A place for Celery?

[COMPOST CORNER]

Having tried reasonbly sucessfully (apart from the stringiness) to grow celery last year, I was going to try in a different place.
In My garden is a bed on top of the patio, about 8" deep and lined with a polythene/butyl type liner.
The previous occupants had made it, but as it is in pretty much total shade from a large hedge, not a lot grows there.
Having been advised that Celery needs watering even when it's raining, I thought this bed would be ideal as it does hold quite a bit of water owing to the lining ( Not completely water tight, but you get the picture, I hope)
To get to the point, is there any point in trying to grow Celery in an area that gets almost no sun?

[maypril]

This will be my first year growing celery (self blanching). Anyone got some basic advice?

[SarzWix]

Being 'leafy', I don't think it needs a huge amount of sunshine, water is more important I grew mine in a shady spot last year, it didn't grow massive but that was down to lack of water...! It didn't seem to be reaching for the light or anything (which is a shame because I'd have got longer stalks!).
Definitely worth a go I'd say.

Maypril - water, water, water and more water...

[Jeanied]

Don't you exclude the light from the celery stems to blanch them? So maybe growing in the shade would be a benefit?

[planesailing]

I didn't water mine much last year and I got 6 huge ones grown in less than a square metre! It might have been fluke, funnily enough it was the only thing that grew with real sucess!!

They were in partial shade as well.

[Rhona]

I'm a TERRIBLE cheat with celery. I buy a fully-sized one from the Chinese supermarket, with all the roots on, split it, and plant it up. Always produces enough celery to keep us going (we don't eat it actually, just cook with it).

That's really bad isn't it? In my defence, I started doing it when my growing space was so limited, that I didn't have room for failed crops!

[COMPOST CORNER]

Don't you exclude the light from the celery stems to blanch them? So maybe growing in the shade would be a benefit?

This was part of my theory, but thought it may be the case hat they needed sn to grow, and then you excluded light later to blanch it.

[zazen999]

Grow them in big pots, with only half full of compost.

Stick the pots into deep containers that hold water, and keep the water topped up all year round.

The deepness blanches them, and you can grow as cut and come again. The constant water stops them going stringy.

Grow enough and you can harvest in succession and the next will be ready when you need it.

[jackyspratty]

I'm a TERRIBLE cheat with celery. I buy a fully-sized one from the Chinese supermarket, with all the roots on, split it, and plant it up. Always produces enough celery to keep us going (we don't eat it actually, just cook with it).

That's really bad isn't it? In my defence, I started doing it when my growing space was so limited, that I didn't have room for failed crops!

NOw thats what I call naughty but nice Rhona Like celery but have no space now and am already trying too many new things really! Feeling a bit out of my depth! But what a good idea! Have lots of chinese supermarkets in Leeds too! Thanks for the tip!

[Jillyreeves]

Grow them in big pots, with only half full of compost.

Stick the pots into deep containers that hold water, and keep the water topped up all year round.

The deepness blanches them, and you can grow as cut and come again. The constant water stops them going stringy.

Grow enough and you can harvest in succession and the next will be ready when you need it.

How big a pot, please

[zazen999]

How big a pot, please

The bigger the pot, the bigger the plant. I use about 4 plants in a 4 inch pot but grow it as cut and come again. If you put 4 into a bigger pot you'd get much bigger plants more like the size you get from supermarkets.

[sheena]

I grew some last year in a 12" square pot, and actually placed 9 seedlings in it.
Didn't realise how much they grew until they literally took over the pot. Looked nice tho when they remained upright.

They were in partial shade and didn't get sun until about 3-4pm and even then it was only for a little while. But they grew as big as the supermarket one's if not bigger.

We didn't eat it in the end, as it's only me who likes it and the rest of the family screw their faces up at it. But it didn't go to waste, the chooks enjoyed it more than I did I think.