'm doing this. The cut surfaces are now clean and dry and no mold has formed. So they can keep in storage until May! 🙋♂️
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FAQ
Parsley is hardy and can overwinter well outdoors. However, you should provide winter protection in a windy place and cover the plants with some straw, leaves or brushwood.
Can I overwinter parsley indoors?
Potted parsley, on the other hand, should be kept indoors as potted plants are more susceptible to frost damage. Here you should choose a cool and bright place and don't forget to water regularly!
Is parsley annual or biennial?
Like most umbellifers, parsley is a biennial plant. It therefore only forms its flowers in the second year.
After flowering, the seeds ripen on the inflorescences. Once the seeds are brown and fully ripe, you can cut off the inflorescence and dry the seeds in a well-ventilated place.