Parsley originated in eastern coastal area of Mediterranean Sea. People have been aware of the existence of parsley since the times of ancient Greece. Nowadays, parsley is cultivated worldwide. In the Ukraine, parsley is the most widespread spicy vegetable plant grown the year round for its odorous and wholesome green leaves. Parsley is one of the most valuable plants among vegetable crops in terms of nutrients present in the plant. It is a source of vitamins, particularly provitamin A, whose content is as high as 10 mg%, and vitamin C. The vitamin C content of parsley is 5 times that of lemon. That is why parsley is used as a curative in treating vitamin deficiency.
Parsley (Petroselinum hortense Hoffm.) is a biennial plant belonging to the Umbelliferae family. It is a cold-season, drought-resistant and light-demanding crop. There are two forms of parsley: leaf parsley and root parsley. During the first year, parsley develops a fleshy root and a rosette of large, odorous and succulent pinnatifid leaves. During the second year, it forms a stem, inflorescences and seeds. Parsley plants are capable of withstanding frosts of down to 9°C below zero. They successfully overwinter in the soil, not infrequently with non-abscissed leaves, especially in southern regions. In early spring, parsley shows rapid re-growth and production of green leaves. The seeds germinate at +3-4°C within 30-40 days of sowing. The optimum growth temperature is +17-18°C. In the first year, green leaves are harvestable within 30-40 days of seedling emergence, in the second year the re-growing green leaves reaching economic maturity 10-20 days following the snowmelt. Leaves are cut several times. The roots to be used for forcing purposes are lifted in late autumn before frosts set in, otherwise their keeping quality deteriorates.
Growing tips
Parsley requires deep-cultivated soils. The best preceding crops are cabbage, cucumber and onion all of these being adequately fertilized with a complete fertilizer. Only moderate soil moistening results in lush and fragrant parsley. Phosphate-potassium fertilizers (Ð2O5 120, Ê2O 90) are applied with deep autumn plowing. In spring, nitrogenous fertilizers (N 60) are applied followed by harrowing. Sowing is performed with vegetable planters in early spring (April) with a row spacing of 45 cm. The approximate seeding rate is 2-6 kg/ha, with a seeding depth of 2-3 cm, obligatory rolling after sowing and addition of lettuce seeds (0,5 kg/ha) as a marker crop. The plant density should be 400,000 plants/ha. Handling of plants involves weeding and watering. Green leaves are cut at a plant height of 10-15 cm, the cutting being done every 10-20 days starting in May.
For early spring harvests, parsley is sown in summer, normally in July-August. Before sowing, charge watering is performed, the water application rate being 300-400 m3/ha. The seeding rate is increased by 30% as compared with that of spring sowing. For ease of using plastic covers, the wide-space sowing technique is employed. Crop management operations involve weeding, soil loosening and watering. In late autumn, it is common practice to apply mineral fertilizers (N 90, Ð2O5 60, Ê2O 60) as side dressing, loosen soil and install framework for plastic covers above the plants. In early March, these are covered with plastic covers. In this case, the crop is ready for the first cutting in mid-April.
Earlier cuttings can also be ensured by underwinter sowings in November. The sowing technique and plant handling are the same as with spring sowings except that the seeding rate is increased twofold.
For winter-spring cropping, seeds are sown into the greenhouse soil in August with a seeding rate of 2-3 g/m2 and 10 x 3 cm planting pattern followed by watering which should be applied without fail. The plants develop quite well until frosty weather conditions settle and can overwinter without the need for the framework to be covered with plastic cover. To improve frost protection, the plants are mulched with 5-10 cm thick layer of peat or fermented manure. Upon covering the framework with plastic cover and heating the resulting greenhouse, parsley is soon ready for cutting. At temperatures of +15-18°C, leaves develop within 20-25 days. As many as 5 to 8 cuttings are normally completed, with parsley green leaf output amounting to 10-12 kg/m2. Every parsley leaf cutting is followed by application of complete mineral fertilizer (N 5, Ð2O5 10, Ê2O 10) and watering. In so doing, it should be borne in mind that parsley is very sensitive to waterlogging. Therefore, the soil moisture may not exceed the field water capacity of 70%.