@morz8 - Washington Coast you are so right. It just did not occur to me putting the seeds in the fridge is simply cold storage and not cold stratification. There is something very wrong about the way the instructions are worded on the pkg. Indeed in the reviews many people complain that they could not get the seeds to germinate.

Last season I got some generic flat leaf parsley seeds, soaked them overnight and put them in soil and they germinated very well.

As you have suggested: I will soak the seeds overnight and then place them in seed starting medium (in germination modules) and put the whole thing at the back of my fridge inside a ziploc bag for a month. Then I will take them out to germinate as usual. Does this sound right to you?

I might try germinating some without the cold stratification.

Thank you so much for pointing out such a big mistake!

I’d be inclined to try some without stratification as a control. I grow Italian flat leaf parsley every year and have never stratified it or soaked it.

I'm not sure you have to stratify parsley seed. I've sown it on the regular straight from the packet from different companies. I don't think it hurts it either, because I've had voulenteer parsley pop up in the spring often enough.

Italian Parsley also comes up every year as volunteers for me. It does get cold (30s) at night, but in the 50s-60s during the day in January. Actually, it seeds itself in the summer and comes up in the summer, so I don't understand the need for chilling. ???

Friends: I will try both ways with and without cold treatment. It is additionally strange because commercially available seeds usually do not need cold stratification.

I've never cold stratified parsley. I grow it every year as well and save seeds. I soak the seeds overnight in room temp. water before planting. They come up fine every time. I prefer flat leaf parsley too. I used to get one from Pinetree called 'gigante', but they don't seem to carry it any more.

@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b I think what I got may be the same as your gigante. It will be interesting for me to see a very large parsley plant.

Gigante is one I'm growing too, mine came from Franchi vis Seeds From Italy. Good taste, grows well- I've got a bin of it capped off and so far it's survived winter giving me fresh pretty well. Nice stems that I save in the freezer for tossing into stocks. I also like to grow curly parsley too and have a bin of it. Just put in an order at Johnny's and a quarter pound of parsley microgreens was on the order- don't know if it's supposed to be flat or curly, but it will taste good :)

It wasn't that 'gigante', and Pinetree's catalog description even pointed that out. it did have nice dark green leaves which were a bit larger.

I never cold stratify parsley seeds (curled or flat-leaf) and they always grow for me. I start them on damp paper towel in a baggie so that I can check on them frequently.

Linda

@beesneeds I had never looked at the herbs sold by Seeds of Italy. They have a Gigant d'Italia and an even bigger (according to them) with great flavor Gigante di Napoli. So much sophistication in just parsley....I like that! Do you remember which one you are growing? I cant wait to see how my Giant of Italy turns out. Being cold hardy is such a treat.

It's Gigante. This year they are carrying it in the bologica line instead of Franchi. I got my seed in 2019, heh. Seeds of Italy sometimes switches between lines depending on what they can get I think. But their packets are large enough that one usually lasts me a couple years.

I'm hopeful that what I'm overwintering now will go nicely into the spring. I got the quarter pound of it from Johnnys because I want to put in a small parsley hedgerow in the new gardens I'm working on for the spring.