Today, we discuss step by step for Celery Gardening Techniques, Ideas, and Tips.
Growing Celery in the backyard:
If you are planning to grow celery in your home garden, you must know celery gardening techniques. Celery is a plant which grows in the Mediterranean regions. It always grows its best in the climates which are temperate with the temperatures ranging in between 16 to 22°C. As celery is a long-season crop, it would be tough to raise in few areas. It does its best when the seeds are sown in the indoor locations. Though celery would be a bit stubborn at few times, the plants of celery will produce delicious and crispy stalks when they are raised in an environment which is the temperature in a soil which is moist and rich in the content of nitrogen. Select a celery-type which grows best in your locality and start preparing your backyard to ensure that you are having the suitable conditions for the growth of celery. Once the plantation of celery is done, provide it with the care it requires for the purpose of survival. In this article, we will discuss how to grow celery in your backyard.
Select the celery type based on the climatic conditions:
Leaf celery which is scientifically called as Apium graveolens var.secalinum is the one which grows from a stalk which is strong and will produce leaves which are delicious and have a very good flavor than the leaves of other varieties of celery. There are many varieties of leaf celery you can choose. Few of the best leaf celery varieties are Safir, Par-cel, a Dutch heirloom variety which has a spicy crunch and Flora-55 is one of the leaf celery varieties which is very good at resisting the bolting.
Celeriac which is scientifically called as Apium graveolens var. Rapaceum will have a root which is oversized and this can be harvested and consumed along with the stalks. The root will take the time of about 3 months for harvesting and also cooking. Celeriac is the one which loves the climatic conditions which are present in the coastal regions. These have varieties and few of them are Giant Prague. President, Mentor, Diamant.
Traditional celery which is scientifically called as Apium graveolens var. Dulce will need a long and temperature season for growing and will take about 3-4 months to reach the stage of maturity for harvest. This does not love the temperatures which are extreme and will do its best when grown in the temperatures less than 25°C at the day time and the temperatures which are between 9 to 15°C at night time. Few varieties of traditional celery are like Monterey and conquistador which would be ready for harvesting prior to most of the celery varieties.
Read:How to Grow Vegetables in Hydroponics.
Preparation of your backyard for growing celery:
For successful celery plant growth, one should prepare their backyard by using celery gardening techniques.
Though celery loves to grow in temperate climatic conditions, it would also grow love to grow in full sun. It will also grow well when kept in partial shade.
Actually, celery will be able to tolerate the soil conditions which are moist than all the other types of vegetables. Anyways, always make sure that the area of the plantation which you are selecting is not susceptible to flooding. Select a site which has moist and rich soil.
You can also build a raised bed for the plantation of your celery in that. Always remember that few celery varieties will grow very large with the roots which can be harvested. So always ensure that you are building the planter sufficiently deep if you have decided to do so. Make use of cedar wood for building the planter bed if you can as it will not mold even if it gets wet.
The varieties of celery will love the soil which is a little acidic and with a pH in between 6 to 7. Unlike most of the vegetables, celery will not need high standards of drainage, but it will need healthy and rich soil.
So, in this regard, evaluation of the levels of calcium and magnesium of the soil has to be done for the determination of the type of limestone which has to be added to the soil. If you see that the soil has fewer levels of magnesium, you can go ahead and add dolomitic limestone. If you see that the levels of magnesium are high in the soil, then you will need to add calcitic limestone.
The limestone has to be added prior to 2-3 months of plantation if possible so that you can let the soil absorb it. After the addition of limestone, you will have to check the pH levels again.
After that, mix 5 inches of fertilizer which is organic like compost or manure into the soil. Celery will love to grow in the soil which is very rich and organic. This will be a great help to the seedlings to grow like strong plants which are producing.
Read: Growing Cauliflowers in Home Garden.
Plantation of celery:
You can start sowing the celery seeds in the peat pots with many numbers of seeds per cell to make sure that at least one of them will undergo germination process and become a seedling. In order to expedite the process of germination, you can soak the seeds in water before plantation overnight. The potting soil can be used for covering the seeds. Almost about 1 inch of potting soil can be used to cover, but make sure that you are not patting it with the fingers after you have sown the seeds.
The seeds of celery will require plenty of light to undergo the process of germination. The peat pots have to be watered so that the soil will be moistened after the plantation of seeds.
The seeds have to be placed in a place which is warm. Doing so will make the soil stay at a temperature which is in between 20-25°C till the seeds get germinated. This will take almost 15 to 20 days.
After the seeds get germinated, the seedlings have to be placed in the indoor locations which are cooler so that the soil will have a temperature between 15 to 20°C. The seedlings have to be thinned in a careful and gentle manner so that there is only 1 seedling for one cell after they get germinated.
Ensure that the climate is not too cold in the outdoors. Celery will be able to tolerate the light amount of cold temperatures, but the temperatures which are below 15°C at the daytime and 5°C at night times for more than 7 days will cause great harm to your celery plants.
The seedlings have to be planted at a distance of 5 to 10 inches in rows which are at a distance of 20 to 40 inches from each other. You will only be required to dig holes which are deeper than the peat pot cells depth. You will have to pat the cells’ sides so that the seedlings will be slipped out without causing any harm to the roots.
You will need to only cover the foliage up to the first level and pat the area of plantation present around the seedlings in a light manner by making use of your hands for the sake of support.
Celery will need moisture constantly so make sure that you are not letting the soil dry out at any point of time. If celery is not getting sufficient water, the stalks will be bitter and also stingy. Always make sure that you are watering the plants several times in a week and raise the number of watering times mainly in warm or dry climates.
In order to maintain the soil in a moist and cool manner, you will need to go ahead and add few inches of mulch which is made up of leaves, hay, grass or any other plant materials on the soil’s top. Doing this will help in the reduction of seed’s ability to infiltrate the area of plantation.
Read:Best Hydroponic Plants for Indoor Gardening.
Care and maintenance of your celery plants:
As part of celery gardening techniques, your first priority is caring celery plants in your backyard.
Make sure that you are fertilizing the celery plants for every 15 to 30 days. The celery plants are the ones which feed heavily and require the soil which is rich and has to be fertilized in a frequent manner. In order to make your celery plants happy, you will have to fertilize it by making use of a fertilizer which is rich in the content of nitrogen for every few weeks from the stage of the plantation to the stage of harvest.
The most important thing to remember while caring your celery plants is to make sure that they are always hydrated in a good manner. If your celery plant will not get sufficient water, they will become bitter in terms of taste and also shrivel.
Blanching is a process which involves protecting the stalks of celery from the sun in order to get a mild flavor. The stalks have to be covered by making use of a newspaper, a milk carton which has its top and bottom removed or any type of cardboard or paper. You also make use of twine for tying the stalks of celery so that they would be kept away from sprawling.
When there is no requirement of blanching the taste and color of your celery will be changed. In addition to this, the celery which is blanched will have fewer nutrients than the celery which is unblanched. Most of the people will prefer blanched celery because of its sweet taste.
Always remember that few varieties of celery are self-blanching and will not require to be blanched.
Harvesting your celery plants:
You can always start the harvest of the celery stalks when they reach the height of 8 inches. Always make sure to start the harvest from the stalks which are outward and then start working inward. This will let the stalks which are present in innermost to continue maturing.
Once the celery gets matured, it can sit on the ground for about 30 days as long as the soil is cool with a temperature in between 15 to 25°C.
The celery will be rich in antioxidants and nutrients when it is much longer and darker. Anyways, it will become more hard and fibrous.
That’s all folks about Celery Gardening Techniques, Ideas. Hope enjoyed reading, happy gardening!.
