Spring Garden Tips
Grow Parsley for You and the Butterflies to Enjoy

Parsley is not just a garnish for your meals. This Vitamin rich herb is a great addition to your garden and recipes.

JavaScript is disabled!
To display this content, you need a JavaScript capable browser.

mgm_audio_201_parsley Use fresh parsley in your recipes and increase Vitamins C and A in your diet. Herbalists have long believed and recent scientific research supports its benefits in lowering blood pressure.

The texture and color of parsley make it a great addition to the garden and your containers.

Use it in combination with vegetables, flowers and other herbs.

Try mixing it with sweet alyssum for a colorful and fragrant edge for your vegetable garden.

The dark green leaves of curled parsley make it a nice backdrop for Dreamsicle calibrachoa™ and other flowers.

Plus, it is a food source for the swallowtail caterpillar. Let them graze on your plantings and soon your garden will be filled with the graceful butterflies. And it’s an easy way to add color and motion to the landscape.

A bit more information: Parsley is a biennial. The first year it grows and produces leaves we can harvest throughout the season. It often survives the winter and eventually produces flowers, seeds and dies. The leaves are usually bitter that second season so you may want to replant each year for the most flavorful results.

 

Related Garden Moments for Radio

Add a Bit of Pizzazz to Your Summer Landscape

The summer weather and your busy schedule have left your landscape looking a bit weary. There’s still time to add sparkle and enjoy your landscape this summer.

Listen to Garden Moment...

Add Grace to Your Garden with Papyrus

Papyrus has been an important crop throughout history used for food, shelter, fiber, and medicine. In more recent times it has been popular as both an indoor and outdoor plant.

Listen to Papyrus in your garden...

Allium 'Summer Beauty' (Summer Beauty Flowering Onion)

Add a bit of color and form to your summer garden with Allium ‘Summer Beauty’. This flowering onion puts on its show during the heat of the mid-summer after most alliums have finished blooming.

Listen to Allium - Flowering Onion...

Attracting Birds and Butterflies to the Garden

Add a little extra color, motion and interest to your landscape by attracting birds and butterflies to the garden. Make sure your yard provides all the essentials - food, water, shelter and a place to raise young. And be sure to avoid the use of pesticides that can harm the wildlife you are trying to attract.

Listen to Garden Moment...

Cleaning and Storing Plant Pots

Piles of plastic pots fill the sheds and garages of gardeners across the country. Don’t throw these in the trash. Rather look for ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle plant pots.

Listen to Cleaning and Storing Plant Pots...

Controlling Quack Grass

It seems to be everywhere – your garden, lawn and cracks in the sidewalk.

Listen to Garden Moment...

Create an Exotic Garden in Your Favorite Container

Bring a bit of the desert, tropics or evergreen forest to your backyard. Container plantings allow you to push the limits of your growing environment.

Listen to Garden Moment...

Create Instant Beauty in Your Garden

We all need a pick me up now and then and so do our gardens. Here are a few things you can do to add a bit of instant beauty to your landscape.

Listen to Create Instant Beauty in your Garden...

Drying Herbs

Keep the flavor of your garden alive all year long. Pick and dry herbs for winter meals and holiday gifts.

Listen to Drying Herbs...

Failed Corn and Bean Plantings

Early planting and unseasonably cool wet springs can cause bean and corn seeds to fail to sprout or fully develop. These seeds either rotted or were damaged by corn seed maggot.

Listen to Failed Corn and Bean Plantings...

Fall Containers

Add a little extra color and beauty to your fall landscape.

Listen to Fall Container Gardening...

Forcing Bulbs

Try forcing a few spring flowering bulbs for indoor enjoyment or added beauty on your patio and deck.

Listen to Forcing Bulbs...

Green Wall - Vertical Wall Gardens

Vertical Wall gardens are all the rage. They green up otherwise unplantable spaces and can even help conserve energy.

Listen to Green Wall - Vertical Wall Gardens...

Grow a Container Garden Filled with Evergreens

Whether gardening on a balcony or an acre lot – there is always room for an evergreen. The many new dwarf varieties available make it easy for everyone, even balcony gardeners, to include evergreens in their landscape.

Listen to Evergreen Container Garden...

Grow a Nutritious Garden in a Pot

Add a bit of nutrition to your diet and landscape. Grow a container full of nutritious vegetables for your patio, deck or balcony.

Listen to Garden Moment..

Grow Your Own and Save

Reduce your grocery bill this summer by growing a few of your favorite vegetables. And the good news, you don’t need much space to produce enough fresh vegetables for you and your family to enjoy.

Listen to Grow a Vegetable Garden...

Grow Your Own Favorite Recipe

Picture this - Your guest reaches over and plucks a sprig of mint from a planter to add to their iced tea or Mojito. Nothing beats the fresh-from-the-garden flavor or fun of ingredients right from your own garden.

Listen to Grow a Recipe...

Grow Your Own Nutritional Detoxifier - Asparagus

Many of us are looking for ways to rid our body of toxins, while improving our eating habits. Asparagus is nature’s own detoxifier and one of the most nutritionally balanced vegetables.

Listen to Grow Your Own Asparagus...

Grow Your Own Soybeans

Add a bit of fiber to your garden and diet. Consider growing edible soybeans in this year’s garden.

Listen to Grow your own Soybeans...

Growing Apples

Apples are the perfect fat-free fruit for your diet and garden. Plant just a couple trees or a small orchard so you can harvest an apple-a-day right from your own backyard.

Listen to Growing Apples...

Growing Onions

Make homegrown onions part of your diet. Their flavor is guaranteed to add zest to your meals and their health benefits include lowering the risk of many cancers.

Listen to Growing Onions...

Growing Potatoes

I have a quiz for you - What is white, red or yellow, can be eaten fresh, fried or even raw and is one of the most important staples of the human diet. If you guessed potato, you are right.

Listen to Growing Potatoes...

Growing Your Own Healthy Snack

Grow a few healthy snacks for you and your family to enjoy. Carrots have the crunch of chips and crackers without the fat and calories.

Listen to Growing Healthy Snacks...

Harvesting and Preserving the Flavor and Nutrients of Root Crops

It’s time to start reaping the benefits of your spring plantings. So break out the garden fork and get busy harvesting.

Listen to Harvesting vegetables...

Harvesting Onions and Potatoes

Break out the garden fork and get ready to start harvesting onions and potatoes.

Listen to Harvesting Onions and Potatoes...

Harvesting, Using and Preserving Herbs

Spice up your cooking with fresh-from-the-garden herbs.

Listen to Harvesting Herbs...

Homegrown Garnishes for Holiday Meals

Make your holiday meals just a bit more special, decorative, fun, and nutritional with homegrown garnishes.

Listen to Homegrown Garnishes...

Homegrown Vegetables Add Flavor to Gluten Free Diets

Don’t let going gluten-free get you down. Include some fresh-from-the-garden vegetables to add flavor to your gluten-free meals.

Listen to Homegrown Vegetables Add Flavor to Gluten Free Diet...

Hot Peppers

Heat up your meals and improve your health by adding a few hot peppers to your garden and meal plan.

Listen to Growing Hot Peppers...

Kitchen Scrap Gardening

Have a bit of fun and stretch your gardening muscles with kitchen scrap gardening.

Listen to Kitchen Scrap Gardening...

Last Minute Gifts for Gardeners

Looking for the perfect gift for your favorite gardener? Don’t worry, you still have time and lots of choices.

Listen to Last Minute Gifts for Gardeners...

Lettuce, Kale, and Collards - Harvest Tips for Maximum Flavor and Nutrition

Get the most flavor and nutritional value from your garden-fresh vegetables with proper harvesting, storage and preparation.

Listen to Garden Vegetables...

Make Gardening a Family Affair

Take advantage of weekends, holidays and school vacations to get the children in your life involved with vegetable gardening.

Listen to Planting a Vegetable Garden...

Mark the Spot to Protect Perennials

X may not mark the spot in the garden – but bulbs, plant markers or standing stems sure can help guide your cleanup efforts next spring.

Balloon flower, butterfly weed and swamp mallow are a few of the plants that emerge late in the spring. This makes it easy to accidently weed them out during spring clean-up.

Listen to Protecting Perennials...

New Ways to Include Herbs in Your Landscape

Add a little zip to your garden and meals by planting herbs.

Listen to Ways to include Herbs in your Landscape...

Overwintering Container Planters

Trees, shrubs and perennials are great for container gardens. But as winter approaches we need to provide a bit of care to help them through the winter.

Listen to Winterizing Container Planters...

Plant a Gift for Dad this Father's Day

Plant a gift for dad this Father’s Day and give a gift he can enjoy all season.

Listen to Father's Day Gift...

Plant a Patriotic Red, White and Blue Garden or Container

Celebrate the Fourth of July with a little red, white and blue in the garden.

Listen to Plant a Patriotic Garden...

Planting and Training Cucumbers, Squash and Melons

The soil has finally warmed and it is time to get pumpkins, melons, squash and cucumbers in the ground.

Listen to Growing Vine Crops...

Preserving and Sharing Your Harvest

Are you like me and always squeeze in that extra tomato plant, another row of beans or that one left over pepper plant? It seemed like a good idea at the time. But now you have more produce than you need.

Listen to Preserving your Vegetable Harvest...

Prevent Problems in Your Vegetable Garden

Try a bit of preventative care in this year’s garden. You’ll increase your landscape’s beauty and productivity with less work on your part.

Listen to Vegetable Garden...

Saving Heirloom Tomato Seeds

Be a part of history and save money when planting next year’s garden. Collect and save the seeds from your favorite heirloom tomatoes this fall.

Listen to Saving Tomato Seeds...

Saving Heirloom Tomato Seeds

Be a part of history and save money when planting next year’s garden. Collect and save the seeds from your favorite heirloom tomatoes this fall.

Listen to Saving Heirloom Tomato Seeds...

Space Saving Vegetable Gardening Tips

Don’t panic if your garden plans are bigger than the available planting space. I have some space saving techniques that can help you get the most out of your landscape.

Listen to Vegetable Gardening Tips...

Spring Container Gardens

Add a bit of color and fragrance to your entryway with a spring container garden.

Listen to Garden Moment...

Sterilizing Soil

Save money and your plants from disease by growing in pathogen-free potting mix.

Listen to Sterilizing Soil...

Summer Lawn Care

Warm temperatures, drought and summer rain storms take their toll on our landscapes. Keep your lawn healthy and looking its best despite the summer weather.

Listen to Garden Moment...

The Last of the Tomatoes

Fall has many of us scrambling to protect plants from frost, move tropicals indoors or finish harvesting our vegetables. Be sure you collect a few green tomatoes to ripen indoors.

Listen to harvesting tomatoes...

Vacation Care for Plants

You’ve got the car packed, the pets at the kennel and your kids are ready to go. But what are you going to do about all those beautiful containers?

Listen to Self Watering Plant Containers...

What's New: 2011 All-America Selections Winners (AAS)

Get your garden off to a winning start by including a few All-America Selections winners in this year’s garden.

Listen to All America Winners...

Winter Container Gardens and Outdoor Arrangements

Add a bit of greenery to your front steps, window box or patio with a winter container.

Listen to Winter Container Gardens...