How to Grow Celery
Instructions & Advice for Growing Celery
in Your Vegetable Garden
| Nutrition | Watering Instructions | Harvesting |
| Climate | Fertilizing Instructions | Storage |
| Soil | Challenges | Tips |
| Planting |
Celery is a biennial and a member of the carrot family. This vegetable is a tight collection of green stalks reaching up to 10” tall. Stalks, leaves, and seeds are edible.
Gardening Advice Tip: Celery is a good companion plant for several garden vegetables, including tomatoes and cabbage. For more information on planning your garden, review the companion planting guide.
Nutrition Information: (back to top)
Contains: Dietary Fiber, Vitamin K, C, A, B6, Folate, Potassium, Manganese, Riboflavin, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus.
Climate & Growing Conditions: (back to top)
Celery gardening thrives in mild or cool weather. It will not grow well in cold climates, and seedlings are sensitive to temperatures below 55 degrees (F). Grow from mid-summer to autumn in warm areas.
This popular vegetable tolerates light shade and wet weather.
How to Prepare the Garden Soil: (back to top)
Celery needs garden soil that is neutral or with an alkaline pH (pH of 5.8 to 6.5). Mixing lime into your garden bed will reduce the soil's acidity. (Information on testing your garden soil's pH level.) For best growing conditions, prepare the soil with animal manure, compost, and/or a complete fertilizer.
How to Plant Celery: (back to top)
When the temperatures are above 55 degrees, plant the celery seed directly into the garden bed.
Gardening Advice Tip: It is not unusual for large quantities of the seed to NOT germinate well, so be sure to use fresh seeds.
Sow the seed very shallowly (about 1/10” deep) in the garden bed and cover with a light soil/seed starting mix. Don't let the soil dry out during the 3 week germination period, or the seed won't grow.
Once growing seedlings appear and reach 6" tall, thin them to 10” apart with 18” between rows. (Seedlings can be used for delightful flavoring in soups!)
Keep the roots moist by mounding soil around the young plants.
How to Water: (back to top)
Celery requires frequent watering, but must never have soggy soil.
During dry weather, be sure to water daily. Lack of water causes celery to grow slowly and also makes the stalks stringy.
This is a shallow rooted plant, so the nutrients will be easily leached from the garden soil from waterings. You will need to continually fertilize, to ensure healthy growth.
How to Fertilize: (back to top)
A few weeks before planting, enrich garden beds with complete fertilizer.
After the seedlings are growing well and established, apply a side dressing of a nitrogen rich fertilizer (applied on the soil) every three weeks. Occasional dressings of sulfate of ammonia will help them grow also.
Gardening Challenges: (back to top)
If you see dead spots on the leaves, that’s most likely a fungal disease known as leaf spot or septoria.
Often times, a shortage of magnesium or calcium in the garden soil increases the risk of plant disease.
Gardening Advice Tip: Practice good vegetable gardening by rotating your crops within your garden space with each new season. This will prevent many plant diseases.
How to Harvest Celery: (back to top)
Celery matures after approximately 5 months of growing.
Cut the whole plant at ground level, before the seed stalks appear.
You can also just harvest a little here and there as needed from your garden, by breaking off the outside stems as needed and letting the rest of the plant continue to grow.
Storage: How to Freeze Celery (back to top)
Use tender stalks. Remove strings, wash and cut into 1” pieces. Blanch for 2 minutes in boiling water. Chill in iced water for 2 minutes. Drain and spread on a tray in a single layer. Freeze for 30 minutes. Pack into freezer bags, remove air, seal and label. Freeze celery for up to 6 months.
Storage: Cold (back to top)
Celery harvested late in the season can be kept for use in the fall and winter with the following methods:
In climates where the winters are not as extensive, pile garden soil up around the plant and cover the top with straw. Dig out when you’re ready to use.
In climates where the ground freezes, dig up the whole celery plant (roots and all). Place in a cold frame or a cool cellar. Keep the roots in moist (but not wet) soil. The cellar must be cool and moist, with a temperature of about 35/40 degrees (F).
Storage: How to Dehydrate / Dry Celery
Trim leaves and ends, wash and cut into ½” pieces. Soak for 5 minutes in 6 cups of cold water/1 tbsp baking soda (helps preserve the color). Blanch for 2 minutes, drain. Dehydrate at 100 degrees (F) for 18 hours or until crisp. To rehydrate, soak in hot water for 1 hour, drain. No need to rehydrate for use in soups or stews. Make celery flakes by processing dried celery in a blender or food processor. For celery salt, mix ground dried celery with equal parts of salt.
Gardening Advice Tips (back to top)
Have a helpful gardening tip (or even a fun story) to share about your celery growing experience? Share it with us at: gardeningtips@howtogardenadvice.com
----------
Note: This page's content, unless specified otherwise on this page, belongs specifically to www.howtogardenadvice.com. Reciprocal links are certainly welcome. However, if you wish to use this content, as written, on your website - please be courteous, respectful and lawful... and ask permission first. Provided you 1) make it clear that the content came from this site, and 2) you leave the links back to my site within the page and 3) your site doesn't contain any profane or derogatory content, I'll likely approve your posting the content. Please email me first for approval at info@howtogardenadvice.com. Thank you.