Celery and Celeriac
Apium graveolens var. dulce and rapaceum. APIACEAE.
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Celery and Celeriac
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow celery and celeriac in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- How many plants of celery and celeriac to plant
- Growing conditions for celery and celeriac
- When to plant celery and celeriac
- How to plant celery and celeriac
- Watering, fertilizing, and pruning celery and celeriac
- Companion plantings for celery and celeriac
- How to harvest, store, and use celery and celeriac
Growing Celery and Celeriac
Both celery and its close relative celeriac are cool-season, biennial vegetables. They are grown for celery stalks and celeriac roots.
Both plants, 15–20 in. (38–50 cm) tall, descend from harsh-tasting wild marsh plants. Careful selection and hybridizing have created the familiar snack, salad, seasoning, and cooking vegetables known for their mild, distinctive flavor.
Most celery varieties must be blanched during growth to protect it from sun; unblanched celery develops a strong, undesirable flavor and its stalks become woody in texture [see: Lodging and Blanching]. Choose a self-blanching variety for best results.
Celery and Celeriac Plant and Care Guide
How Much to Plant
Allow 5 plants per household member.
How to Plant
Seed germinates in 14–21 days. Celery seed germination and early plant development vary with soil temperature. Average Climates: Sow seed indoors 8–12 weeks before last expected frost and harden seedlings 7–10 days before transplanting. Hot-Summer Climates: Sow seed outdoors in autumn, after summer heat has broken. Mild-Winter Climates: Plant directly into garden soil outdoors in spring, autumn, or winter.
Sow seed 1/4–1/2-in. (6–12-mm) deep, 3–5 in. (75–125 mm) apart, thinning to 6–10 in. (15–25 cm) apart, in rows 2 ft. (60 cm) apart.
Also propagate celery by rooting basal growth nodes of stalks collected after harvest by suspending them in water or planting them in moist potting soil until shoots develop, then transplanting them to the garden.
Set out transplants when 4–6 in. (10–15 cm) tall and soil warms to 50–65°F (10–18°C).
Install floating row covers after planting to limit access by pests.
Best Conditions for Growth
Growing temperature: 60–70°F (16–21°C). Best in long-season, cool, mild climates. Bolts in temperatures over 75°F (24°C) and when daylight hours lengthen in summer.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained, sandy soil. Fertility: Rich. 5.8–6.8 pH. Prepare soil at least 1 ft. (30 cm) deep.
Proper Care
Challenging. Keep evenly moist; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Fertilize monthly with 5–10–15 formula or liquid organic fertilizer. Mulch. Cultivate.
Blanch celery to ensure white stems, milder taste, and less bitterness [See: Lodging and Blanching]. Mulch with soil, straw, or wrap stems with opaque, waterproof paper, when 1 ft. (30 cm) tall (or 2–3 weeks prior to harvest), or choose self-blanching cultivars.
Aphid, borer, cabbage looper, leafhopper, nematode and blight susceptible.
Pairing Recommendations
Lettuce, English peas, and spinach.
Maturity, Picking and Gathering
100–120 days. Cut bunch below crown when 12–18 in. (30–45 cm) tall, or cut outer stalks as needed, leaving the central growth bud to grow new stalks; celery roots may be harvested for use as one would for celeriac.
Dig celeriac roots when 2–3 in. (50–75 mm) wide at crown. Wash roots thoroughly and allow to dry.
For more intense flavor, withhold water from celery plants 2 days before harvest; enhance mild flavor by watering 4–8 hours before harvest.
How to Store and Preserve
Celery: Fresh in vegetable keeper of refrigerator for 4–6 weeks. Celeriac Roots: Fresh in vegetable keeper of refrigerator for 6–8 weeks, or store in damp sawdust in a dark, cool spot, 2–3 months.