Aromatic plants are a real treasure to have on the balcony where we will find leaves to flavor our dishes in the kitchen. And which seedling is more fragrant than parsley?

Parsley is a biennial plant, typical of Mediterranean areas, famous for its leaves with a slightly bitter but irresistible taste. It is not among the easiest aromatic plants, but it is not too complicated to take care of it either.

Did you know that you only need to get a sprig of this plant at the greengrocer to have a huge supply of parsley? Let’s find out how to do it together, through multiplication by cuttings.

Choose the right twig

First of all, you will have to ask the greengrocer to give you a sprig at least 4 cm long, that is healthy, not too young and that has a nice tuft of leaves on top.

Once you have taken the twig, remove all the leaves that are at the base.

Warning: if you have no experience with plants, you can ask for help from a professional gardening expert!

Put in water or soil

At this point, you need to make sure that roots sprout from the base of the twig. How to do it?

All you need to do is put the twig in a glass or container filled with water. Alternatively, bury your base in a mixture of peat moss and sand so that it always stays moist.

Bring to light

At this point, you should place the twig in a location that is bright enough, but doesn’t get direct sunlight. Ideally, you should keep it on a windowsill.

Pay attention, then, to temperatures that should be between 18 and 24 °C. Consequently, the best time to proceed with the multiplication of parsley is spring or the end of summer, when temperatures are neither too high nor too low.

NB: If you want to speed up the root growth process, you can run the base of the cutting into a rooting compound that you can easily find in the nursery. Alternatively, you can use ground cinnamon which stimulates the growth of new roots.

Read here if you want to know about other uses of ground cinnamon in the garden.

Download it

After a few weeks, if you have taken good care of the cutting, you will notice that it has sprouted roots. When these seem thick enough, you can remove the twig from the water (or from the sand-peat mixture ) and plant it in a real jar of soil.

The ideal soil is given by a mixture of black peat, blond peat and clay that guarantees excellent drainage by contrasting the formation of stagnant water.

At this point, your parsley seedling is ready! Remember that, starting from individual twigs, you can always proceed with this method to get an infinite number of new seedlings!

In addition to parsley, do you want to have a basil plant on the balcony?Find out here how to take care of it.

Growing tips

Once you’ve obtained a royal parsley seedling , you need to take care of it to keep it healthy and thick at all times.

To do this, remember that this seedling needs a lot of water, especially when it is hot: water it every day, without exaggerating the quantity, to keep the soil constantly moist.

A secret is to always choose terracotta pots : this material, in fact, allows the soil to breathe and consequently increases the well-being of the roots.

During the cold months, you should protect it from the cold by introducing the seedling indoors or keeping it sheltered with nylon sheets.

Finally, remember that, to stimulate the appearance of new leaves, you can fertilize it from the beginning of spring. The ideal fertilizer is nitrogen-based, but you can also simply use compost.Here are some natural fertilizers you can try using with your parsley.

Do you want to know how to take care of other aromatic plants as well? Here are some tips.