Does anybody grow celery?

I have seed but I'm not sure what to do with it. Almost everyone eats celery but no one grows it.
I've seen celery root and I was told to use it for salt replacement in soups and stews. What's that all about?
Any ideas?
Thanks, kitty

I grow celery
I takes FOREVER to germinate and get growing, but once it does, it seems very hardy.
I have used it in the past just to cut branches off the outside and kept the plant alive, rather than harvest the whole thing at once.

We use it all the time, as we cannot eat onions, so whatever calls for onions I use celery and garlic

We grow celery also. We didn't seem to have a problem with germination this year... perhaps because of the heat mats.
If you decide you want it to be the soft green you seen in stores, you will need to cover the stalks for a week or two before harvesting, or it will have a very strong taste (and be darker green).

jdepce wrote:I have seed but I'm not sure what to do with it. Almost everyone eats celery but no one grows it.
I've seen celery root and I was told to use it for salt replacement in soups and stews. What's that all about?
Any ideas?
Thanks, kitty

Kitty that celery root you mention ..is that the ball shaped flavoured thing better known as Celeraic ?



I usually grow celery and will this year if the darn things germinate .

I don't know what that is either. I got this info from World Food in Orlando so maybe she didn't know what it was either!!.
I really want to grow celery, but from the way it looks when you buy it, it seems to grow standing up? So is it able to do that by itself or do I have to make a cage for it?.
I know that celery is supposed to relieve arthritis pain more than most vegies so it's important to keep it goin down the hatch, so to speak. But I just can't see how to start it.
Thanks for posting, kitty[b]

I grew celery for the first time last year & was surprised at how easy it grew. Mine never got huge like at the grocery stores, but the flavor was stronger & whenever I needed some I would just go out and cut a stalk. I may have had nicer stalks if I had blanched it, but I was still very pleased with the results.

Plant them very shallow. I just sprinkled them on top of my seed mix (loose mix, not packed down) & watered in, didn't even cover them.

Transplanting is the toughest part for me since the seedlings are so small and I'm going to try direct sowing my next crop.

I've heard of celery being used as a salt substitute. I haven't done it, but from what I remember, they chopped it up pretty fine, grated it and added it as needed just like salt.

I can't find the source, but I think it came from someone in the raw food community who was trying to avoid any processing of foods including salt.

jdepce wrote:I don't know what that is either. I got this info from World Food in Orlando so maybe she didn't know what it was either!!.
I really want to grow celery, but from the way it looks when you buy it, it seems to grow standing up? So is it able to do that by itself or do I have to make a cage for it?.
I know that celery is supposed to relieve arthritis pain more than most vegies so it's important to keep it goin down the hatch, so to speak. But I just can't see how to start it.
Thanks for posting, kitty[b]

Grow it in small sq ft blocks and it will grow tall .

The seeds are usually sown under a glass in a glasshouse as they need 50 to 59 oF to germinate . they need light to grow so don't buryb the seeds .

To sow press the seed compost firm with some thng flat and lightly scatter the seed over it , put a very light sprinkling of fine dry sand over them , then use a trigger pack and rain water to damp it down . they grow best in a pH6.5 .

If the air temp drops below 50 of for more than 12 hrs the plants will tend to bolt so be prepared to cover them with a fleece if you plant them out before last frost dates & a frost is forecast or if you know you are in for a cool period.

They will need hardening off for a few dasys before planting out , but do bear in mind the temperature requirement .

prick out the seedlings when about two inches long , they will look like light green threads and have a couple of leaves on them . Pot on into 3 inch pot and gently puddle them in with rain water . When they have developed to five or six leaf sets plant them in the beds & water them in well .

Celery needs lots of quality compost in the growth mediium and water to grow well ,



If you buy starts , plant at 6 to 11 inches apart in a row system or two per sq ft and plant up four squares

I love celery by they seem too difficult to bother with at home so I bought some 'cutting celery' seeds since the claim is the edible leaves taste the same. Has anyone eaten or grown cutting celery? I sowed some seed directly outdoors yesterday.

I just planted my celery root (celeriac). I soaked my store-bought celery in water last week and planted it just a couple days ago. I'm pleased and excited.

I've also read that celery needs to be blanched, so I plan to wrap in cardboard or newspaper once it grows a foot or so.

I pretty much followed this method:

Sewtheday.com



Dreamstateinspiration

That is very kewl TN!

Question....does it go to seed faster than a new plant?

Lavender Debs wrote:That is very kewl TN!

Question....does it go to seed faster than a new plant?

I have no idea. This is my first time ever messing with celery (no seed, no celeriac).

i grow mine exactly as TN_GARDENER does. FWIW, i live in nashville--maybe it is a TN thing?

curio wrote:We grow celery also. We didn't seem to have a problem with germination this year... perhaps because of the heat mats.
If you decide you want it to be the soft green you seen in stores, you will need to cover the stalks for a week or two before harvesting, or it will have a very strong taste (and be darker green).

I grew some plants last year but forgot to blanch them and they tasted far too strong for my liking. Anther thing I have learned. Sigh!

TN_GARDENER wrote:I just planted my celery root (celeriac). I soaked my store-bought celery in water last week and planted it just a couple days ago. I'm pleased and excited.

I've also read that celery needs to be blanched, so I plan to wrap in cardboard or newspaper once it grows a foot or so.

I pretty much followed this method:

Sewtheday.com



Dreamstateinspiration

that's very very interesting ..we are eating a hand of celery a week and usually the root end just goes to compost.

With care using that method I reckon that I should be able to grow about half of what we want

Debs could the salt thing be the magnesium content (might be another vital element instead ... my head 's not working well at the minute ) in the celery .

On instructions from the stroke clinic I have had to drop as much real salt out my diet as possible and move over to low a salt substitute as well as being advised to up the raw & cooked stick celery & cooked tomatoes intake to compensate .

Nothing I like more than celery salt in egg salad!

It's celery seed and salt. Delicious!

I'm getting ready to blanch 2 of my 6 plants (a pony pak planted in succession). I've planted seeds, but not had any response yet (6 weeks). I replanted the square with more celery seed last week. Maybe now that it is warmer I'll see something germinate. Ideally, I'll have 3 squares of celery.

It is VERY intersting to take the end of a celery stalk and soak it. Great idea!

My seeds say 100-120 days to harvest, if that helps your growing schedule!

Ava

I'm growing 2 plants: One from seedling (purchased, green leaves, no stalks when it went in the ground) and one the way TN posted. Both went into the ground the other day. Want to see how the compare with each other.

notagreenthumbedgal wrote:I'm growing 2 plants: One from seedling (purchased, green leaves, no stalks when it went in the ground) and one the way TN posted. Both went into the ground the other day. Want to see how the compare with each other.

My results:

My cut end started showing just a little bit of new growth after about a week of soaking. I transplanted it into the garden about 3 days ago and it took off, lots of new growth (approximately 1 inch).

Trying new things in the garden is half the fun (I'm trying corn and a self-watering/sub-irrigating pot this year, too).

One thing I'd like to point out is, when you do use salt, using sea salt in place of the plain table salt is better; you need less of it because it's more flavorful. My blood pressure has gone down notably since making that change; just taking BP meds alone wasn't enough.

I was curious about this celeriac vs celery thing, so had to look it up. I found out that they're closely related, but celeriac grows a bulbous root that is supposed to be good in seasoning things. What I read said that, when moving away from salt, the idea is to replace the salty flavor with something (one hopes) is at least as appealing...but it won't taste at all similar. Being a salt-aholic, I need the flavor in certain foods, hence the switch to sea salt. I go through a lot less of it now. Celery is supposed to have high salt content for a vegetable, but I can't taste it. Can't stand what we find at the grocers, so I've been following this thread and wondering how hard it would be to grow the stuff in the sub-tropics, where the weather is only mild 3 months of he year, goes below freezing a handful of times between late December and early March, but is otherwise closer to 80* + days.

I can usually taste the salt in celery, but I think certain times of year the taste is more detectable so it might be the quality of the celery.

I am so glad I read this post. I'm going to buy a few bunches of celery today and try that regrowing method.

I just bought two 4packs of celery. I will try them this year along with celeriac and see how they compare.

TN_GARDENER wrote:

notagreenthumbedgal wrote:I'm growing 2 plants: One from seedling (purchased, green leaves, no stalks when it went in the ground) and one the way TN posted. Both went into the ground the other day. Want to see how the compare with each other.

My results:

My cut end started showing just a little bit of new growth after about a week of soaking. I transplanted it into the garden about 3 days ago and it took off, lots of new growth (approximately 1 inch).

Trying new things in the garden is half the fun (I'm trying corn and a self-watering/sub-irrigating pot this year, too).

I too took the stump of a hand of celery and did as shown in the clips came back today after a few days away and it is about an inch tall ,. with two roots on one side starting to grow.

How big were your roots when you planted it out or did you just bung it in the bed regardless ?

I've thought of taking a thin slice off the base and dipping the plant end in some rooting compound for the sooner roots get going the better the end product will be.... any thoughts ?? .

plantoid wrote:

TN_GARDENER wrote:

notagreenthumbedgal wrote:I'm growing 2 plants: One from seedling (purchased, green leaves, no stalks when it went in the ground) and one the way TN posted. Both went into the ground the other day. Want to see how the compare with each other.

My results:

My cut end started showing just a little bit of new growth after about a week of soaking. I transplanted it into the garden about 3 days ago and it took off, lots of new growth (approximately 1 inch).

Trying new things in the garden is half the fun (I'm trying corn and a self-watering/sub-irrigating pot this year, too).

I too took the stump of a hand of celery and did as shown in the clips came back today after a few days away and it is about an inch tall ,. with two roots on one side starting to grow.

How big were your roots when you planted it out or did you just bung it in the bed regardless ?

I've thought of taking a thin slice off the base and dipping the plant end in some rooting compound for the sooner roots get going the better the end product will be.... any thoughts ?? .

I think my celery might have had a couple 1 inch roots after soaking for a week or so. It certainly didn't look like potato chit (which often have several roots).

If you have the root compound, why not do a simple experiment? 1 with & 1 without.

I planted celery seeds in Feb, transplanted in March and finally had a full size head of celery end of September. Does celery normally take that long to grow full size? A month just to germinate?

I planted tiny seedlings at 4/sq this September. Will they be full size by March April?

Thanks