Celery growth stages

Celery is a soft vegetable, whose leaves have long slender stems. The stems, leaves, or hypocotyl are edible, depending on where you grow. Celery seed is also used as a spice and is used as an herbal medicine. Celery is grown in spring or autumn, and is a long-season vegetable. Growing celery in containers is easy when you provide the right environment. This article gives you complete information on growing celery in containers. Celery is native to the Mediterranean and has grown well in areas with mild summers and mild winters.

Celery is a biennial plant, and it takes two years to complete its life cycle. Celery leaves are pinnate and bipinnate, and its rhombic leaves are 3 to 6 cm long and 2 to 3 cm wide. The flowers of the plant will be cream-white in colour, 2-3mm in diameter and with tightly packed umbels. The seeds of celery plants are ovoid to globose, 2 mm long and wide. The stem of the celery plant is separated into strings, these strings are bundles of angular collenchyma cells.

Propagation

Celery is most often propagated by seed and is widely available in nurseries. For a fun indoor project with kids, you can also propagate celery from store-bought stems. Either way, choose certified organic whenever possible as conventional celery often contains high amounts of pesticide residues.

If you want to grow celery from seed, you’ll need to start early. Otherwise, I recommend buying quality seedlings from a nursery or garden store when you’re ready to plant. The seeds are very small and can be difficult to plant, so transplanting is recommended for beginners. However, seeding yourself is cheaper and offers a wider selection of varieties.

Transplanting Celery Outside

I have transplanted some of my regrown celery plants outside. Some didn’t make it, but some grew into full size celery plants! This is how I do it.

If all goes well, these plants will grow into full size celery plants like these I grew a few years ago.

Types of Celery

Celery cultivars include traditional green stalks and so-called self-planting golden stalks. Green varieties have green leaves and stems. Golden-yellow varieties have white stalks and yellow-green leaves.

The traditional green stem cultivars are usually bright green with a stronger flavor and higher vitamin content than self-blanching varieties. For years it was common to blanch green stalked celery varieties by covering the stalks with paper to keep the sunlight from turning green. Blanching green celery is mostly not practiced anymore.

Sunlight

Sunlight is essential when growing mulch vegetables such as celery.

It does not require additional sunlight.