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Parsley the herb needs no introduction; what may is the version of it that is grown not for its leaves but for its root, which is used in a culinary sense much like any other root, such as parsnips. Where once for long only one seedsman that we know of carried it (Nichols), suddenly one is seeing it everywhere.
Globally, there are numerous cultivars of parsley root, which occupies a much more important position in European cuisine (especially middle European) than in American eating; we found references to types Atika, Bartowich Long, Dobra, Fakir, Halblange, Halblange Fakir, Halblange Perfekta, Halflange Omega, Hamburg, Hanácká, Jadran, Lange, Lange-glatte KP, Lange-glatte RZ, Olomoucká dlouhá, and Orbis. Of those, though, only a few are available in North America by cultivar name, and even of those some are of uncertain status owing to the seedsmen's atrocious habit of being vague about variety names.
The two that are definitely available are Fakir and Bartowich Long. There are not a few offerings designated Hamburg, but whether that corresponds to the true cultivar of that name or is just being used as a generic synonym for "parsey root" is hard to tell. There are also offerings of Half-Long, but, again, whether that is the so-named cultivar or a sort of generic (many cultivars are "half-long" varieties, including the Fakir type) is hard to say.
(In Europe, "half-long" types, which are sort of stubby in shape, are preferred as being easier to use in cooking; logic suggests that they would also grow better in heavy soils, where longer, thinner types might have problems or fork.)
The only hard data on parsley-root cultivars that we could find was one Czech study [link is PDF file], which found the type Fakir more productive than Bartowich Long (which was the least productive of all), and the Halflange Omega a little better yet. On the other hand, that was one study.
Our sense of it is that in home gardens about the best one can do is to stick to a cultivar known to be a "half-long" type--either Fakir or something expressly labeled "half long". Our own selection this year is called by its vendor simply "Hamburg"--try to figure out which cultivar that might be.
A couple of seasons past we grew both "Fakir" and "Bartowich" and saw no great difference, though that year few of our "roots", of any sort, grew to hoped-for sizes (despite a very sandy loam). When we sampled the cooked crop, we were slightly disappointed: it was more carrot-y than parsley-like, though definitely its own thing. But even if that was a representative sample--which we doubt--it was still interesting enough and pleasing enough that we'll want to make rooted parsley a permanent part of the garden (it beats parsnips, we think).
(There is a huge mass of material on line about parsley root--and parsley proper--that, to a gardener, is immaterial: apparently the plant is something of a fad amongst herbal-medicine fans, especially for the oil that can be derived from it. In large quantities that oil can be toxic, but that is of zero significance for eating the vegetable in "table quantities".)
Beware: parsley-root seeds are notoriously short-lived. If you aren't saving you own seed annually, don't try to be cheap and use last season's leftovers--get fresh seed every year.
Parsley-root seeds are normally planted out direct. The soil temperature for optimum germination is fairly high, though they are viable down to rather cool temperatures. One noted northern seedsman states that parsley roots--
may get woody in midsummer so we recommend sowing in mid-late summer rather than spring to keep them thin and tender longer.
Now parsley roots, like most roots (carrots are the notable exception) are slow-growing, with 95 days as a typical "days to maturity" figure. And they are much improved by exposure to at least one good frost, so we don't want them ready too soon, lest they be overlarge and woody by the first frost. If we assume a first frost sometime in early to mid-October (though the average first "hard" frost, a low in the mid 20s, isn't till mid-November, we'll usually have one or more light ones well before then), we work back to a planting in early to middle July; that is a lot later than the oft-cited "early spring", but fits well with the advice just quoted. Something we have found true of a lot of root crops is that, though they can tolerate frost at both ends of their growing life, they typically germinate and grow well in warm weather.
Parsley roots can tolerate any sort of soil, but--as we noted above--they, and all "roots", do vastly better on soil that is very loose and friable, else they get stunted, show forked roots, and generally sit in their corners sucking lemons and sulking. For best results, dig your bed so as to loosen the soil as deeply as you can possibly manage, and remove all rocks and as many pebbles as possible, working in organic matter or even straight sand to make it good and loose. They like the more or less standard garden-soil pH of 6.5 to 6.8, or even a little lower, maybe 6.3. Rooted parsley can benefit from a little extra phosphate in the soil.
It is also wise to not use much manure in roots beds--and absolutely never any that is not thoroughly composted--or you'll have forked roots galore. Parsley roots need good sun exposure. Like almost all roots, they are not frost-sensitive.
(It is wise to prepare one whole bed that way, for all your root crops--carrots, scorzonera, root parsley, and the like; in fact, you can do two beds that way, and alternate your root crops with anything else--for us, bush beans--that ought not to go in the same ground two years running.)
Parsley-root seeds are famously difficult to germinate decently. In this fine article, That Devilish Parsley, there is a good scientific discussion of germinating the seed. You really should read the entire article (which covers a deal more about parsley), but the highlight of the germination discussion is this:
Parsley contains chemicals called furamocoumarins in the seed coat. Because furanocoumarins prevent weed seeds from germinating, the home gardener won't have to weed parsley quite as often as other plants. But there is a complication--the same furanocoumarins also may interfere with the germination of the parsley itself.
Soaking the seeds overnight will reduce to some extent the [otherwise] month-long germination period.
So, before planting put your seeds in fairly warm (but not hot, lest you cook them) water, then let the water cool quickly; leave the seeds in the water--kept lukewarm if possible--for about 12 hours before planting them. But even with that treatment, we think it wise to plant 2 or 3 seeds at each point where a plant is wanted, then see what emerges and thin--if necessary--to the most vigorous seedling when they look like they're starting to compete. Parsley roots can be spaced at 4 inches, especially in a deep-dug or raised bed; some sources say 3 inches, but if you want good-sized roots, it's best not to push the spacing too tight.
(Some gardeners like to treat parsley-root seeds as carrot seeds are often treated: mix in a radish seed or two at every sowing spot, so the earlier, more aggressive radish seedling can break the surface for the carrot--or parsley--seedling, then pull the radish stem when the later root-crop seedling emerges; but we don't like putting radishes, a crucifer, in any place that is not a part of that season's crucifer beds in a rotation scheme.)
Parsley root, like parsley as such, requires moist soil. Because the chief part of the plant's root system--the wanted root itself--lies relatively close to the surface, and the plant is a slow grower both above and below ground, its bed must be kept scrupulously clear of weeds, which would out-compete it for resources. But it is also needful to be correspondingly careful to cultivate shallowly and carefully, to not damage the crop's own root system.
In summer's heat, parsley root (and parsley) will want a little shade and a deal of water. A small, light framework with latticing to provide sun/shade strips that will move as the sun moves across the sky is a good idea and not much trouble to make. But by starting them as late as we do, and considering their slow germination, we should be mostly past the peak-heat days of summer before the matter is an issue--but keep it in mind.
The leaves of the growing plant can occasionally be lightly picked over and used like herb parsley, but are not as good-tasting as those of parsleys developed especially for culinary leaf use--parsley-root leaves go best as condiments in stews or hearty soups.
Leave the roots in the ground as late as possible--their flavor, as is typical of true root crops, is improved by their experiencing a frost. But do pull them after the first real frost, and don't try to store them in the ground over winter.
Besides any links presented above on this page, the following ought to be especially helpful.
Parsley is another of the highly useful crops in the Umbelliferae family, along with carrots, celery, celeriac, and a host of herbs--angelica, dill, chervil, herb parsley, caraway, coriander, and others more obscure.
The ancestral wild parsley is thought to have arisen on the island of Sardinia. The Greeks and the Romans used parsley leaf much as we still do today. In mythology, parsley was believed to have sprung from a Greek hero, Archemorous, the forerunner of death; the Greeks crowned the winners at the Isthmian games with parsley, and warriors fed parsley leaves to their horses. Because parsley was considered as dedicated to Persephone (goddess of the underworld and afterlife) and thus to funeral rites, when Christianity supplanted the old beliefs parsley was consecrated to St. Peter, as the "successor" to Charon.
Parsley, long in common use all around the Mediterranean, was brought to England and apparently first cultivated there in 1548. Bentham considered it a native of the Eastern Mediterranean regions; De Candolle, of Turkey, Algeria, and the Lebanon. Since its introduction into the British islands in the sixteenth century, it has become naturalized there.
The ancients called two plants--celery and parsley (which are related)--by the general name selinon, but distinguished the two, calling celery heleioselinon, "marsh selinon", and parsley oreoselinon ("mountain selinon") or petroselinum, "rock selinon". That last became, in the Middle Ages, corrupted to petrocilium, and was also variously anglicized as petersylinge, persele, persely, and parsley.
In the sixteenth century, Parsley was known as A. hortense, but herbalists retained the official name petroselinum. In 1764. Linnaeus classified it A. petroselinum.
No mention appears to have been made, either by the ancients or in the Middle Ages, of rooted parsley; but in 1771, Miller, in his Gardeners' Dictionary, referred to "largerooted Parsley", saying: "This is now pretty commonly sold in the London markets, the roots being six times as large as the common Parsley. This sort was many years cultivated in Holland before the English gardeners could be prevailed upon to sow it. I brought the seeds of it from thence in 1727; but they refused to accept it, so that I cultivated it several years before it was known in the markets."
There are, it seems, an inordinate number of Superstitions About Parsley.
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