What It Takes To Grow Bushier Parsley

Growing herbs at home can give you easier access to fresh herbs and all the deliciousness that comes with them. You can bake with fresh herbs, or add herbs to soups or any number of other recipes. Homegrown herbs can be truly versatile, so getting the most out of your herb plants is ideal.

Certain herbs like parsley can grow bushier with the right encouragement, which ultimately means more deliciousness for you in the end. It comes as a surprise to many, but regularly trimming your parsley plant can actually help maximize your harvest. Essentially, trimming helps encourage new leaves to grow, which eventually causes the plant to be bushier. It also helps promote a continuous supply of fresh parsley leaves instead of just a singular harvest.

It may sound unusual to prune herbs as the plants are already quite small in size, but not pruning leaves regularly is actually one of the most common rookie mistakes when growing herbs. Parsley is just one of the many herbs that thrives when its leaves are pruned, as trimming leads to a chemical response within the plant's branches that signals it's time for new growth. The trick is understanding how to properly trim parsley so you can get bushier parsley when it grows back.

The trick to trimming parsley is figuring out just how much to cut off. Many people struggle with cutting off too much of the plant; this stunts growth and is ultimately the opposite of what you want to accomplish. It is generally recommended to not cut off more than a third of the plant at a time.

Another issue is determining exactly where on the plant to make the cut. It is imperative that you snip the stems, not just the leaves, and cut them close to the base near the soil when trimming. Cutting from the top will actually slow the production of new leaves, not encourage it.

Whenever you trim parsley, be sure to do so from the outside of the parsley plant. A good rule of thumb is to cut off older outer stems and leave younger inner stems so they can continue growing. Last but not least, make sure your tools are nice and sharp so you are properly cutting the stems rather than just tearing them off. You can use either scissors or pruning shears for trimming parsley, so long as they are sharp.