more herb questions

[ani]

ok - i have a question too! i bought an italian parsley plant about a month ago for my kitchen and have used long since used up the flowery part. but it doesn't seem to be producing any more. i have a black thumb - everything i touch dies. what do i need to do to get it to produce again?

[skilletlicker]

I'm no expert but here's my 2 cents.
Once herbs flower they produce seeds and stop producing new leaves. You want to prolong parsley leaf production by pinching off the flowers before they fully develop. I kept one going in a 8" pot on a window sill for about 6 months last year. The plant, being more singleminded than I, eventually won.
I recomend help with a herb garden for more information.

[apinchof]

ani--

Parsley is one of the herbs that you should snip from the base (where the stems meet the dirt). If you have a bunch of empty stems, you might be able to revive your plant by clipping them back to this point. If the plant did actually flower (a long flower stalk emerged and bloomed) then your plant has finished with its life cycle and you will want to replace it. Parsley is not a periennial like some herbs but a biennial meaning it lives two seasons. Like skilletlicker says, you can prolong the life by snipping off the flower stalks (again at the base) but it still won't last forever.

You don't have a black thumb--it just needs more practice!

[mudbug]

Parsley is biennial. Meaning the plant will live for two years, and seed for two years. If you want parsley to grow outside in your garden year after year, sow several seeds in the area you wish them to be. Harvest what you need and allow the rest to go to seed. Let the seeds fall to the ground as nature allows them to do. Do the same thing the following year. You will have parsley in your garden every year.