Nutty Celery

[richardw]

Koanga have in there collection a line of Celery which because its original name is unknown its now called Nutty - www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/nutty-celery

Its been my job to grow this line for seed for the last ten years and has certainly become one of my favourites when it comes to selecting it to handle my extreme climate ,well extreme by New Zealand standards anyway.

When i first started growing it,i remember i planted a block of 40 plants to see how they would handle winter,about half way though winter only one plant was still alive so i covered it in woollen blankets at night to keep it alive till spring which i managed to get seed from.From this a second generation followed which again i subjected a similar sized block to winter frosts long enough to expose the more hardier plants which were then covered again till spring.
This process carried on over the following seasons till where now i don't need cover any more and over half the plants sown now survive,they're certainly not eatable during winter but still alive no less.

I'm thinking that i would like to see how the seed line would fair it were to be grown in a winter climate colder than mine now that its a lot hardier than it was,so i'm wondering if there any of you Northern Hemisphere folks who garden in such a climate who would like to be part of a cross hemisphere breeding project?,this may help me speed up this process of acclimatization.

My min temperature frosts are -9 C deg but on those days the daytime temps will always get up around +7-8C,i never have days where temps dont get over freezing,even when snowing it always just gets over 0C.


This seasons block of 25 plants as of yesterday.

[edwin]

Our celery has managed to overwinter. We grew Utah 52-70 and Pink Plume. We had -18.6 C and about 2 feet of snow max down to completely bare. Very very mild winter. A very cold winter would have maybe 3+ feet snow cover most of the winter and -30 ish C A lot of stuff will overwinter because of the wonderful snow cover. (We plan to compost our surviving celery it in a little while.)

We could try growing a small amount and let it go to seed if it overwinters. Don't think we could give it special attention. For us small is maybe 5 plants. Don't know if it would be worth it for you. For this year we will be planting celery in 3? weeks.

Our days to maturity on both our surviving celery is 100 days.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Mar 22, 2012 15:05:43 GMT -5 edwin said:

For this year we will be planting celery in 3? weeks.

Our days to maturity on both our surviving celery is 100 days.

For those of us who are clueless, can you tell us how to grow celery?

[ottawagardener]

I grow celeriac which I've had survive the winter given snow cover. Haven't grown other kinds of celery before but I wonder if it could be crossed with it and then reselected for large stems?

[ottawagardener]

Oh it's cold here.

[12540dumont]

Site. Grow celery in compost rich, moisture retentive soil that borders on wet but still drains. Celery prefers a soil with a pH between 5.8 and 6.8. Celery has a low tolerance for heat and prefers a cool, cloudy location where growing temperatures range between 60°F and 70°F. Plant celery where the growing season offers 4 months of cool weather.

Planting time. Celery is a cool-weather crop. It requires 16 weeks of cool weather to come to harvest. Start celery seed indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost in spring. Set transplants in the garden 2 to 3 weeks before the average last frost date when seedlings have 5 to 6 leaves. (To delay transplanting time and slow growth, cut seedlings down to 3 inches tall and then allow them to grow on.) Cold weather will inhibit growth as will warm weather. Temperatures below 50°F for more than 12 hours may cause celery to bolt. In cool spring and summer regions, plant celery in early spring. In warm spring and summer regions, plant celery in late summer for harvest in late autumn or early winter.

Planting and spacing. Sow celery seed ¼ to ½ inch deep, 6 to 10 inches apart; space rows 24 inches apart. Transplant seedlings started indoors into trenches 3 to 4 inches deep set 6 to 10 inches apart. As plants grow mound up soil around the stems to blanch them. Plant self-blanching celery in blocks 6 to 12 inches apart; planting closer will give a higher yield but more slender stalks.

Water and feeding. Keep celery well watered during all phases of growth. Lack of water will slow growth, cause stalks to become stringy, and encourage plants to send up flower stalks. Celery is a heavy feeder. Add aged-compost to planting beds before planting and side dress plants with compost at mid-season.

My best celery is planted in September. My weather is temperate maritime climate. That said, I agree with Ottawa, I like celeriac a bit better to grow. My creekside garden grows great celery, but if you send it to me, it will not get more winter hardy! Love the sound of "Nutty". I'm doing red celery this fall. It's already to late to start celery here.

I find celery fussy to start from seed. It's all that time in the sprout house, hogging space. I send it out to be started at Headstart Nursery, and yes they even ship to places like Utah!

[edwin]

How to grow celery? We are working on it.

We start in flats - looks like May 8th last year. Planted June 1. (May 15 last frost). Placed in wet clayish soil with 1/8" compost. Did very poorly and we did not harvest. Over wintered quite well. 40% survival both types.

The year before we planted in sandy soil and it grew ok. Taste was very bitter. Definitely a lack of water for the months of July and August - hence the move. We are thinking about wrapping stems with newspaper to improve flavour.

What we got did not look like store celery - I am guessing that store celery has been wrapped in some way. As in the picture, our celery branched out and did not have that close packed look of store celery.

The majority of what we grow is celeriac. (giant prauge) It just seems to work better and stores quite well, though it too was pretty anemic in the clay soil.

We are going to add some sandy top soil this year and some more compost - 1/4" i think - maybe more.

[12540dumont]

Edwin, we had clay, now we have loam. No sand, just keep adding compost and stirring in. 4 inches is not too much. Coffee grounds are great as well!

[bunkie]

richardw.i'd be interested in test-hopping your Nutty here. we can go down in temps to 15 to 20 below zero in Fahrenheit.

we've grown several different varieties here and had success with them all, all returning after a hard winter. the varieties include, Utah, Giant Red, Kruhl (sp?), Pascal, and others. if you go to the 'bunkie doings' thread, there should be pics of isome there.

haven't tried growing celeriac, but will do this year. i have to say that we do really like Lovage best!

[richardw]

Mar 22, 2012 15:05:43 GMT -5 edwin said:

Our celery has managed to overwinter. We grew Utah 52-70 and Pink Plume. We had -18.6 C and about 2 feet of snow max down to completely bare. Very very mild winter. A very cold winter would have maybe 3+ feet snow cover most of the winter and -30 ish C A lot of stuff will overwinter because of the wonderful snow cover. (We plan to compost our surviving celery it in a little while.)

We could try growing a small amount and let it go to seed if it overwinters. Don't think we could give it special attention. For us small is maybe 5 plants. Don't know if it would be worth it for you. For this year we will be planting celery in 3? weeks.

Our days to maturity on both our surviving celery is 100 days.

Thats amazing that it could survive such cold temps but i suppose having that layer of snow helps protect them from the worse of those conditions.
So when you do have periods of snow free what kind of temps would those celery's be exposed to??

[richardw]

Its interesting reading how you guys have other varieties of celery that seem to handle temps much colder than what i get,just goes to show how soft Nutty has become because originally it was grown up the top of the North Island which is starting to get nearer to a subtropical climate.

Holly mentioned in one of her posts that Celery is a cool climate vegetable,i think its more adaptable and seems to be able to handle a range of other climates,it grows really well here in our summers which at times are far from cool,we get on average 42 days per summer over 30C of those 5 are over 35C and when the hot winds that come off Australia blow over our Southern Alps, it dumps all its rain on the western side leaving us with a hot dry wind.
The feed back i get from from the folks at Koanga is my Nutty seed still does well up north but then maybe in time this may change, time will tell.

So then,i'll get seed away to bunkie and Joesph this coming week, bunkie i'll need your mailing address please.

[12540dumont]

Richard, this is our celeriac.

I'd really love to try Nutty. I'll trade you some red celery if you'd like? If you have any left over, send me some. However, I cannot attempt to plant this till Fall. 30 C is about 86 F. A typical summer here Aug/Sept can hit 104 for 3 or 4 days in a row. That's about 40C. Last year it was great, we had few of those days. This year, I don't think I'll be so lucky as it's already in the 70's (F) and it's only March.

Down the road from me in Salinas, they grow celery year round. Of course, it's never sunny in Salinas. Salinas is like London in Spring.

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[trixtrax]

Nutty celery sounds really interesting, how wet are your winters? Too bad we have lost so much great celery diversity.

I have this link that's been floating around that I found interesting related to storing celery in the winter. This comes from a 1938 Kentucky newspaper column that Google indexed. I found it by searching for references to an excellent winter celery that maybe has gone extinct called Winter Queen. Anybody still growing this variety or know anything about it?


"Trenches Keep Winter Celery
Different types require variation in handling to keep in cold weather.

Winter varieties of celery, such as Winter Queen or Giant Pascal, may successfully be stored in a trench until February.

The method is to dig a trench about 6 stalks wide, deep enough to have two-thirds of the stalk submerged. Chop the bottom soil in the trench loose for a depth of about two inches. Then set the celery with the roots still attached as tightly as possible, but without breaking, making sure that the roots penetrate the loosened soil.

The tops may be left without any protection until the first of November. Then cover with straw about six inches thick and cover with earth to make a slope. There should be a shallow ditch on each side of the row to lead surface water away so as to not to get into the celery.

Easy blanching and golden branch varieties do not keep well in trenched earth. To handle these varieties, take ordinary boxes, drill holes at the bottom, fill in about three inches of soil and set the celery, roots attached in this soil. These boxes should be placed in a cellar or a building where freezing is not apt to occur. The holes are for water drainage. The tops should be kept as dry as possible."

news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19381006&id=pCdMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cC4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4159,3459953