Forty seeds. Fifteen to twenty centimetres apart, in three short rows along the eastern edge of Buddy’s Sydney patch. That’s today’s job, and it took less than twenty minutes once the bed was raked level.
I went with Italian Giant over the flat-leaf standard because I want cutting height, not just cutting flavour. This variety runs taller and the stems hold up better in a vase if anyone in the kitchen wants a bunch for the table. Seed went in at about 5mm deep, which is shallow, because parsley seed needs light to germinate and burying it any deeper just delays things further.
Sydney’s sitting in the 15 to 25 degree band right now, which is exactly where this crop wants to be. Warm temperate zones like this one get a decent parsley window through autumn and winter, since the plant bolts fast once real heat arrives in November. I watered in with a full can, not a sprinkle, then laid a thin mulch of sugar cane straw to keep the seed bed from drying out between waterings. Parsley germination is slow and uneven at the best of times. I’m not expecting green shoots for two to three weeks, and I won’t call it a proper stand until closer to mid-July.
What to expect over the next ten weeks
If germination goes to plan, I’m looking at first true leaves in early August and a first proper harvest around the 26th, call it seventy days from seed to cutting. I’ve left space along the row ends for carrots and chervil, both listed companions for parsley, and I’ll tuck in a couple of dill seedlings further down the bed away from the carrots since the two don’t love close quarters.
Anyone else in a warm temperate zone, cool temperate included, can still get parsley in the ground this week. Soil temps in that 15 to 25 range are common right through winter in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, so you’re not racing a closing window like you would be with a summer crop. If you’re planting today, go shallow on depth and don’t let that top layer dry out, that’s the part that kills most home batches before they even show a leaf.
I’ll check the row again in a fortnight. If the seed hasn’t shown by then I’ll blame the birds before I blame myself.
