How to Harvest Parsley

Parsley is quite easy to grow and even easier to harvest, but there are a few points to keep in mind to have a good season and full of flavor. You will pick the parsley leaves in the first year, and can usually harvest the seeds in the second year.

Table of Contents

Harvest parsley leaves

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Choose saplings to pick. Young parsley plants are usually more fragrant. You can harvest parsley leaves even after the first year has passed, but if you choose to pick the leaves in the first year of growth, you will have the best and highest quality crop.

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Wait until the petiole has all 3 segments. Check the petioles. If the petioles have 3 or more clusters of leaves, the vegetable is ready to be harvested. You should leave new stalks with only one or two segments.

Parsley can usually be harvested 70-90 days after planting. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Cut the parsley leaves at the base of the plant. When harvesting a whole stem or cluster of parsley, cut at the base of the plant instead of the top.

Cut vegetables near the base of the plant to stimulate the plant to produce more branches, and the parsley will grow more luxuriantly with a better crop.

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Cut the parsley leaves in the outer ring. If you’re only going to pick a few sprigs of parsley for immediate use, you should cut the outer ring instead of the inside.

Even if you plan to cut some vegetables at the base of the plant, you should still cut the outer ring. The inside of the plant will continue to grow.
Cut leaves from the outside to ensure that the oldest branches are harvested first without turning yellow or aging on the tree.
Harvesting old branches will also help the tree concentrate nutrients to sprout and nourish new branches, so the tree will grow healthier.

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Continuous harvest. Parsley will continue to grow throughout the season, even after you’ve picked the leaves. That way you will have a steady source of herbs and don’t need to harvest them all at once.

Parsley plants grown outdoors are evergreen until late fall or early winter. When the leaves begin to fade, the flavor of the vegetables will also decrease significantly. However, until then, you can continue to harvest steadily without losing the aroma of the vegetables and without harming the plants.

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Pick lots of vegetables at the end of the season. Parsley plants will die during the winter if you grow parsley outdoors and don’t have protection. Before this happens, harvest the rest of the leaves to give the plant a chance to regrow next year.

Parsley will survive the winter if grown in a warm place indoors. Make sure your houseplants get plenty of sun every day by placing the pot near a sunny window. ^{[2] X Research Source}
If you grow parsley indoors, you don’t need to harvest the last crop before winter arrives. Instead, keep picking vegetables “on demand”.

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Use fresh parsley to your liking. Parsley used when fresh is best. You can also store parsley for months if needed, but the flavor won’t be as strong once it’s dried.

If you pick vegetables a little at a time, you should use them right away. If vegetables are still left over after cooking, you can wrap them in damp paper towels and store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. ^{[3] X Research Sources}
If you want to pick a bunch of veggies at once, you can soak a whole bunch of parsley in water and keep it in the fridge for up to 7 days.

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Store parsley in the freezer for longer use. The method of freezing parsley will help you keep the whole stem for later use. When defrosted, frozen parsley can be used as fresh vegetables. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

There are many ways to freeze parsley, but one of the easiest is to chop the parsley leaves and place them in an ice cube tray. Pour some water into the tray and freeze as usual. When needed, you can take each ice cube with parsley inside to defrost, dehydrate and season the dish. Note that frozen parsley retains its flavor but loses its crispiness.

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Let parsley dry for easy use. The drying method makes it easy to preserve vegetables and use them as you like. You can dry parsley by hanging a whole branch upside down in a dark, ventilated, and warm place in your home. Parsley will dry for a week or two, after which you should mash it and store it in an airtight container or bag.

Another way to dry parsley is to use a food dehydrator.

Harvest parsley seeds

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Wait for the second year. Parsley will not produce seeds the first year. If you plan to harvest parsley seeds, you will need to monitor the plant for the second year after planting. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Parsley is a biennial plant. Normally, parsley plants only live for two years, and they will bloom and produce seeds before they die.
For the best harvest, you should remove weak or defective plants at the end of the first season. This way, the healthiest plants can pollinate each other and produce the best seeds.
When harvesting and storing parsley seeds, you should try to separate early-season and late-season seeds. Prioritize harvesting early-season seeds over late-season seeds.

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Harvest when the parsley seeds turn dark. To harvest whole parsley seeds, you should wait until the mature seeds turn dark brown. Parsley seeds may sprout if you harvest them earlier.

Parsley seeds go through three stages. As soon as the flowers fade, the seeds of parsley will form with a pale green or bright green color. The seeds will turn skin color during the second stage and turn brown or dark brown in the final stage.

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Cut out the clusters of seeds. Harvest parsley seeds by cutting just below the seed clusters. Hold under the seed cluster with your index finger and thumb and cut just below the finger.

Carefully remove the seed clusters. Try to avoid shaking the beads during handling. If shaken while cutting, seeds may be scattered everywhere. Parsley seeds are quite small so you will lose any dropped seeds.

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Shake. Shake the seed clusters in a paper bag to separate most of the ripe seeds easily and quickly.

You can also gently shake or knock the seeds off onto a piece of cloth or plastic film.
Be gentle when shaking or removing seeds. If you push too hard, the parsley seeds can pop out and splash.

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Dry the remaining seeds. If there are some young seeds still in the seed cluster, you can wait for the seeds to ripen by drying the clusters in the sun for a few days.

To ripen the remaining parsley seeds, spread the sprigs of parsley on a piece of plastic or cloth and place it in a sunny spot indoors. Spread the branches in a thin layer while drying.
The remaining seeds will ripen in 2 days.
Dry the seeds indoors. If you dry the parsley seeds outdoors, birds or other animals can get away with them before you can put them away.

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Consider picking individual seeds. ^{[6] X Research Source} If some seeds in the cluster ripen much faster than others, you can use your fingers to separate each seed.

Parsley plants tend to ripen unevenly. Some seeds can ripen up to 3 weeks before others, even on the same plant.
Be careful when picking the seeds. Branches can bounce back under the force created when you pluck individual seeds, and if there are too many ripe seeds on the tree, they can pop open and fly away. Therefore, you should only pluck individual seeds if most of the seeds are not mature enough to harvest the whole cluster.

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Dry the seeds. Parsley seeds need to dry for about 10-14 days before storing for later use.

To dry the seeds, spread the seeds in a single layer on a shallow baking tray, in a warm, dry place.
Toss and mix seeds every day to dry evenly.
Seeds must be completely dry before storing.
Store dried seeds in an airtight plastic bag or in an airtight container in a cool, dry, dark place until sowing.
You can use the seeds to grow parsley for next season! Don’t eat the seeds.

Things you need

Harvest parsley leaves

Kitchen scissors
Paper towels (optional)
Water dish (optional)
Ice cube tray (optional)
Braided rope (optional)
Plastic bag or sealed box (optional)

Harvest parsley seeds

Kitchen scissors
Paper bag, plastic film or tightly woven fabric
Shallow baking tray
Plastic bag or sealed box (optional)

Steps

Harvest parsley leaves

Harvest parsley seeds

Things you need

Harvest parsley leaves

Harvest parsley seeds

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