Parsley as Weed

No, not that kind of weed. (Who smokes parsley?!?! Oregano maybe... :-)

I bought my current abode one February eleven years ago. That spring I started planting happy new plants for myself. I bought a few 2" pots of parsley (among other things) and tucked them in here and there. Shortly thereafter, they croaked. Likely eaten by snails. Dang. (Most other things grew just fine, thank you.) 

What the heck, I bought a packet of seed and carefully planted about half the packet here and there in the garden. (Other seed I planted grew just fine, thank you.)

The next spring I acquired Shelley and Mr. T. In my studies on the care and feeding of Box Turtles, I learned that calcium deficiency was something horrific to guard against. Happily, parsley was one of those herbs that sucks up and stores calcium if it's available. (With our water in Silicon Valley, lack of calcium is NOT a problem. Excess calcium is.) 

So, I went through the parsley exercise as outlined above for a second year. Again, no parsley was to be had. (Turns out it's OK. I needn't have worried on Shelley and T's behalf because *anything* they might have eaten in the yard would be *loaded* with plenty of calcium to keep their carapaces healthy.)

The following year, someone donated a bunch of aging seed to my cause -- including parsley -- so I scattered them all around the yard. Some grew. Some didn't. Parsley didn't. In the meanwhile, Shelley and Mr. T went NUTS eating the snails in the yard. 

And the next year, viola! Without planting any new seeds, parsley started popping up here and there, but especially in one corner of the yard. Cool! Parsley!

Parsley is a member of the carrot family and is a biennial. As such, it only blooms and sets seed after the second year... then dies. So, theoretically, you plant seed in year 1 and it grows. In year 2 it sends up a flower stalk, sets seed, scatters said seed, and dies. In year 3 the new set of seed sprouts, etc. But no-o-o-o-o-o-o! Parsley is one of those seeds that has a mind of its own. It may or may not come up the first year. Or the second. Or the third. Gah!!!

So, what do you think happened to my yard? Well, *this* eventually happened.

Holy crap! It's been getting worse every year. It has tried to come up in the lawn (such as it is), but for the last few years I've been pulling it up before it sets seed, so it doesn't come up in the lawn (such as it is) anymore (that I've noticed). But it's completely rampant in the area of my yard that is supposed to be nice, clean river rock. It's also completely rampant in the planting bed that runs 90 degrees to the river rock. (Bet you can't guess which is which.  :-)

Well, over the past month we've had lots of rain and lots of sun, so everything exploded... including the lawn (such as it is). So, today was the day I tackled mowing, edging, and the beginnings of weeding... with focus on the parsley, dammit!  After a few hours of weeding, I'd only made a dent or two. Viz:

At least now you can tell which part is supposed to be rock and which part is supposed to be plantings. The studied eye (if you go look at the bigger views) can also see that there's a hollyhock growing on the left of the left photo. (I planted hollyhocks the first summer and never since. They keep coming up from having gone to seed!) The studied eye might also make out a prunus ilicifolia (Holly-Leaf Cherry) on the right of the left photo. (The studied eye will also note that the photo on the right has plenty of other weeds to deal with besides parsley. Shut up.)

Tomorrow's another day. Gotta tackle those weeds early.