Growing Celery

We made lasagna tonight.  I've been making our own sauce.  A can of tomatoes, onion, garlic and lots of herbs and peppers from the garden.  I always grab a few stalks of celery to dice and saute with the onion and garlic.

This is a celery plant from last fall.  This is Geant Dore Ameliore Celery from Baker Creek.    None of the celery I planted last fall reached much of a 'big' stalk size.  And the celery plants out in the full sun area kicked the bucket in late July.

This plant is in the back garden in a spot that is fairly protected from noon time sun.  Plus, the squash leaves growing around it help keep the plant cooled I'm sure.

The celery really isn't good for fresh eating.  Saute it with some onion and garlic though and you get a nice dash of celery flavor.

This year I started celery earlier.  The first batch was started the first week of August.  Some in a flat under lights and some on the front porch.  The front porch didn't survive.  About two weeks ago, I potted up one of the cells and put it out with the other juveniles.  It didn't survive.

The other two rows in this cell tray had cole crops that are already planted out in the garden.  Celery grows very slow.  I've since sowed more celery seed in this tray.  As you can see, it hasn't germinated yet.  Slow ....  Under lights is Tall Utah 52/70 Improved Celery.

Celery likes damp soil.  Not soggy, just damp.  It doesn't take well to drying out, and suffers a bit from direct intense sun.  I'll be growing celery in the back garden as well in a spot in the new South Garden on a dime.  I'm hoping to get more and earlier celery this year so that I can package and freeze many small serving sizes.

I'll also be growing leaf celery again.  It grew as an annual for me, didn't handle our summer heat/rain/bug conditions.  Leaf celery grows much faster than stalk celery.  Only the leaves are used, and they are primarily a pot herb.  Though I would add a few new leaves to mixed salad greens.  It will probably be a good idea to add a few leaf celery in each of my freezer bags of celery.  Fresh leaf celery tends to be stronger flavor than stalk celery leaves.

I think celery has earned a long term spot under my lights.

UF/IFAS says to plant celery out August through February in Central Florida.  Based on observations thus far, I believe I will wait for the extreme heat and bug population to decline a bit before I plant it out.

According to the Tall Utah seed pack, in hot climates seed should be started indoors under lights three to four months before planting out!  Eeek!  If I'm shooting for a November 1 plant out date, then I should have started seed July 1?  Last fall's celery seed was started the first of November.  Hmm, wonder if this year will get a bit bigger?  When this latest round of monsoons stops, I think I will divide and pot up these baby celery plants.  And give them a home on the front porch.  Maybe I should prep one for an earthbox - celery just might like growing in an earthbox.

Actually, one thing I've got a lot of is shade.  Maybe I should plant the whole row in the back with celery.  It grows so slow I could interplant with other fast growing plants - such as radish or lettuce. 

Hmmm .....

Now if it would just stop with the dang blasted monsoon so I can get on with the fall garden