Celeriac - am I daft to try ?

[annie8]

Have a notion to try growing celeriac next year. I really love it in soup. Had a wee search and there seemed lots of posts on the forum saying it was hard to grow to a reasonable size. I like to try a few new things every year - am going to do borlotti beans ( for husband) and am planning to try garlic again which failed the last time so don’t want to set myself up for too many failures at a time !

[Scarlet]

Celeriac needs a lot of water.
Borlotti beans. Should be easy enough.
Garlic - get the best cloves possible, invest now and you willbe able to cultivate them year on year. I get the best results from Autumn sowing.....do you get any Autumn/Christmas fairs near you? I often get cloves fromthe garlic farm....they do the Bath Christmas fair.

[veggiechicken]

Who am I to say that anything is daft?
If you want to try growing "shrunken heads" then try! You don't have to grow a bed full - just few to see if you can.

[Scarlet]

I tried...just to dry here I love celeriac!

[Penellype]

I grow celeriac (Monarch) in my friend's garden - the current crop is golf ball size and the usually end up about tennis ball size. They are not pretty, with very uneven roots and can get slug damaged, but they are fine in soup.

By trial and error I've developed a method that works for me. I sow them in a 5 inch pot in April, just sprinkling the seeds onto wet compost - don't cover them with compost. I cover the pot with a plastic bag secured with an elastic band to stop them drying out and leave them somewhere reasonably light. I usually end up with loads of seedlings about 2 weeks later. I then pick out the strongest ones and pot them up into modules when they have about 2-4 true leaves. These usually go to my friend's greenhouse and are planted out when they have developed into sturdy plants a couple of inches high. I keep the pot of seedlings that I didn't pot on, just in case as I once lost the lot to slugs shortly after planting. I plant them in the wettest part of the garden, which is near a water butt that overflows when full, and I water them every day if the soil is not wet.

I'm not saying this is the best way to grow them, as you won't get big roots and they will be knobbly with lots of roots coming off the swollen part, but for what my friend needs, this works.

[Two_Sheds]

I grew celeriac in a plastic lined trench, to retain moisture: they got to golf ball size !

Try it: keep numbers low, plant them in a shallow/bowl in the ground so you can give them lots of water

[annie8]

Well it’s not usually that dry here - we didn’t have a hosepipe ban - so could give it a try. Will just try a few and see how it goes and will follow the method you suggest Pennyllype.

And yes I agree Veggiechicken. I have seen some of your posts !

[DannyK]

Grew some last year. Waste of time as so small but it must have been my growing technique as Aldi had very big British grown ones.
If farmers can do it, so should we. Just need to find out how!

[Earthgirl Jen]

Have a notion to try growing celeriac next year. I really love it in soup. Had a wee search and there seemed lots of posts on the forum saying it was hard to grow to a reasonable size. I like to try a few new things every year - am going to do borlotti beans ( for husband) and am planning to try garlic again which failed the last time so don’t want to set myself up for too many failures at a time !

No your not ... Go for it. I have never grown Celeriac before. My Mum gave me a magazine which came with a packet of seed so I grew it...

Here is my Celeriac patch 20 plants. I have heavy clay soil although it was well dug and not trod on. I planted each plant with a good handful of MPC mixed with BFB and Chicken Manure pellets.


During the really hot weather we didn't have a hosepipe ban and I 'drown' them (every 1" of water sinks 6" ) every 3 days. I also gave another top dressing of BFB and chicken manure pellets 6 wks after they were first planted. 4 wks after that I managed to get my hands on some well rotted cow manure with straw and gave each plant a good 1-2" mulch.

I read an old thread on here that said someone had had no luck until they had fed the plants well and then watered well.

Well most of my 20 plants are at least 3" possibly 4" wide and I'm not harvesting them yet. In fact I think I'll give them another feed of BFB and chicken manure pellets this week as there is no rush to harvest them and see what happens..

[Chestnut]

I am on my second year of trying. The plants are definitely bigger and stronger than last year (they only grew to 4 inches high on first attempt!). Not sure whether I will get enough for a meal out of the dozen plants I have, but I’m not ready to give up on them yet

Maybe we should ask the GYO editorial team if they would consider a series of ‘how the professionals do it’ (ie farmers), to give us some hints?
The scientist /pedant in me would love seed packets to come with details of ideal germination temperatures and humidity levels, ideal water and nutrition requirements for each week of the plant’s age. A bit like the nutrition info box on food labels, but more detailed.....

[bramble]

I have tried growing celeriac for several years with no success.
No problem getting them to germinate.l
Potted them on until they were a decent size and then planted out.
Watered them every day.l
Loads of healthy top growth and a tangle of scraggly roots below ground.
Best of luck and keep us updated on your progress.

[Mr Bones]

To add to what everyone else has already said we find growing under wood chip mulch helps keep them moist and also removing outer leaves encourages the root to swell. Never managed to grow anything like the size of those sold in shops but at about four inch across the flavour of home grown is far more intense. The leaves are good in stocks and soups too.

Took a photo this time last year, the roots are about half grown

[Aberdeenplotter]

I've never grow it and never tasted it but I have a packet of seed and I'm going to try it next year. Sounds as though it's going to be a bit of a challenge so my research hat is on.

[Nicos]

I've grown it successfully several times to a decent size....I guess the secret is LOADS of water and lots of feed -oh, an a sunny position.
Go for it...remember it's a bog plant (if I remember correctly?)

You'll find home grown much sweeter...absolutely delish!

[Nicos]

Oh...and keep peeling off the lower leaves as they grow....(soups...)

Like the idea of the woodchip Bones!