Parsley from seed and other stories
Hello friends!
A bunch of you are new here, and WELCOME - so glad you've decided to give this little missive a go! My lovely list of secret friends here is MUCH treasured, and if you've got any questions, comments or just want to chat, then just hit 'reply' - I love getting your messages!
Here are my five minute forays this week:
Monday: It's been one of those weekends where we haven't stopped to blink. This often happens with children - weekends suddenly transform from being the time one looks forward to, for winding down, and relaxing, and generally doing what one wants, to the polar opposite; you don't have a single moment to do anything. Hence why the five minute garden doesn't really get a look in at weekends. Said mad weekend also follows half term in the rain (see last week's newsletter). So I ain't gonna lie. I am truly exhausted today. I finished the marathon of the weekend by getting everyone breakfasted, ready for school and out of the house, and then I crawl back into bed, assume the foetal position and try to close my eyes for an hour. There's a problem here, and I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I actually allow myself space to sleep, my body rarely plays ball. I am wide awake. In bed. Thinking about all the things I haven't done. Highly unsatisfactory. I drag myself to the shed where I move a few things about a bit and call it a victory.
Tuesday: Somewhat recovered but still a broken, post-half-term woman, I venture out to the local nursery (a sure-fire way of turning a soggy, grey day into something delightful) and spy a very pretty fern which I decide I simply HAVE to have. I bring it home and finally manage to get it in a pot as the day gets dark. This feels like a massive achievement and lots of self-congratulatory stuff happens (including good wine). I know how to treat myself well I do.
Wednesday: I finally get around to supporting the sweet peas that I sowed back in the autumn, and which are now keeling over, despite my having pinched them back pretty hard last year. They all have elbows (when the stalk does a right-angle thing because the thing is lying horizontal) and I get some kebab sticks out and plunge each one carefully into each rootrainer. I cut several lengths of string and tie each plant gently to its stick. This feeling is difficult to express with words - let me try: Imagine having a nagging headache for months, knowing you could and should do something about it but you don't, because there are other things on your list and you basically can't be arsed. And then you finally get around to reaching into that medicine cabinet, finding a paracetamol and taking it, and you rediscover what it's like to live free from that thumping, nagging pain. Lots of gardening is like that....for me anyway. More self-congratulatory wine (I'm easily pleased).
Thursday: I'm on the road for most of today, listening to podcasts and radio 4. I listen to Ben Dark's very good gardening podcast called The Garden Log, and in it he recommends an episode of In Our Time which is all about fungi. This also turns out to be VERY GOOD. Once I run out of podcasts I switch on the real radio (or 'wireless' as my parents call it) and learn that we are about to experience an arctic front. When I finally get out of the car on my return I believe this entirely. The breeze bites. The sun is still shining though, so I quickly give my new trees a soak and cover the wet soil with a layer of manure to keep the warmth in over the freezing temperatures ahead. Fingers crossed it works.
Friday: My thoughts turn to you, dear readers, and the fact that I haven't done a fun how-to for weeks, and that is what you signed up for, so I'm feeling rather guilty about that. After all, you deserve extra special love and some practical TAKE-HOME tips! I really, really love doing this newsletter, because it spurs my lazy bottom into gear and I end up doing things I perhaps would have put off, or not done at all. So today I'm sowing parsley. I love sowing parsley, because, well, you can never have enough can you? Here is my five minute parsley party below:
Parsley
Always the first thing I think about getting on with, parsley can be sown and grown entirely indoors if you’ve no outdoor space. I remember baulking at constant instructions to sow ‘6-12 weeks before the last frost’ (Do I look like a mystic?) So I ignore all that and sow, sans propagator, in February, in my kitchen. Parsley takes a while to germinate, so always sow more than you think you want, and do use plugs, so you can remove the seedling into a larger pot, together with the soil in which it was born, and it will never know the difference. Sow on the surface of some very gritty seed compost (make sure you water it before you sow). Put two seeds in each cell, in opposite corners if possible.
Jekka McVicar recommends covering with perlite, which I obediently do.
Be patient; the seeds can take up to 6 weeks to emerge, and some won’t appear at all, which I swear is normal. You need to keep things constantly moist, and if your plug tray comes with a clear plastic lid, then so much the better, but as soon as you see action, remove any lids and keep watch over your babies until they look ready to move to larger pots (best to push one out of its plug and check for a good root system before you do this). You can then either keep them in containers, or plant them in some good, rich, weed-free soil, once the weather is being civil. Variety-wise, flat-leaf parsley tastes better but curly parsley looks gloriously hummocky on any windowsill.
All the good things, always, as ever
xx Laetitia
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