Parsley Seeds

Did you know parsley is a biennial?  That means it produces seeds the second year before dying off.  Here is my parsley earlier this year.  This is the first year I've had it regrow the second year.  When I lived in Saskatchewan, it was too cold for the plant to survive the winter.  Last year, I covered my herb beds with leaves and it seemed to protect the plants.

 

The plant did not take long to start sending out flowers. 

 

It looked quite pretty and lacy as the flowers were greenish-white. 

 

The bees and other insects really liked the parsley flowers and were always swarming around it. 

 

As the flowers turned into seed heads, I decided it was time to harvest before I had a huge parsley field covering my herb garden and walkway.

 

I cut off bunches of seeds and laid them on the lawn so I could tie them together to hang up to dry.  Of course, Lulu had to come over and check out what I was doing.  Parsley is not a favorite of hers.  In fact, none of the chickens were very interested in it.

 

After the bunches were tied up, I hung them up to dry.  Lulu stuck around hoping for something more edible.

 

Here the plants have dried sufficiently to harvest the seeds. 

 

After the seeds were removed from the stems, I laid them out to dry some more.  I always try to make sure the seeds are totally dry so they don't spoil during storage.

 

Now I'll have seed for the next few years plus some to give away.  ;)