Celery

The instructions below are for my zone: Zone 8b. Instructions may vary depending on your zone. Remember to locate your zone: Plant Hardiness Zone.

Germination: 2-3 weeks

SHADE is best. Celery is a cool weather crop and tends to bolt faster when give more than 6 hours of sun. Try to plant your celery where it gets the morning sun and afternoon shade. Celery does well in day weather between 60-70 degrees.

PH Level: 6.0-7.0

Perennial:  Celery is a hardy biennial grown as an annual. I let my celery stay in the ground for the following year to grow seeds the second year.  

Dirt:

Use a good nutrient-rich soil. The root system is a compact mess of thin, hair-like strands and does best when the soil loose with no obstructions.

Planting seeds:

Plant your celery seeds in early Spring for an early Summer harvest. You can also plant a crop in the middle of Summer for a Fall harvest. If you have a mild Summer and temperatures are not too high, your celery will yield harvestable stalks through the Summer. But if you get hotter weather (over 70's), you celery will bolt and provide seeds. If you do not want seeds, I would focus on planting in the late Summer for a Fall harvest.

Fertilizing:

Celery is a heavy feeder. It is an easy plant to grow, but a fickle one and desires lots of water and nutrients during its growing season. Use a 5-10-10 fertilizer. Do NOT let the plant dry out, give it lots of water. I have found that it needs more water than most of my other plants. If you let it dry out, the celery stalks get thin and stringy.

Harvesting:

• The best time to harvest celery is between 85-120 day after planting. Depending on when you plant your celery will dictate when you harvest. If you plant in the warm season, you may end up harvesting earlier than if you plant in the Fall in the cooler weather, which will prolong the growing season.
• The inner stalks are the most tender but the outer, greener stalks have the most nutrients. You can harvest your individual stalks whenever they are the size and color you'd like. This is what I do. I will cut a stalk or two at a time and let the babies continue to grow for the next hungry snack moment.
• If you want to harvest the whole plant, cut at ground level straight through the crown when the plant is tight with no open spaces between the stalks. The whole plant should be about 3 inches or more in diameter. This is the method I go with if I am making soups or stews and need a lot of celery at one time. Cut the whole plant about 2 inches from the ground. You may end up getting 1-2 new plants growing from the heart left in the ground.
• To prune your plant if you are not ready for a harvest, cut the outer stalks when they are a darker green and about 12 inches long, using a sharp clean knife. This will all the inner stalks to continue growing.
• Celery leaves are very nutritious and should not be forgotten. You can harvest the leaves and add to your salads or any meal or shake for that matter. Think of them as an herb and use accordingly in soups, stews, eggs, etc.  Get creative.
• If you are harvesting the seeds, they are a great spice to add to any dish. Well, maybe not ANY dish, but definitely potato salads!

Prepare for Winter:

If you cut the whole plant about an inch from the ground before winter hits, mulch over the crowns for the winter. They will grow back next Spring for a new harvest and reseed itself. This year, my celery grew back much stronger than its first year and then waited until June to go to seed. (Images below) Just make sure you have enough space for your celery if you let it go to seed!

Storing: 

• Individual celery stalks stored in the fridge with the leaves on will last up to two weeks. If you cut the leaves and only have the stalks, they don't last as long.
• You can wash, cut, and add the stalks to your soups and can your soups for the winter.
• Celery stalks can be cut into thin slices and frozen individually on a cookie sheet. Then place them in a freezer safe container or freezer storage bag. They freeze nicely.  You will have access to your celery all winter long to add to your cooking.

Insects:

• I have seen lady bugs, pincher bugs (earwigs), flies, and bees on my celery plants and all over the seeds. But I have yet to see any damage from these particular bugs at the seeding stage.
• On the stalks, I have noticed some damage that looks like it is caused by slugs. They chew on the stalk. I don't see too much of this damage because I have made 'slug bait' my new friend and sprinkle it EVERYWHERE in the garden.
• Carrot flies are in abundance this year. They seem to be pollinating the little flowers that will give me seeds, but there are so many of them that they sound like a swarm of bees. Next year I will be adding some herbs to the celery patch to assist with bug control.

Companion Plants:

• Plants that grow well with celery are beans, leeks, onions, spinach, tomato, and members of the cabbage family. I have also heard lettuce and potatoes are good companion plants.
• If you want to plant flowers and herbs that help repel some of the bugs, consider rosemary, thyme, lavender, cosmos, daisies and snapdragons. They emit scents that repel ants, aphids, flies, and the cabbage moth.
• Plants to avoid sharing the space with celery are parsnips, parsley, turnips, rutabagas, and carrots. They fight vigorously for the same nutrients and moisture.

NOTES:

• You can see in one of the photos below how tall and wide the plant gets when you let it go to seed. If you let your plant go to seed, just make sure you have a proper support system so the plant doesn't overtake its neighboring plants.