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In my colander… flat-leaf parsley

3 March 2017

The pickings for the colander harvest are a little thin at the moment but at least there is the over-wintered flat-leaf parsley. It is looking good today.

A pinch of parsley

I enjoy using both flat and curled parsley with lemon juice in salads, but somehow the flat-leaf parsley seems more evocative of summer holidays in France or Italy.

I am going to use it to make a tabbouleh to share with my visiting US and locally-based London cousins. Although the parsley tastes good even though it is a winter harvest I can hardly wait until the first summer harvest of my tomatoes.

Handy Barbara

I am usually alarmed if a little pink finger is showing across the lens of my camera but today I have deliberately taken a ‘finger-selfie’ so that I can post this tiny blog in my friend Michelle Chapman’s Twitter #mygardenrightnow event this weekend (4 and 5 March). (You can find Michelle on Twitter – her handle is @Malvernmeet.)

I have to say that taking a photograph of one hand cutting herbs into a colander is quite a feat (pun not intended)!

Apricot buds

The apricot is causing me a mixture of joy and apprehension: it is so lovely to see its pale pink to white buds opening on the shoots. But I am so fearful that the weather will damage them, that there will be a frost or that the pair of lovely bullfinches that have visited the garden in past springs will appear once more. Last year there were but a handful of apricots on the tree, compared to the bucket-load that there were in 2015.

I live in hope!

Previous Post: « In my colander… a regular tale of harvesting and eating
Next Post: On the backdoor feet »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. VP

    4 March 2017 at 10:35am

    Oh I love tabbouleh, it’s one of my favourites! I must grow more flat leaf parsley this year…

    Thanks for taking part Barbara! Note, there’s a Link app in my blog post today for you to add your post’s URL to, so that people can visit you 🙂

    Reply
    • Barbara Segall

      5 March 2017 at 3:26pm

      Thanks Michelle: it has been fun and challenging to take part… trying to remember where to link what to where etc, but it is a good idea and hopefully your many participants (I see I was number 65 today with my shoe shuffle post!) I will have a read through and comment on others especially those who have been kind enough to comment on my parsley post.

      I have, I think, now linked properly to your blogpost with post of yesterday and today…?

      Reply
  2. Alison

    4 March 2017 at 1:37pm

    I shall keep my fingers crossed that your apricot doesn’t suffer from the weather too much.

    Reply
    • Barbara Segall

      5 March 2017 at 3:27pm

      Thanks, Alison, for finger-crossing… it produced so much fruit in 2015, so if it gets through weather and birds may I will have a similar harvest… can never have enough home-grown apricots. You and I are also keeping tabs on our quince trees… I haven’t even looked at it this year… steps outside…

      Reply
  3. Mark Willis

    4 March 2017 at 4:20pm

    We love Tabbouleh too! I have some flat-leaf Parsley on the go now, but it’s only an inch or two tall just now! Some of my curly-leaf plants have survived the Winter though and are just beginning to produce new leaves.

    Reply
    • Barbara Segall

      5 March 2017 at 3:28pm

      Mark: My row of flat-leaf parsley has also over-wintered in a raised bed. It is only about 3-4 inches tall, but is good enough to eat…! I am going to sow some curled parsley soon. I like using that as well. Parsley is a great herb… and not just a garnish!

      Reply
  4. Nic Wilson

    5 March 2017 at 10:08am

    Lovely buds – shame that birds as delightful as bullfinches wreak such havoc! Hope your buds are safe this spring (and hoping the same for mine too!)

    Reply
    • Barbara Segall

      6 March 2017 at 10:43am

      I love the birds too, so I may do my human scarecrow act if I am going outdoors at the same time as the bull finches appear… but otherwise I will just be hoping. Thanks for your hopes too. Will see how things go during the season. Itching for it to all start being wonderful to see and work in!

      Reply
  5. Julieanne Porter

    5 March 2017 at 10:16am

    I’m impressed by your photo with your finger cutting the parsley – that is quite a feat! Good luck with the apricot – let’s hope no more frosts. Mmmm, apricot pie…

    Reply
    • Barbara Segall

      5 March 2017 at 3:28pm

      Thanks Julieanne: the finger selfie was a matter of concentration and determination… thankfully not too much hand shake…! I hope all is going well for you with your move.

      Reply
  6. Mary Burke

    5 March 2017 at 1:38pm

    Good luck on the apricot front. We don’t have bullfinches, but we can’t grow apricots either. Hmmm….is there a link?

    Reply
    • Barbara Segall

      6 March 2017 at 9:22am

      I planted this apricot several years ago and it took at least four years before it fruited… but it was worth waiting for. Hope you have another try growing apricots…

      Reply
  7. Lisa at Greenbow

    5 March 2017 at 7:29pm

    The crazy weather we have been having has made many things bud out. We will definitely have more frost and freezes. It is a worry. These buds are quite pretty.

    Reply
    • Barbara Segall

      6 March 2017 at 10:41am

      Hi Lisa, gardening is a great pastime and career for many of us… but we do have ‘weather’ to contend with. So I am hoping that the fruit trees will get by anything else that comes our way.

      Reply

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I edit magazines and write about gardens, plants and gardeners. My own garden and those open to the public, here and abroad – and gardeners – professionals and passionate amateurs, alike, all feature in my writing. Growing my own fruit, vegetables and herbs in a small, productive and ornamental town garden gives me great pleasure, as does using the produce and writing about it. Read more

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