Celery for dummies, help needed.

[Jeannine]

 Hi, I know diddly about celery only tried it once  many years ago and it was a disaster, I now am going to have another go, thanks to swappers I have been sent 2 types this week and need some help..lots of help.

Is it too late to start the seeds?

Best way to do so.

What happens next.

Yes I am that dumb about it!!!

Types are Latham self blanching (thanks Caroline)and about 10 seeds of Golden self blanching (thanks pass the parcel)

Please help

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

[Barnowl]

According to my chart, you should be fine sowing both types up until the end of April.

I think I actually sowed my golden self blanching into cells in the GH in early May last year, then transplanted later, but this year have started some in a supersprouter indoors last week.

[tim]

Nil desperandum, Jeannine.

We used to sell it when we had a good crop.

Start here.
http://garden-centre.org/Celery.htm

[Jeannine]

Hmm Tim, don't get desperate,wow, reading the site frightened me to death.Tomatoes, Melons and Squash are drop dead easy compared to celery I think!!
I read about the one I failed with it was Utah.
Well, it says start under glass but that's all. Lots of info on how to grow them once they are plants.

Come on Tim help me out here,I have the seeds by me, how deep, or sow  on the surface, do they need light to germinate, how much heat,airing cupboard or warm greenhouse.

I said I was dopey. Tomatoes fruiting in January sounds easier than this.

Be an angel, share the trick. XX Jeannine

Hey, now that's interesting, I have just looked in The Vegetable Expert fro ages ago and it is the same as the site you sent me to, word for word,must be a connection,all it says i sow seeds under glass too, then same ivfo on looking after plants. Is this sort of secret society thing.!!!

[Melbourne12]

I'm trying celery for the first time this year (gulp).

We wanted to grow old fashioned "dirty" celery, so we bought some seeds from Medwyns, whose site also has loads of advice on the subject.

http://www.medwynsofanglesey.co.uk

You have to dig around in the articles to find what you're looking for, but the following is quoted from the archive:

The seed of celery are the smallest of all the vegetable seed having as many as 70,000 seed in one ounce and tends to be rather difficult grow initially as it can take anything up to three weeks to germinate. In it’s natural habitat it’s a bog type plant and from that we can instantly gather that it loves moisture, therefore from the day it germinates in your seed tray it should never lack water. Sow the seed anytime from mid March to mid April by broadcast sowing, as thinly as you possibly can, on top of some fine seed compost in a shallow seed tray and cover over lightly with the same compost. Over the past few years I have had better germination when using fine Vermiculite to cover the seed as the young seedling seems to emerge through a lot easier.

Place the seed tray in a propagator or on a heating blanket or soil warming cable as it certainly requires an even temperature of around 60°F. It is often suggested that a pane of glass is placed over the seed tray until germination. I prefer however to leave the tray uncovered and daily give the surface a fine mist spray of water to maintain moisture. Once germinated and when showing what we call the rough leaf or the true leaf, it can be transplanted into small cells such as plantpak 24s (24 independent cells attached together to fit into a large seed tray) or a 3" pot using a suitable Multi Purpose Compost. If the plants have been grown well they can be further potted up into 4 or 5 inch pots and should be ready for hardening off during early May.

[Jeannine]

Thank you, I am off into the greenhouse.XX Jeannine

[Barnowl]

Oops: Sorry Jeannine, I sowed in trays last year (not cells) and then pricked out to cells.

Planted in an enclosed bed with no special treatment other than digging in a bit of composted manure beforehand.

[Jeannine]

Oh goodess, I saw the sorry word and jumped as I have just sown them !!

In a flat, barely covered the seeds,popped the whole thing in a clear plastic bag and they are in a heated greenhouse.

I am keeping myfingers crossed.

Thank you for all the help, that is the wonder of this site you know, I am happy to admit I know diddly about celery, can't grow onions very well, not much better on brassicas, do great with some and terrible with others, I grow good tomatoes and I think I do very well with squash and melons. Maybe with your help I can get passionate about celery too.  I think the sharing is just great on here and it is OK to say I know diddly about something without feeling too daft. There is always someone to helpout.

THANK YOU

XX Jeannine

[manicscousers]

I've just pricked out 30 celery into cells, I started them in a small pot, they are fiddly, but once they're in, they're quick to grow..mine now have 2 true leaves,
where I'm going to plant them, we've dug out a shallow trench so any water will soak in to it as they like water

[tim]

Sorry I missed that, Jeannine. I'm always 'off-duty' - resting - from 2 till 4pm. Ever since I fractured my skull.
A good recipe for longevity?

When I looked for a brief on the net, I didn't read it through thoroughly - just thought it had useful pointers.
Our last lot took 8 days to germinate under glass. And yes - surface sow! I like plugs.

'Diddly' - but you can do patchwork? And 101 other things??

[Jeannine]

Thanks Manic, I will try and remember that.

Tim, I admire you taking a nap, I think it is a gift, one I regret I have never been able to learn and boy am I paying for that.It is very sensible and healthy, they say napping makes you wise. Maybe I should try harder, perhaps in time for next years celery!!

Isn't it amazing how we can be good at somethings and useless at others, I think that is why none of us have the right to feel superior. I can't do maths either yet I do almost perfect angles on my quilting,I think the passon to do it figures a lot though, I could never get interested in maths.

Perhaps someone could next tell me hoe to grow good onions!!

Thank you again XX Jeannine

[tim]

Any onion is a good onion??

We do not grow exhibition ones - much prefer close planted small ones for the kitchen.

How? Never thought about it. Just stuff the sets - yes, heat treated sets for us - into well manured ground about now & harvest.

Normally 600 a year but no more - white rot!!

[Jeannine]

Tim, the man next door to me on my lottie grows enormous onions, massive great big things, I ma serious when I say they are as big as galia melons.I know he grows them from seeds. I asked him once what they were and he told me but I suspect he was being a wee bit untruthful.

I have read and tried, bought sets, seeds, heat treated sets, I even bought plants last year, total waste of money.

I have bought Kelsaes, Buntons Showstopper,Rijnsburger,Beacon and apart from the Walla Walla which are different I can't get them to come on. I plant early, I prick out, I put in little pots, I put them in my greenhouse at the lottie just like he does,I even put them there the same week as he does and they look exactly the same , but his grow and mine don't.Well they do but badly.

My ground is good. I follow crop rotation, but I cannot do it.

I grow better cauli than him and better corn, and I grow super squash( he doesn't like it ) so why can't I grow an onion.

His lot is perfect, I never see a blade of grass . It is annoying, especially as he often leaves his excess veg to rot on the plants,his rasps just drop off , and he rarely picks his corn or beans. Oh I am getting ancy.

XX Jeannine

XX Jeannine

[Trevor_D]

I had a similar query about celery a week or so ago and got masses of brilliant advice, from Tim especially. The main message seems to be: keep them watered!

My story so far: I sowed Latham Self-Blanching in a small seed tray in the prapagator, then moved them into the GH. I've now pricked out 48 plants into modules and they seem to be growing on happily in an unheated lean-to mini-GH. I've prepared a site for them at the plot and have dug in a barrow-load of rotted horse manure. Watch this space.

(I really must sort out this photo-thingy, mustn't I?)

[tim]

Don't know, Jeannine. Never had a problem. No special treatment. Always used Fen Globe from Marshalls.

[Jeannine]

Oh Tim, you bad lad XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

Well I have planted two lots of celery seeds now and todai I was in wholesale nursery and I bought plants too,I figured if I killed of the seeds I would still have some plants to learn on XX Jeannine

[tim]

You need succession for Celery anyway?

Onions? That was meant to show that the damned things should grow!!

[Jeannine]

Actually Tim I bought some onions and some celery plants, they look so healthy,in single cell cubes  of soil.  So I have seeds planted and I have celery plants, ditto the onions. It is going to be  a learning year!!

XX Jeannine