Maintaining consistent moisture conditions and avoiding low temperatures is the key to successfully growing a crop of celery. While some may find this process daunting, don’t be intimidated. Growing celery from seeds greatly increases the variety of celery types available to you, as compared to growing celery from transplants.

Adding lime to the soil can help raise the pH, which will help your celery crop avoid diseases like black heart (keep reading to learn more about this disease). Celery also requires higher amounts of calcium. For most types of celery, the ideal pH is between 6.0 and 7.5. Also, remember to add wood chips or another natural compost around your transplanted celery to help feed the soil and replace depleted nutrients as your plant grows. Remember to add plenty of water after planting, especially if you are growing within a container, as this will increase your plant’s watering needs. Simply dig a hole just big enough for the root ball of your transplant, gently drop in the celery transplant root ball, and push the soil back around the plant to stabilize. Fill the container or bed with rich garden soil and plant your celery transplants within. If you do not have rich soil naturally present in your garden, you may wish to grow celery in a container (such as a ten-inch pot) or raised bed instead.

In order to enhance the nutrient quality of your soil, thoroughly mix a good amount of organic compost, peat moss or manure into the soil a few weeks prior to planting. If you do choose to grow your celery in a container, be sure to stay away from unglazed clay pots, as they will absorb water from your plants, and celery is one vegetable that needs its soil to stay on the damp side.Ĭelery requires rich, dense soil due to its heavy feeding needs. Container gardening can prove a challenge when it comes to drainage but as long as you make sure that all of your containers have large enough holes drilled at the bottom, drainage for your container garden shouldn’t be an issue. Raised beds are one way to provide an excellent drainage solution in an area of a garden that may struggle with stagnation. Celery tends to grow quite well in a raised bed or container, and in these cases, as the amount of water for the crop needs to be increased, drainage becomes that much more important as well. Still, celery requires very good soil drainage as well. As a very heavy feeder, it needs an equally heavy amount of water in order to ensure that all of the nutrients in the soil are made available to the plant. When it comes to sunlight, celery is one crop that will require “ blanching,” or the act of placing a piece of material around the edible part of the plant in order to prevent the leaves and/or stalk from turning dark and becoming bitter.Ĭelery requires a great deal of food and water. That said, in moderate climates, celery can be overwintered outdoors, but generally it is best to move any crops that you wish to keep inside. One important thing to remember about celery is that this is not a crop that will respond well in very cold temperatures. In the United States, celery is considered a winter crop in southern regions, it’s grown as a summer crop in northern areas, and it’s treated as a vegetable to be grown in the fall in most other climates. Celery seeds are also routinely ground and combined with salt to create “celery salt”, a common addition to many recipes. Today, celery is grown around the world for its edible stalks, leaves, and taproot, which are all consumed as vegetables. You may have heard the myth that celery is a “negative calorie” or “non-nutritious” food, however at 95% water and just 16 calories per 100 grams (or about six grams for the average stalk), celery is an excellent snack! One serving provides 3 carbohydrates and 1.6 grams of fiber, as well as vitamins A, C, and K1, calcium, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and minimal sodium. It originated in the Mediterranean and was used in cooking by the Romans and Greeks, as well as medicinally by the Chinese. Celery, known to the scientific world as “Apium Graveolens ” from the Apiaceae – family is related to carrots, fennel, parsley, parsnips, and hemlock.

Start celery seedlings