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I guess the peat based fen soil has more water holding abilities perhaps?  And celery is a water loving crop, especially if we want it to be fat and juicy.  Celeriac too can never be watered too much, to produce big heads.

I guess a thickish grass mulch to keep the soil damp might help too.  But I have never tried that, just really thinking aloud how to make my celery thicker, juicier and my celeriacs bigger. 

I have seen it described as a Batavia lettuce.  It is a butterhead, but with crunchier leaves than a 'soft' butterhead. I have seen it listed as a cos too, but this really is not justified when you think of a typical cos, like Lobjoits.   

I'll just trim them back about halfway - leave it till march  .  Hopefully that should be OK. They shouldnt dry out tooo badly, they're in a patch at the bottom of the garden that is reasonable.  Thanks very much for the helpx

Quote from: tobiasthedog on January 22, 2025, 22:28:22Has anyone heard of rats eating carrots? Something has been nibbling away at them and there are gnaw marks.

Yes, rats, mice or voles. I can't leave carrots in the ground much beyond the end of October as they get completely gnawed and sometimes just a hollow skin is left. I've never worked out which rodents might be the culprits but it happens every year for me and, as you say, clear teeth marks.

Quote from: Vetivert on January 22, 2025, 20:41:20Hi JanG, is the lettuce Brune d'Hiver a cos or butterhead?

It's a butterhead. I'm hoping it's true. Having grown from my saved seed myself, I just have a little doubt. It should be a butterhead with a slightly red-brown tinge to the outer leaves.

Quote from: markfield rover on January 17, 2025, 13:57:46I do remember the celery having a fine almost black soot like soil on the outer sticks. It was never cooked, just raw with a little salt.

Yes indeed. I remember celery with black fine soil on it from my childhood before I knew of the fens at all.

I live in the midst of an area of rich soil, which I believe grows more vegetables for the UK market than any other. There are fields of brassicas especially, and potatoes, but I've never been aware of celery.

When I looked at Galina's link to Fenland celery I realised that it's centred on Ely which is in the Cambridgeshire fens rather than Lincolnshire fens where I live. The fens are divided into peat fen and silt fen, depending upon which deposit was laid down last. It's quite striking when you move from one area to another, from lighter brown soil to the very dark soil of the peat fen.

My soil is fen silt, very fertile certainly, but not the black peat soil, much of it in Cambridgeshire, where I'm guessing most of the celery growing takes place, rather than the more alkaline soil round here, which is very good for brassica growing.

Quote from: galina on January 17, 2025, 12:01:03Oh wow.  Fenland celery really is a 'thing' and quite a big thing.  It even has protected status. 'Dirty' because grown and earthed up, rather than whatever they do with other celery grown elsewhere.  Isn't fenland soil particularly rich?  And fairly moist?  https://fenlandcelery.com/#:~:text=Grown%20in%20wide%20rows%20with,the%20celery%20as%20it%20grows.

I somehow managed to miss this discussion about Fenland celery which excites me very much now I've found it!

Has anyone heard of rats eating carrots? Something has been nibbling away at them and there are gnaw marks.

Good luck it's looking promising.

Hi JanG, is the lettuce Brune d'Hiver a cos or butterhead?