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. 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.
Description. Celery is a hardy biennial grown as an annual. It has a rosette of 12- to 18-inch stalks, topped with divided leaves. Celery is grown for its stalks, leaves and seeds.
Yield. Plant 5 plants per household member.
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 midseason.
Companion plants. Lettuce, spinach, English peas. Avoid pumpkins, cucumbers, and squash.
Care. Keep celery planting beds weed free to avoid competition for moisture and nutrients. Keep cultivation shallow so as not to damage roots. Blanch celery to enhance its sweet flavor and whiten stalks. Celery that is not blanched can be bitter tasting. Blanching is achieved by covering the stalks with soil, straw, or paper cylinders rolled up to the top of the stalks to protect them from the sun, which encourages them to produce chlorophyll and turn green. Blanch celery up to 10 to 14 days before harvesting. Celery that sits too long after blanching will become pithy and may rot.
Container growing. Celery can be grown in an 8-inch container. Set celery on 10-inch centers in large containers. To blanch celery growing in a container, tie paper or cardboard cylinders around the stalks.
Pests. Celery usually encounters no serious pest problems but can be attacked by celery leaf miner and slugs (during blanching).
Diseases. Pink rot, black heart, and blight can attack celery. Make sure there is adequate magnesium and calcium in the soil to discourage these diseases.
Harvest. Time from planting to harvest is 100 to 130 days from transplants about 20 days longer from seed. A 10 foot row should yield about 20 heads of celery. Start harvesting before the first hard frost when the head is about two to three inches in diameter at the base. Cut off the head at or slightly below soil level.
Varieties. French Celery Dinant (Chinese celery) (55 days); Golden Plume (85-116 days); Golden Self-Blanching, (80-118 days); Green Giant (95-115 days); Summer Pascal (Tall Fordhook) (115 days); Red Celery (120 days); Starlet (120 days); Utah 52-70 (125 days); Ventura (80-100 days).
Storing and preserving. Celery will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Leaves cut for use as an herb will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week. Celery can be dried, canned, and it frozen. Seeds can be as an herb.
Common name. Celery
Botanical name. Apium graveolens dulce
Origin. Europe
Grow 80 vegetables and herbs: KITCHEN GARDEN GROWERS’ GUIDE
I cut the bottom from a celery stalk bought from the store and
stuck that in dirt. Now I have a stalk growing in my garden
but it is flowering in the leaves. I tasted a stalk and it is
bitter.. I WILL WATER IT MORE .. and cover it as you say.
But should I cut it just below the dirt since it is flowering?
Flo
There could be a few reasons for the bitter taste of your celery: (1) not enough water–celery is shallow rooted and needs regular water; (2) the soil is not rich–celery loves a compost-orangic matter rich planting bed; (3) it is not a self-blanching variety so it requires blanching–blanching improves the flavor of favorites such as Fordhook, Giant Pascal, or Utah 52-70; (4) the plant is maturing past the tender, tasty stage and is moving on in life to the flowering to produce seed stage (it also may have bolted in the heat if you are in a hot summer region–celery grows best in a mild summer climate). Reason 4 is the best bet since your celery is already flowering. Flowering comes in the second year or season of a celery’s life (it is a biennial). Your celery is in its second year or thinks it is due to a cold snap followed by warm weather. So now the plant is on to reproducing itself before it dies. that makes sense since your celery was started from a nearly mature plant, from roots, not seed. The plant is concentrating its effort on flowering and seed production–it is beyond young and tender. If you allow the plant to flower and set seed, you can save the seed and sow and grow new plants next season. If you have plants that are not flowering they will likely still be tasty, you can harvest celery cut-and-come-again–taking the stalks you want when you want them by cutting the individual stalk at soil level or harvest the whole plant by lifting it roots and all.
I am a 1st time celery grower. What do you mean by side dressing?
Side-dressing is a term used to describe the application of fertilizer or plant food alongside or around plants already growing in the garden. For example, your celery plants are likely planted in rows with each plant 6 to 8 inches apart and the rows 2 to 3 feet apart. Celery can benefit from a fertilizer of compost tea (aged compost diluted in water) or manure tea (aged cow manure diluted in water)–so you can side-dress your plants by pouring the liquid fertilizer alongside or around the plant about three or four inches from the plant–or alongside the row of plants (close enough that the fertilizer makes its way to the plants’ roots). You can also sidedress plants with a dry fertilizer–say aged compost or aged cow manure–by sprinkling it around or alongside the plant; dry fertilizers will work their way into the soil and down to the plant’s roots with the next watering.
I, too am a first time grower. Actually by accident. the celery seedlings were labels as parsley. Anyway, I’ve done everything you said not to do. They’ve been in full sun throughout a very hot summer and yet they seem to be doing well. My question is: I’ve got the stalks with the leaves growing above ground and they’re quite hearty, but are the hearts (the part that you usually buy from the grocery) below the ground?
The heart of the celery is at the center of the stalk–surrounded by the stalks you see above ground. Celery is relatively shallow rooted; if you lift a stalk from the garden, you will see directly below the soil level the plant’s roots. As you cut away the outside stalks, you will see smaller stalks that are ‘blanched’–that is not exposed to the sunlight and less green, more white in color–you are moving to the heart of the stalk.
I have just found out about “re-growing celery and want to give it a try. A friend told me she put the root section in water first then after it had developed roots transplanted it to the garden. My question is which is better to start them in water first for the roots or to plant directly into the soil? Thanks
Celery is a biennial plant meaning it will live two seasons. The second season the plant will flower, set seed, and die. This means that you can overwinter celery but one winter. Overwintering means protecting your celery from temperatures below 60F–if you don’t consider celery an annual, a one season plant. Your friend is suggesting that you take up your celery plant, overwinter it in damp soil and get it started again the second year in water or a very watery medium (celery is by nature a marsh plant, so it loves water). Give it a try. But you will also want to start a new crop of celery this year from seed. You can start celery directly in the garden, but commonly it is started indoors and later transplanted out. See the Topic Index listing for Celery for growing suggestions.