Celery is a cool-season crop which loves cool weather. It grows best in daytime temperatures greater than 13°C but not consistently warmer than 26°C. Too warm temperatures will only make your celery grow stringy.
Temperatures below 50°F will send up flower stalks and make your celery become bitter flavoured. Start your celery indoors 14 – 6 weeks before the last expected frost in spring.
You can transplant in the garden 2 weeks before the last expected frost. Sow your celery seeds 12 – 14 weeks before the first frost for an autumn harvest. Based on the varieties of your celery, your celery should mature 98 – 130 days.
1) Celery Sowing & Planting Tips
Your celery seed is viable for 5 years. Sow your celery seeds indoors 14 – 6 weeks before the last spring frost. Have your seedlings set out when they attain a height of 3 inches about the time of the last frost.
Sow seeds one-eighth deep. This should be 3 mm. Seeds germinate in 10 days at 24°C; before sowing your seeds, soak them in water overnight.
Blanching celery varieties are expected to be plants in a trench 12 inches deep by 18 inches wide. This helps to allow for gathering and wrapping up of stalks in wax paper and the trenches to be filled in about midseason:; a part of blanching process.
Also: learn how long it takes celery to grow from seeds here
Self-blanching varieties don’t need trenches or efforts to blanch the stalks. Harden the plants. This is done by reducing water for 7 – 10 days before transplanting.
Keep plants warm for a month after transplanting by using row covers. This may not actually be necessary. Space plants 6 – 8 inches apart in all directions.
Apply aged compost to planting beds in advance of sowing. Celery’s ideal daytime temperature for growth is in the 60s°. A pH range of at least 5.8 – 6.8 is ideal for celery.
Grow your celery in partial shade. Do not plant celery in a place where carrots, fennel, parsley, dill, or parsnips have been grown recently.
Fertilize using an organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion at half strength
Interplanting: Grow your celery with beans, lettuce, spinach, cabbage family plants, and peas.
Container Growing Celery: Grow self-blanching varieties of celery in a container at least 10 – 12 inches wide and deep.
Recommended reading: also learn how celery is grown from stump here
Conclusion
To sow your celery seeds, mix them with sand and then, sprinkle the sand-seed mix over the potting soil. Afterwards, cover the seeds with a little quantity of soil. Plant the seeds shallowly. Once they have sprouted and large enough, thin the seedlings and you can as well, prick them out to their own containers. Also, if you want to grow celery commercially, read this guide to growing celery commercially.
References
- HGV How to grow Organic Celery in a pot on a Patio experiment 1st cut, YouTube
- Grow Organic Celery in a pot on your Patio. Beware the wind!, YouTube
