Kitchen Garden Forum

First time of growing celery, it's very tough & stringy, & all the outer stalks are brown in the centre. I grew a full row so can salvage enough for a few feeds. Any ideas please ?

Not sure but mine were rubbish this year too.

I believe they need a good steady supply of water over the summer. Whilst this year wasn't particularly hot, they may still have needed a regular water???

If what you wanted was ideas of what to do with your crop, celery is an excellent base for stock (whether it's stringy or not). If you have a few carrots, onions/leeks, bay leaves and possibly some chicken bones, you might still end up with something worth eating.

Yes, it's ok when boiled but outside leaves no use

Hi Gloworm,
I think that you will find that the outside stalk/leaves of self blanching Celery are always like that. The thing is to produce very large plants giving you enough Celery not to worry about the outers.
JB.

Hi JB,

The prob is not in the blanching, the outer stalks are green on the outside but the centre (of the outer stalks) are brown. I am able to use the inner stalks by boiling & using as a veg, but too tough to eat raw.

Hi Gloworm,
I have only grown SB Celery a couple of times and when I grow Celery I generally grow the Trenching Varieties. I feel that when grown conventionally SB Celery has quite a few layers of stalks removed before it is offered for sale. As for the toughness of the inner stalks that I regret I cannot explain.
JB.

My outers are all brown, while the inner stalks have achieved a new leae of life. I am sure I didn't water enough when I should have done during dry spells; I relied too much on the mulch I had put on top. I think I should have taken it off when I had time to water and watered more.

mike

Hi everyone,
I"ll probably upset a few folk by asking the question:- is it worthwhile growing celery?
T.V.celebrity gardeners? I seem to remember, a couple of years ago voted in a poll that celery was better value when bought from a greengrocers,based on the amount of time devoted to looking after the crop. peas were also on the list.
I grow peas in my allotment;never tried celery.

Hi Snooky,
What you have to determine before you think of taking growing advice from these people is, are TV celebrity gardeners proper gardeners? You will find that most of them are not. They present their programmes and then somebody else does the work.They read their scripts from auto-cues just out of camera view.
To grow celery is worthwhile if you want to eat a lot of it or you use a lot in cooking it is certainly better flavoured than what the supermarket can provide.
I favour the trenching varieties although I admit to not growing any for some years now. Now that is proper Celery! I have had some super successes over the years and had celery for a very long period throughout the year. I am not quite sure how long self blanching varieties will stand before they deteriorate.
JB.

Snooky hi,
Having a lottie gives one the opportunity to try things, especially things like trench celery. I'm just glad I don't have to justify the time I spent on cosseting the little seedlings, then the trench itself.
I am down to two plants in their cardboard collars following a rash of bolting so goodness knows how much 'value' in man hours spent they represent.
Its irrelevant. I have enjoyed the challenge, I hope to enjoy the taste too come Christmas, in the meanwhile I harvest Celeriac my 'banker'.

I grow three types of Veg; my certainties, my flavour favourites and something different - new/odd/challenging! Its my hobby after all.

Morning WigBag, how very well put.
Most of us just do gardening for the sheer pleasure of it, and apart from our time it costs nothing if you take into account what we produce, and theres not many hobbies you can say that about.

Hi WigBag,
Do you know that in all my years of growing celery I have never had any bolt on me. Celery is after all a biennial so somewhere along the line you have managed to fool the plant into being it's second year. It is such a shame that you only have two plants left after all your labours.
I always used to grow in a double trench with two row of plants and to take out a double trench is not that much more work than a single trench. Having got the basic trench the second half comes out very easily
On really hot days we used to cover with newspaper and always make sure that the surface was moist.
Certainly the word cosseting is very apt because it needs a bit of nursing but generally it is very well worth it.
Please do not give up and try again next year. It was a most peculiar growing season this year.
Half way through the season we had some very cold night periods and that is what could have triggered the bolting.
Best of luck with whatever you decide.
JB.

Hi everyone,
Having tried self blanching celery in the past and finding it not very palatable I now grow celeriac which has all the flavour of celery and much easier. It is always worth a try and the more variety of veg we can grow the more likely we are to have successes whatever the weather!
REgards
Hilary

Hi Hilary,
I think that Celeriac will give you the wonderful root, which you also get from Trenching Celery.
I admit to being a little old fashioned but my Sunday supper normally consists of sticks of Celery and a selection of cheeses and crackers. Now with Celeriac you only get the bulbous root which is wonderful in stews and casseroles but you miss out on the sticks.
I have also really enjoyed Celeriac Chips.
So trenching celery may be a labour of love but I strongly recommend it to you. When you sit down to eat your first taste you will be filled with pride.
Sincerely,
JB.

I grew SB celery this year, never grown it before and I am disappointed with the taste, and not many stalks that are edible, they also got brown speckles some of the leaves which I could not explain but also my cabbages have brown speckles on them.

But my next door neighbour on the plot has only taken over recently and has sprayed his plot for weeds, I wonder if it was spray blown over on to my beds.