Celery -A Most Difficult Vegetable

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Celery -A Most Difficult Vegetable

If your ground will grow good cauliflowers it will grow good celery. You must have your ground in good heart and this means plenty of manure worked in when digging in late autumn with the ground left as rough as possible so the winter elements can work on it. I sow on four different dates, 15th February, end of February, 15th March and end of March. The last sowing gives me sticks for my last show in the second week of November

I spread the sowing dates as I find that the older the plants get the more susceptible to heart rot they become.

Seed is sown in small containers of peat based seed compost and not covered with compost at all. These are put in a polythene bag and left in the light. After germination the small plants are pricked out into drinking cups of peat based potting compost and left to grow away steadily. When the roots reach the bottom of the pots they are potted on into five-inch pots of the same compost. When the roots have filled these pots they are planted out. After about three weeks the plants are papered with nine inches of brown paper to start to draw the stalks. Inspect the plants for slugs every week and remove any split stalks and sucker growth. The brown paper is sometimes up to the foliage but I will loose these stalks later and at least the plants will begin to draw. The paper is not tight around the plants and so does not restrict growth. Repeat the process, using longer paper, as the plants grow. A regular spraying programme must be used to combat pests and the soil must be kept moist as growth proceeds. I also spray with a small hand sprayer containing very dilute calcium nitrate, about a quarter teaspoon per litre, which helps to deter brown heart rot.

Papering is continued as the plants grow but is now kept below the leafy part of the stalk. A cane is placed alongside and a tie placed around the plant and the cane. I like my plants to finish up between four and five feet tall and a cane is required to keep them upright in strong winds.

A constant watch is kept for sucker growths and split stalks which must be removed. As you do this you will be able to tell the best plants and to save you unwrapping more than required at show time place some sort of marker on the cane, I use coloured ribbon. Celery should be lifted as close as possible to the show and I lift by inserting a spade on all four sides, tying the tops loosely together lifting and then carrying the plants to a bench.

The roots are pared down but a little is left to work on when staging. The plant is unwrapped and a hosepipe used to remove debris from inside the stems. Bad or cracked stalks are removed, but if possible leave one or two on and remove these when staging. A wet flannel cloth is useful to wipe down the outside of the plants and at the last possible moment the base is trimmed to the shape you require. It is surprising how quickly the root base turns brown. Stage-and remember uniformity.

I consider that celery is the most difficult vegetable to grow, requiring constant attention.

The judge will be looking for heavy, well blanched heads with no sign of heart rot or of a seed head rising in the centre, no pest damage or split stalks and, of course, uniformity.

This article originally appeared in the Members Bulletin, the journal of the National Vegetable Society, which is sent quarterly to members. You can Join the National Vegetable Society here

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