celery overwintered

[bower]

Here it is April and I'm enjoying some nice crispy celery from the greenhouse, as they start to regrow from the crowns. Not huge but great all the same. Sweet as ever. The Utah celery seed came from the Mystery Mater swap I believe, and it has been amazing. I started them too early, and too many, but whether too cramped, too cold, too hot, I just can't get these Utah's to bolt, and they withstood freezing temperatures in the greenhouse this winter. I really thought celery was a finicky, warm weather crop but I was wrong. My thanks go out to whoever shared these seeds. A treat! I do expect em to bolt eventually, then I too will have seeds to share.

[Worth1]

I'm going to have to grow celery this fall.
I have always known it was a cool weather plant I don't know why I haven't.
Worth

[bower]

I should have seed for you by then!

[KarenO]

That is fantastic!
KO

[kath]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing- might have to try this.

[sdambr]

COOL indeed, next year in the cold frame.

[luigiwu]

That is awesome! I wanted to participate in the MysteryMater swap but I couldn't figure out what/how to do it...

[barefootgardener]

They look really good. Did you start them from seed last year, then overwinted the plants??

Ok.. I re-read the title of your thread.. duh!! I was tired!!

I have some Utah celery growing that I started from seed in late January. The plants are looking really good so far.

[SummerSky]

I keep killing off my celery. I grew it last year from seed and they did fine until I planted them in the garden. Then they just sat there and did nothing until the voles ate them in the fall. They didn't die, but they didn't grow either. Everything else grew around them just peachy, so I don't know what their problem was.

This year I have some bad voodoo on the seedlings. First was the kids wanting to "play" with them (which ended with them all over the carpet in their room, badly damaged), then it was the cat decided to eat them when my husband forgot to close the door, and the final straw was when I bumped one of my lights and it fell on them. I tried to revive them, but they all wilted away (presumably just to spite me). So I give up on starting them from seeds this year and I'm getting transplants. I'll put them in a raised bed and see if they like that any better, or maybe my bad luck will continue...

I grow cutting celery which is used for leaves instead of stalks (although it does make small stalks) because I don't care for the stalks- it is delicious for soups, salads, etc. it overwinters really well in my cinder blocks. Yes, it is basically a cool weather crop, and quite difficult to get started from seeds.

[bower]

I started them from seed last February (14 months ago) - the seed is so tiny, and for some reason I thought it was old (no year on the package), so I sprinkled what seemed a small pinch of seed on a small flat, hoping to get a plant or two for me and my mother. HUNDREDS germinated within the week, and just kept coming. I filled up two 1020 trays of cellpack - couple dozen went into solo cups, and there were still more than a hundred in the ravaged original flat that sat for months and just stayed the same size, green and perky on a little water alone.
One tray went to the farm and were planted out early - they didn't bolt either - some went into mom's garden and mine, and more of them just sat all summer in their solo cups or cell pack.

I have only one criticism of the celery - that I took them to market and nobody wanted them (fools!). So they ended up lurking in the yard all summer with nowhere to go. But they didn't care about that. Squirt now and then, good enough, we'll stay on.

Then I planted some of those solo cup celery into the greenhouse tubs after the tomatoes had been cleared out in September. They came right on, after all that polite waiting. They got infested with aphids then, ignored, not watered, frozen, until March I cleaned them up and fed them.

I'm thinking of celery now as a sort of 'monastic' vegetable: will stay good in a tiny cell, on water alone.

They do also thrive on liquid ferts - as soon as they get a bit of muskie they put on a spurt of growth immediately, so not difficult to make large ones when there's space...
Kath, your advice that they were tolerant of transplanting was so true, and I thank you much for that.

[Worth1]

This thread made me eat a whole head of celery last night.

Worth

[Tracydr]

The seeds seem to start better if they've been cold treated. I have some older seeds that have frozen and thawed a few times and the germination on them is fantastic! Utah celery and cutting celery are my favorites. It always seem to sit there for awhile and then grow really fast in around March for me.
The seedlings are tiny and delicate but once they get bigger they're much tougher to kill.The flavor is so much better than store bought, well worth trying. Plus, celery is one of the worst veggies for pesticide residue from what I've heard.
I've never had pests on them either so I have no idea why. They are great for attracting beneficials after they flower, too.

[rnewste]

From my trials Celery seems to do better in cooler temperatures. Here is some Utah Tall grown a few years ago:



As Worth says, there is nothing like biting into a bunch of Celery - especially when you have grown it yourself - no pesticides or other contaminants of store bought to be concerned about.

Raybo

[bower]

Originally Posted by Worth1

This thread made me eat a whole head of celery last night.

Worth

Yeh.. having this celery has made me realize how much I like celery! And how versatile it is.

I remember back in the 70's, one of the key snack foods served at (my mon's!) parties was 4-6" long pieces of celery filled with cheese whiz. It was so delicious to us kids, I remember eating a whole jar of it on a celery binge! Nowadays I would mix my own garlic, rosemary and cream cheese for a celery treat. (but only because cheeze whiz is stupidly expensive! )