celery: easy to grow? which variety?

[greendean]

what shall we do? give in or fight back at the celery problem

celeriac and lovage sound a good alternate so does 'cutting celery'

if only someone would cross celery with rhubarb! easy to grow and eat it raw!

hi alice. thanks for that. have pm'd you

[sewer rat]

I am growing celery in the walled garden for the hotel this year. The varieties I had to hand were Greensleeves and Golden Self Blanching. The self blanching types are a lot less hassle than trench types which are becoming harder to find as a result.
They are quite a fussy crop, but the soil in the walled garden is amazing, the site is sheltered from any wind, so I hope it all goes to plan.
BTW, did you know that a stick of celery contains 12 calories, but because it tastes like cardboard, it takes 14 calories to eat it raw - ideal for those on diets !
I too personally prefer celeriac and have sown this already.

[Tractor Boys]

Well,

I grew celery for the first time last year I sowed the seeds into a seed tray and in the mad rush to get all my other stuff in I completely forgot the plants I eventually got round to planting them in some space after the spuds had been lifted yet again they were left to their own devices.

I got a row of loverly Celery OH loves the stuff so she ate loads of it. I have left it and when the OH complained the celery was getting stringy. I went to dig it up and have now found it has nice small green stems growing again.

The seeds sown were Mr Fothergills green sleeves after all of the posts above I feel maybe ignorance is bliss and I will be over protective this year and blow it.

[-pat m]

Would growing it in a poly tunnel be an advantage or disadvantage? I quiet like the thought of giving it a go now!

Pat

[lottie dolly]

Would growing it in a poly tunnel be an advantage or disadvantage? I quiet like the thought of giving it a go now!

Pat

going back aprox 25 years ago,our then neighbours,had a small polytunel,it was the first i had seen,they grew cellery in it,as well as other things,and was fine,they also had chickens and used the dropings,the tunnel was always well condenced,i know at the time i was very impressed,everything just romped away,

[greendean]

just been looking round the internet

this says it all

Celery is not commonly found in the home garden, despite the fact that is is a very common item in the grocery store. The reason is Celery is a little more difficult to grow than the common garden fruits and vegetables. Growing Celery requires a longer growing season, lots of water, and prefers cooler temperatures. Without the proper care and conditions, Celery stalks can be very dry and stringy.

The more demanding conditions and attention that celery needs, sometimes causes home growers to rise to the challenge. A high proportion of growers look for a different vegetable or variety each year, as a challenge to their gardening skills. Why not make growing celery your next challenge?

[silverfork]

I've never tried it, but I was going to this year, in pots. I heard something about it, I think it was on Gardeners Question Time on R4, and they said the main thing was not to let it dry out, so keep the pot in a deep saucer topped up with water. You can also put a cardboard tube round it to blanch it if you can be bothered. Then you can just pull sticks off when you need, instead of having to pull a whole plant if its all earthed up. This is second hand advice, untried at the mo, but I thought I'd give it a go. If it's by the back door I might manage to not kill it by drying it out.

[greendean]

picked up a packet of celery seed yesterday and the blurb made it sound so easy to grow. then i put it back! got cold feet.