celery

[houseodessey]

I've heard it's hard to grow. Has anyone here tried it? I have a packet of seeds that I'd like to try but I'm intimidated by them for some reason.

[johno]

I've grown celery before. Once you get it in the ground and off to a good start, it's a snap. For me, the hardest part is getting the seeds started, and then not ever letting them dry out. In the future, I might try starting them in place under low tunnels or cloches of some sort.

[canadamike]

They need a lot of humus, like it a bit on the acid side ( they were oriinally marsh plants I read somewhere) andTHEY NEED MOIST SOIL ALL THE TIME.

I once grew one in a half barrel of whiskey, the type sold for landscaping purposes, in pure peat moss and manure. Although the stems were on the slim side, it became so big there was only a 5 inches space or so between it and the side of the barrel. My dad came to visit and was in awe at it. But we left for long week end, it was dry and hot and sunny, I forot to drown it before going....

It made for a lot of ''cooking'' celery. NEVER forget to water...

[PatrickW]

Celery has never done that well for me, it tends to get bitter no matter what I do, but I've never really given it a lot of attention either. I've tried it 2 or 3 times now.

What I really like is celeriac, and I grow this almost every year. Even though it's the same plant as celery, it's a lot easier to grow and it's a lot less picky about how much water it gets. It makes great soup ( www.patnsteph.net/weblog/?p=51 ). It's also nice raw. It can cause gas and cramps, so don't eat too much all at once.

Also, regardless of which kind you grow, be sure not to put it out into cold ground. Because it's a biennial, it can get confused and think it's passed through it's first season, then bolt. Also, you should try to crowd the plants a bit, otherwise they will just get too big. In the case of celeriac, the tops will get large at the expense of the roots.

I did a blog post on growing celeriac: www.patnsteph.net/weblog/?p=87 Most of the same things are true for celery too.

[houseodessey]

Great info everyone. I think I'll try starting them in a strawberry container with the lid closed to keep the moisture in. I wonder if bottom heat would help. Do they need light? Or to be buried?

And I may just grow them in containers so I'll keep them watered. My garden is about 400 ft from the nearest faucet so I tend to abuse my plants in dry spells. I think I was most intimidated by their water addiction so that's a good idea, Mike.

Very informative blog, Patrick. I'll have to try celeriac next.

[bluelacedredhead]

House, I grew Leaf Celery as well as Celeriac this year. I must admit that I forgot about the celeriac once we knew we were moving, but the leafy top looked quite healthy, so I intend to try it again next year.
The leaf celery was wonderful! Small stalks if you gotta have stalks. But lots of leaves and great taste. Would be a good thing to grow to dry for winter use too if you didn't have luck or the patience to grow celeriac.

Can't help you with the watering question though cuz my celeries were both in the kitchen herb garden just under the kitchen window so they got the benefit of water from the rainbarrels just around the corner under the eaves.

Which brings me to this question. Can you put a rain barrel perhaps on the shed at the back of the garden to collect water for the dry spells??

[canadamike]

There is something special about growing celery. a special cosmic order to it I think. I spent years missing it, couls never end up doing good ones, Then success came, I can't even explain what I did differently.

Now I look at it , don't take care of it and it is perfect. Go figure... I think ph of the soil can be the only difference.

[orflo]

Cellery is a plant wich originiates in swampy areas, so it's obvious it requires water...
Over here we never have water shortages (to the contrary), and a very good growing climate for celleries. Swamps do have another characteristic: they're, because of the constant water drainage, fairly acid. And, yes, Michel, they prefer a rather acid soil, but in combination with a good water retaining ability. So it works better on heavier soils, I used to grow them on a sandy soil, and I got only thin and poor-looking plants, even with all the rain we get. But in the loam soil I have nowadays, I get giant cellery plants, without any effort....

[canadamike]

Right uddy, forgot to mention the soil.

Sand? Some people garden in sand???

Lucky sons of b.......

[grungy]

Mike! As for sandy it might not be as hard to make into soft soil, but you'll find that you have to keep adding a lot more humus and nutrients than you originally have to do with clay soil. I have tried both. I admit working with sandy loam is a lot easier on the back, but clay loam has its advantages, too.

[bunkie]

we've also grown celery. like johno said, the germination is slow, but once passed that, it has been rather smooth sailing here. the year before last we planted some celery transplants (that had been in the kitchen all winter long...never got them planted in the garden the year before) on the shady side of some tomato plants and mulched with straw. the celery did very well and the leaves and stalks were delicious. they almost grew as tall as the tom plants! when they went to seed, i saved a lot and left the rest, and this year we had lots of volunteers.

[plantsnobin]

bunkie, that is very interesting to know that you had volunteers. I grew some this year from bought transplant, and they actually grew pretty well. I didn't take care of them at all, and they were pretty bitter, but I think that with a little more attention to water they should be pretty easy to grow here in my climate. The plants did look very nice, and with decent sized stalks.

[houseodessey]

Thanks, everyone. Blue, I don't have a garden shed unfortunately but I may put it in the beds closer to the house so I don't forget about it. I am wondering if I should give them a bit of shade after reading Bunkie's post.

[bunkie]

houseodyssey, we have grown it in both full sun and shade and it worked well in both areas. but, with lack of water, a little shade might be helpful. they did grow taller in the shaded area.

as far as the reseeding, i believe celery is a bienniel. i had started a few plants in a tray and never got them planted that spring and held them till the next year. so they actually were on their second year and that's why they made seed. i imagine one could mulch the plants well for winter and then they'd come up the second year and produce seed that could drop and you'd have volunteers.

i think that i rememebr also that a couple plants had died from lack of water, but once i watered them they sent new shoots up. i was really surprized! they appeared to be tough little plants.

isn't it funny how difficult the seeds are to germinate inside, yet, outside in the soil of the garden they were prolific at germinating!!!

[stevil]

Celery grows well here, but I've never had much success with celeriac. I also grow a perennial celery - Apium nodiflorum, but the leaves unfortunately don't really have a celery taste, although it's more productive than my leaf celeries and the taste is OK. Now, if only it could be crossed....

Apium nodiflorum is also called Fool's Watercress as it often grows where Watercress does and people pick the wrong thing...

There are a couple of other Perennial celeries that do have a good taste. I've seen at least one of them on the coasts of New Zealand - it's halophytic (tolerates salt), would like to try it someday - in the wild it was quite a small plant...