Parsley has quite a fine seed. Therefore, it happens quickly that you sow it too densely and the plantlets later have too little space. By pricking out – that is, thinning out – the plants, you ensure that bushy plants can develop.
Prick parsley in the open ground in time.
Try to sow the parsley as thinly as possible. But too little seed you can not put in the ground, because by no means every seed will germinate.
Parsley that you have sown in rows outdoors in the spring will take some time to grow large enough to be pricked out. August sowings germinate faster and can be thinned out sooner.
Once the plants reach a height of about five inches, separate them in the row to a planting distance of
- 10 centimeters in the row
- 15 centimeters between rows
- 20 centimeters to other vegetable and herb plants.
Prick out potted parsley
When sowing parsley in a pot for the balcony, place five to seven seeds in the pot at a time.
Once the parsley is five centimeters tall, pull out all but one of the plantlets.
Prick out as carefully as possible, because the pulled out parsley seedlings, you can transplant into pots in which the seeds have not sprouted. However, this will work only if the stems are not bent and you have pulled out all the roots with them.
Sow parsley together with radish.
A good way to avoid too close sowing is to mix the parsley seed with a marker seed such as radishes. This has the advantage of helping you identify and tend the parsley rows.
When the parsley finally starts to develop larger plants, you can already harvest the radishes to make room. Mixed seeding means you have to prick out far fewer plants to the ideal planting distance.
Tips & Tricks
You should let parsley seeds soak in lukewarm water for several hours before sowing. The seeds will then germinate faster and you can harvest parsley sooner. Since the moist seeds stick easily to your hand when sowing, simply mix them with fine sand, for example from the aquarium. Then sowing will be much easier.
