I can't imagine cooking without celery. In my opinion, this aromatic and he althy vegetable will enrich the taste of any dish.
In my home garden I grow both root and celery. I buy ready-made seedlings, paying attention to the fact that they are stocky, he althy and have well-developed roots. If I plan to plant30 pieces, I choose a few more seedlings, in case they do not catch on or are damaged during transport.
As a beginner allotment gardener, I made a basic mistake - I wanted to save space on the beds and planted seedlings too densely (10x20 cm). As a result, my crops were worse, because the plants shaded each other and competed for water and nutrients.
For the needs of my family of four, I usually plant about 50 root celery and 30 celery. I plant them in the ground at the end of May or the beginning of June so that they grow at the highest possible temperature. When it's dry, I keep watering. This is important especially for the root variety, which grows intensively in summer. I try to weave the beds on an ongoing basis, because initially celery grows very slowly and can easily "lose" the competition to weeds.I collect the first young root celery after about 7-8 weeks and use them on a regular basis. For winter storage, I dig them out in October, and sometimes only at the beginning of November.
When it comes to ribbed celery, I carry out the so-called whitening. My mother taught me this. I bind the celery leaves with an elastic ribbon, and wrap the stalks - from the ground to the leaves - with black foil and tie them as well. Vegetables deprived of access to light become whiter and more delicate in taste.
Edyta Stachowska
