CELERY
- Celery is a fantastic crop to grow if you have the space. Home grown celery does not share the bland watery taste you find in store bought celery. With the introduction of modern self-blanching varieties growing celery is relatively simple.
- If you want ease of growing make sure you go for a self-blanching or green variety.
- However, If you have time and space try Trench varieties as they have better flavour, but they are more demanding to grow.
Sowing & Growing
- Do not be tempted to sow celery too early as they like 15*C to germinate.
- I personally like to scatter seeds in a seed tray in early to mid-spring. Germination can take a couple of weeks but once they are a few inches tall prick out the seedlings and plant on.
- Both varieties need to be planted out in sunny and moisture retentive soil
- For the best results add organic matter to the growing position the previous Autumn.
- Plant trench varieties 10cm deep in the trench
- Make sure all plants are hardened off and then plant in clumps of blocks 20cm apart to keep blanching.
- My top tip to growing celery is to keep the soil moist to avoid bolting and to prevent them from going stringy and becoming inedible. Mulch will help moisture retention allowing you to slightly reduce the level of watering.
- If you are growing a trench variety mulch up so just the foliage is showing in late summer. This will help blanch the stems keeping them edible.
Self-blanching
Trench
Harvest
- Watering is key to a successful harvest of celery, make sure to water really well to keep the stems crisp and sweet.
- Self blanching varieties take about 20 weeks from seed to harvest, whereas trench takes about 40 weeks. As the growing season is longer for trench make sure to protect from any frost.
Varieties
Trench: Giant Red, Granada, Octavius, Victoria
Self-blanching: Celebrity
Golden self-blanching
Lathorn self-blanching
Loretta
Tango