7/17/22 Celery Project

[lynnee]

Burpee celery seeds (Tall Utah on left, Tango Hybrid on right) are planted in Harvest Elite. Once they germinate, they'll go into a vacant Farm Plus deck.  

[Sher]

This will be an exciting project to follow. I have not seen anyone else grow celery stalks in an AG.

[lynnee]

Just now, I found a celery thread in an inactive garden. The experiment didn't end well, but the photos are interesting.

My celery seeds have germinated. They're still too small to thin; when I tried, I pulled up many more than I wanted to. It's best to thin celery with scissors.

Right now, the sprouts look dry. They may benefit from having the pump run constantly. Because the Harvest doesn't let you set the pump timing, I'll move the pods later today to a vacant Farm XL, even though it will use a lot of electricity for seedlings.

I've learned that celery requires a lot of water, and that it is sensitive to variations in its water supply. The Farm XL has an Aerovoir, so that should make the celery easy to maintain.

[Shawn]

Wishing success for this project

[darais211]

curious what your end results will be! keep us posted!!!

one thing you could add to help with the thinness of the stalks is silica

[lynnee]

The celery is growing very slowly, but that's what I expected. I actually wanted a project that would take a long time, because I'm busy with non-AG stuff for a few more months. I'll post a photo soon.

Today I thinned the pods to one plant per pod and ate the leaves from the discards. They were delicious!

[Shawn]

I am glad they are growing and tasted good.

[lynnee]

The roots of the celery seedling at the lower right had its roots disturbed some time ago when I was transferring it from a Harvest seed starter to the Farm XL. It still hasn't caught up to the others, so I think that celery is fussy about transplanting.

[lynnee]

One of my celery plants (Tango on lower right) didn't make it. The others are slender but growing okay despite total neglect and a heat wave.



When growing celery, the stalks may need to be wrapped to protect them from too much sunlight, which makes the stalks bitter. Wrapping also keeps the stalks from spreading.

This morning I was in a hurry after an R&R, so I just fashioned some collars out of painters' tape to address the spreading. The tape is turned back on itself so that none of the adhesive touches the plants.

[lynnee]

Here are some good links to info about growing celery.

The long version:
www.almanac.com/plant/celery

The short version:
www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/celery/tips-on-how-to-grow-celery.htm

Contains photo of celery wrapped for blanching:
www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/celery/learn-about-blanching-celery-in-the-garden.htm

Long guide for growing celery hydroponically:
hydrobuilder.com/learn/hydroponic-celery/

[Shawn]

Sept 12, 2022 18:08:55 GMT -5 lynnee said:

Here are some good links to info about growing celery.

The long version:
www.almanac.com/plant/celery

The short version:
www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/celery/tips-on-how-to-grow-celery.htm

Contains photo of celery wrapped for blanching:
www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/celery/learn-about-blanching-celery-in-the-garden.htm

Long guide for growing celery hydroponically:
hydrobuilder.com/learn/hydroponic-celery/

Great info.  I will cross post it in the Veggie section

[lynnee]

Day 70 Ended the Celery Project on 9/25/22, because I've learned what I can from this particular garden. Clearly, celery plants grow much faster in an Aerogarden than they do outdoors!

All three celery plants produced crisp celery with very slender stalks (as compared to retail celery stalks). Next time I'll put collars around the plants as soon as possible, to make sure that they put all their energy into growing strong, broad stalks. I'll probably try the supplement that darais211 suggested, too.

The Utah celery plants taste just like retail celery, but they are rather tough to chew. The Tango celery was tough and very bitter, so I discarded it. That one needs some adjustment in nutrients, and perhaps an earlier harvest.

Definitely I'll be growing celery again. As with lettuce, the truly fresh celery tastes better than the celery that you buy in grocery stores!




Utahs on left, Tango on right:



Utahs on right, Tango on left:

[Shawn]

OMG, Real Celery!!!!!  I LOVE IT!!!

[scarfguy]

Thanks lynnee !    I learned a lot from your celery venture!

[darais211]

Looks really yummy! good job!