Some Helpful Tips For Growing Celery
People that have success at growing celery are considered to have quite a green thumb. Celery is a vegetable that proves very challenging. Celery has become more popular as people become more conscious about their health. It contains vitamins and minerals yet virtually has no calories. Celery is actually a negative calorie food meaning you burn more calories eating it then not eating it so it's perfect to munch all day long. Growing celery actually takes a very long growing season, a lot of water and cool temperatures. Celery stalks can easily become stringy and dry without proper care and conditions.
Growing celery requires rich conditions including good drainage, great soil and constant moisture. If you can tackle those three things, then you have the opportunity to achieve deep roots, consistent growing and strong stalks with no stringiness. Depending on where your garden is located in your backyard you may want to prepare your trench early, about 18 inches deep, with the same width. You should fill this trench about half full with compost, leaves, scraps or rotted manure. Growing celery requires calcium so you should sprinkle a bit of lime into your soil if needed. You should let this settle a couple weeks before planting and after you plant, you will need to mulch. The mulch is important to hold in the moisture and keep the growth consistent, especially when it gets warm out.
Growing celery requires about five months. It is recommended to use seeds that are two to three years old as they tend to get better with age. You should start your seedlings indoors. Celery seeds are quite tiny and very difficult to sow. You should sow these little seeds in individual containers trying to put as few of seeds as possible in each container. After the seeds germinate and they are big enough to thin, then you can remove almost all except two or three. After they grow a bit more you can separate this down to only one per pot. These can be transplanted to their trench once you are positive there will be no risk of frost. Place the plants about one foot apart and in rows about two feet apart.
When growing celery it is important to know that celery is a hungry plant. It needs to be fed and it drinks a lot of water. It cannot be stressed enough to keep these plants watered, especially in warm weather. Celery plants should always be grown in full sunlight and in very rich soil. You need to be sure to add a lot of compost and plenty of mulch. Also, remember to fertilize regularly.
Growing celery really does take a long time; approximately 120 to 140 days. Slugs, snails and other toxins can put a strain on the success of your plants so keep watch for those. Also be on the look out for celery leaf spot. It looks like brown spots on the outer leaves before it spreads so you should check your plants often.
Celery can be a great companion to other plants in your garden. Planting by dwarf beans will aid in the success of you growing celery because they have nitrogen in their roots. Celery is a good neighbor for cabbage plants because they repel the white butterfly which is a predator of cabbage. Tomatoes, dill and leeks can be planted in the same trenches of your celery and then can be earthed up when you are ready for blanching.
Growing celery is the most difficult plant to tackle but if you have success with it then you can label yourself the ultimate gardener!