celery: easy to grow? which variety?

[greendean]

hi

i am thinking of growing celery this year to suppliment my other salad crops.

in the shops it sells for £1 a pack so financially it makes sense
but cost is not an issue if it is too difficult to grow or the end results not so good. i know it kind of goes against 'grow your own' principles.

please can i have some advice.
i have read in other posts about self blanching which are easier but not so nice to eat as non self blanching types. whats your experience? any recommendations?

thanks

[amandaandherveg]

I saw a sorry looking tray of young celery plants in a Garden Centre last year that were reduced to almost nothing. I bought them, took them home and replanted them. They grew quite happily for a while but then stopped and sat for months with no growth - they didn't ever thicken up.

I'll be interested in your replies as I'm not sure if I will bother myself this year or not.

[zazen999]

I've tried and tried.

This year I'm trying red celery, but will mainly be opting for celeriac for that celery taste in soups without the trauma.

[bazzaboy]

I'd say one of the most challenging of regular veg to grow well (along with caulis) as needs a sunny site, rich moist soil and quite a lot of care and attention. And keeping it in good condition once cropped another interesting challenge (see
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...lery_9949.html )
Worth doing a search,GreenDean, to locate other experiences.
But try it... I have grown it, more by accident than design as it happened, but it wouldn't have won any prizes. Good luck, give it a go.
b.

[Eyren]

I'm not that mad about celery*, but will be trying both celeriac (good for GI dieting as it is low-carb!) and lovage (a leafy herb closely related to celery, with a similar flavour).

* I remember the lovely cream-coloured blanched celery I used to eat as a child - this green "self-blanching" rubbish we get in the shops nowadays just doesn't compare!

[Rhona]

I use a lot of celery in cooking - sofrito-based sauces and the like. A couple of years ago, I bought a bunch of celery from the Chinese market, with all the roots attached, and just stuck it in the herb bed. It grew fine, pretty strongly, and kept us in enough celery for the year. Will do the same this year.

[greendean]

think that says it all

shame really as use it a lot for munching (on a diet) and soups (more diet)
celariac does sound a good but ugly choice. i did very well with fennel last year which has a similar texture but cant get my head round the aniseed taste. had a unpleasant experience with some pernod many years ago

i may hover round the seed swap to see if a few seeds are available to try as an experiment or as rhona suggests buy some from a chinese market

[zazen999]

You've made me want to try this again now!!!

[coomber]

I'm trying celery for the first time this year - beginning to re-think now though

[bobleponge]

I tried last year, and got 2 stalks growing. They died!
They are very labour intensive, need constant watering, and good soil.
I will be trying again this year but feel they may already doomed to failure. They are well known as being difficult to grow, thus I shall continue, as I refuse to lose to something (allegedly) further down the food chain than me!

[janeyo]

Don't Do It - Celery is Evil

[zazen999]

I can get them to germinate, and make little seedlings, and little plants to about 8 inches high. Then, they just sit there, all winter one year - and do nothing.

Perhaps I need to plan this, and make sure they are regularly fed and even more regularly watered - and earth them up properly. Pay them some attention - that sort of thing!

[Alice]

Greendean, if you've given up on the celery idea you might want to try this.
This year I'm going for Herb "cutting celery" . It just makes fine 8" stems and leaves and you use it cut and come again. It's from T & M.
If you want to try it PM your address and I'll send you a few seeds.
You too Zazen.

[jogette]

I grew celery for the first time last year. It grew - slowly but wouldn't grow upright - it sprawled over the ground (great weed cover). I dug it up for soup in October, it was stringy but a fabulous flavour.
Would like to grow some again but don't want the laid-back kind of celery - I want the stuff that look as if it has a military history!!

[Flummery]

I don't like celery - yet I love celeriac and lovage - a monster herb (but it's a perennial) whose leaves taste like celery in a soup situation. I think it's the stringy texture that's my problem.