How difficult is it to grow Celery?

[vegpatchmum]

Well guys the title says it all really.

We love a good old chomp on celery sticks, sprinkled (liberally in the case of himself) with salt and with a good dollop of salad cream. Then the other day and for the umpteenth time of asking, himslef wanted to know why I couldn't grow celery

It's a difficult crop to grow and needs more space than we could really give it, is my stock answer but then I began to wonder: just how difficult is celery to grow from seed and how much space does it really take?

Thanks in advance for answers and advice.

VPM
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[Westi]

This is my real challenge - I do get a crop each year but only suitable for stews - however this year I tried a red stem variety which is well superior. Yes it has been wetter this year, but I set my drippa up previously so they didn't suffer from lack of water & being cooler it hasn't been optimen conditions but it is at least a foot high already (although quite thin) and the little taster I took wasn't very stringy. Early days though - will let you know!

Westi

[solway cropper]

I grow self-blanching celery in large square pots set on deep trays so the roots are never short of water. Picked young the stalks can be quite good but if left they invariably end up stringy and, like Westi's, only suitable as a soup ingredient when put through the blender. Mind you, they do make a very tasty soup so I keep growing it every year. Never tried traditional trench celery as it seems too much of a faff.

[Johnboy]

If you want a decent Celery that is not stringy and beautifully crisp then you must revert to growing the trench varieties.
Why put up with stringy green varieties which is the supermarket favourite when as a grower you have the opportunity to grow something so far superior that after growing a trench variety you would never even consider a self-blanching variety again. Self blanching being a total contradiction of terms as it is nothing like blanched celery because most of it is as green as grass and exceedingly stringy. You have the power Use It!
JB.

[PLUMPUDDING]

Celery is the only veg I've never had a decent crop from, so yes, I find it very difficult. I've tried pink, white, self blanching, trench, tried tying tubes round the stems - which resulted in a nice hiding place for slugs. I've followed all the instructions and wasted hours pampering the stuff and all I' ve ever got was a thin stemmed strong flavoured plant. As you say - good for stews, but not worth the effort.

[vegpatchmum]

Lol, oh dear. Well next year I think I might just:

1) Grow some traditional in a trench and see how it goes;
2) Grow some self blanching in various 'spare' areas and see how it goes; and
3) Have some ready grown stuff hidden in the fridge in case of emergencies

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your views and experiences

VPM
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[Tigger]

We grow it every year. We thin it out as you would carrots and use the little stems in salads and soups. Then - as JB says - we get a bit more serious about excluding the light. We haven't had any real success with self blanching.

[Tony Hague]

I grew the pink stuff, seed from the Real Seed company. There seemed to be conflicting advice about whether it needed to be blanched or not, so I grew it on the flat, then wrapped half of it up in several turns of brown packing paper. WIth or without the paper, it was bitter as hell. Grew well, but inedible. Perhaps it does need the trench.

I also grew some sort of oriental celery from the Organic garden catalogue. It made something useful in small amounts as a flavouring herb - which is good because it only produced small amounts !

Now I stick to growing celeriac. I usually get a few tennis ball sized or bigger, but this year might be the exception.