Growing your own parsley

I think you would have to grow a shipload of it to have enough to choose what would look good in a box.

Drink 2 less beers at the competition. That should pay for the parsley.
You're trying to save $3-5 dollars out of a $600-1000 cost per comp.
If you are an avid gardener with a lot of space and extra time, sure.

Problem with growing your own parsley is that it is much more fragrant than the store bought. Used it one time. Go green leaf lettuce!

Untraceable said:

I spend closer to 20-30 on good parsley per contest.

at 4.99 for 600 seeds of high end parsley+ I do garden, it seems like an idea to explore

I realize it's not for everyone. But if people can talk briskets/sauces, I'd like to think the growers could share tips on something that "isn't judged"

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Wow! 20-30. Where do you get it now :razz:? $5 at restaurant depot here and they just give you a bag you can't go through, but it always works for me. I know there might not be an RD near you, but my point being I stopped caring about finding perfect parsley a long time ago. Meat covers it most of it up and we do touch up the edges to make them pretty, but the stuff in the middle get put in quickly.

Now since you do garden I might say go ahead and grow some since you probably have space. I used to have a fairly large garden, but wouldn't grow parsley simply for the effort to end result ratio. There are other things I'd rather focus my time/money/effort on to improve my competition results. I don't have time in the week anymore to focus on parsley :crazy:

You could grow it and it not be successful. You could grow it and it is successful, but for how much you might need to might now grow enough or you did grow enough, but it was all ready at the wrong time. I guess if you do a lot of competitions say 15+ maybe it could be worth it, but again for me that is a lot of rolling the dice when I can get good stuff at the store.

All that being said I do things that seem crazy, but I do it because it is fun to experiment. Parsley likes the cold so you'd have a decent growing season before it bolts.

Give it a whirl and let us know how it goes :clap2:

Also Candy is right that the garden stuff is more fragrant (which you probably don't want), just like all stuff directly from your garden. Loved the smell peppers & tomatoes straight from my garden.

Untraceable said:

I can end up buying 8-15 bunches.

Ive never looked at the Parsley at RD. I do have one close by.

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Dang, that's alot of parsley.:razz:

I never saw $5 parsley at RD. Let me know this weekend what you find. I'll be getting my normal 6 at the grocery.

i'd say go for it if you have the extra room in the garden.

if it is successful you can sell it and label it as the wagyu of parsley.

Untraceable said:

huh, I guess I would certainly appear to be crazy. I dont know how anyone could make a good parsley box on 6 bucks. My experiences with the typical grocery store parsley has been yellow, half flat leafed garbage.

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RD has bags for $4-6 depending on the week and they have around 6-8 bunches per bag. Never lets us down. Put a square of paper towel in the middle of the box that only shows the edges. Anything underneath that paper towel doesn't matter for us. So the inconsistent parsley or "leafs" that don't match up with the other "pretty leafs" go in the middle and it is so easy to fill up quickly (a box takes me 10-15mins tops so the wife and i knock it out in 30mins). We can build a box with typically one bunch so we'll have 1-3 leftover. 15 bunches is a ton of parsley :becky:.

But seriously I'd love to see an ongoing parsley growing thread! You'd be the first. Do it!! :grin:

Yup, I grew some last season just to try it out. It was the best parsley I used all season. When I used the garden stuff I didn't need nearly as much of it as if I had purchased from the store. I saw a team show up at a contest last year with a bunch of parsley growing in clay pots also.

I am wanting to do the same thing. Getting good parsley early in the season is easy. Later in the year it is horrible around here.

Untraceable said:

Is it bad that my first thoughts are to gut out an old dresser, pick up some grow lights and not tell the wife?

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If you are going to do that, you might as well grow other things. Recoup on your meat expenses! :loco:

Porcine Perfection said:

If you are going to do that, you might as well grow other things. Recoup on your meat expenses! :loco:

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Care to share your source for bacon seeds?:becky:

Just say NO to parsley

Gardening lessons from the Eggspert. Parsley is basically a weed. It is very easy to grow, but in order to have mature plants before Minnesota in May you better start now. We don't have enough sunlight in Minnesota yet to get it growing really well, so I would start with some grow lights. Parsley comes back after you cut it off, it's a weed.

I grow my own parsley, but don't use it for comps. I use it for cooking. It is more fragrant, and the leaves tend to be more tender. I like the grocery store stuff better and don't feel like messing with growing enough to keep up all summer long.

By the way, when I buy parsley I buy 10-15 bunches and I get really nice stuff, so I don't think you are crazy for the amount of parsley you are getting.

Eggspert

the easier way to go is not use parsley. there is no need for it.