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Considering it can be used in a number of ways at the dinner table, it can be a fantastic idea to grow celery in your garden at home. Celery is used in many soups and stews, chicken or tuna salads,and fresh vegetable salads, and it makes a great snack food for kids and adults, especially with cream cheese or peanut butter and raisins. Celery has a super crispy and succulent texture, with a trace of its own salty flavor. Celery is a plant that works on a two-year life cycle from seed to death. It's an interesting crop to grow, as we can use the majority of its parts - stalks for traditional celery use, and the leaves and roots for making celery seasoning. Celery History Our earliest evidence shows that celery was cultivated by the ancient Greeks and Romans, although not for eating. It was mainly used for decoration, appearing in wreaths and other decorative foliage. It was also used as a healing herb early on. Finally in the 1600s, celery was cultivated in the Mediterranean as an actual edible food. It was brought across the Atlantic in the age of new world colonization and was widely grown by the 1800s in America. Celery Varieties Nowadays, the most popular variety of celery is the one that was first grown in America - Pascal celery (also called just "green celery"). This may be the most widespread and well-known, but there is no reason you can't experiment with one of these other varieties in your own garden. Starting with the heirloom variety, we have "golden heart" celery. If you're looking for a nice thick stalk for cooking or eating raw, you should try out the "Utah" variety. For a very earthy and aromatic flavoring in soups, plant the "French dinant" version. And if you just want a visual change from the normal green, try out "gilded" celery, which is more yellow, or "trench" or "rosso di torino" (rosso is red in Italian) celery for red coloring. Growing Celery Starting with the soil, it should have a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. It's also crucial to have high levels of calcium to counter "black heart", which we'll discuss later. So prior to growing, treat it with a 16-16-8 fertilizer, half a pound per 25 square feet, as well as a sprinkling of bone meal or another source of calcium. Celery roots are very shallow, so you need to make sure that the upper soil levels have plenty of nutrients. Celery is a cool-weather crop, but is sensitive to frost and dislikes hot weather. So it's easiest to grow celery from established seedlings, which you start indoors in early spring. Start your seeds indoors during February, and when they grow 4-6 leaves, usually after 1-2 months, and the soil is warmer, go ahead and transplant them into your garden. Plant them deep enough so that only the leaves are above the ground. Space the seedlings at about one foot intervals. To care for your celery, consider adding a layer of dark mulch to the surface near the plants. The dark mulch absorbs the sun's energy, warming up the soil, while at the same time offering another layer of insulation to keep the soil warm longer and retain moisture. This is extremely important, as celery is very sensitive to frost damage, since it has a high water content. Remember to be well past any frosts before planting. Give your celery about 1-2 inches of water per week. Since celery is very sensitive to the water it receives, you need to stay on top of this. If it doesn't receive enough water, the texture will be very stringy, with a strong flavor. Apply another round of fertilizer about 6-8 weeks after putting the seedlings in the ground, as well as additional bonemeal or calcium supplement. After two to four months, your celery will be ready to harvest. Look for a base diameter of about 3". Just cut the stalks off at ground level to harvest, using the outer ones for cooking and the inner ones for raw consumption. You can store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, although the texture degrades a bit. Celery Problems Celery's main insect enemy is the aphid. If they get onto your plant, they'll chew on the leaves, leaving them curled. To fix this, try spraying a mixture of alcohol and water with soap. Besides this, you may see some powder mildew, which will show up as white patches on the leaves. Just cut the leaves, get rid of the mildew-covered leaves, and keep a close watch in the future. Celery does need lots of water, but make sure it gets some air flow to discourage the mildew growth. Lastly, black heart happens when the soil is deficient in calcium, as mentioned above. Prevention is the best medicine here, which is why applying bone meal to the soil is a good safety measure. Black heart begins at the leaves, leaving them black and wilted, and may spread quickly through to the heart, which will kill the whole plant. To learn more about growing celery, and other tips for vegetable gardens, check out the articles on my website.
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