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Growing celery
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Celery growing in the vegetable patch
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Celery is a versatile vegetable when it comes to eating. We've grown
it for summer salads, although you can use it with dips and you hear of
celery soups also being made.
We've found celery so easy to grow from seedlings. Pop them in the ground,
water and watch them grow. Our only bad experience was when we let them
mature too much in hot weather and they tasted like dirt (if you can imagine
what dirt tastes like!)
Growing conditions
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This vegetable is ideal for summer gardening in cooler climates,
but in subtropical gardens it's usually best grown in spring and autumn.
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Celery prefers a sunny to partial shade aspect and doesn't mind overly
wet conditions.
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They love an organically enriched, well-drained soil.
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Celery, like lettuce, don't follow the 4
bed rotation system. It is a great "fill-in" crop for
spare spaces. It can be grown in any bed.
Garden care
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It's best to directly sow celery if you want to grow from seed -
but remember that celery seed germination is usually pretty bad.
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We've always grown celery from seedlings, transplanted when they're
around 2-3 inches (5-8 cms) tall.
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Like most transplants, celery seedlings should be transplanted either
late in the afternoon on an overcast day.
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You might need to thin out celery seedlings at a later stage giving
around a foot (30 cms) between plants.
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Celery can be a little greedy at times so make sure so you give it
a drink of liquid manure every 2 to 3 weeks.
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We haven't had any disease problems with celery, although it gets
a few little grasshoppers. Organic solution? Pull their heads off.
That usually stops them munching on your celery!
Harvest time
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Some cooks prefer blanched celery stalks, we don't really care. But
if you want whiter stalks put something over them which still keeps
sunlight on the leaves. You might want to try a tin with both ends
cut out or something similar that can sit in the rain. If you're going
to blanche the stalks start doing it around 3 to 4 weeks before harvest.
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Celery is usually ready for harvesting 4 to 5 months after planting.
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The great thing about celery is it can either be harvested whole
or stalk by stalk. Lift celery to be harvested as a whole plant, cutting
off the roots. Individual stalks can either be broken or cut off.
Start with the outside stalks which are older, giving the inner stalks
time to grow.
Last Updated
17 November, 2008
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