Growing celery?

Ive tried checking the plant files but I cant seem to find anything about garden variety celery, you know the kind you put peanut butter on
I bought a big celery root at the grocery store, its already showing growth and now I have no idea what exactly I need to do, anyone grow it that can help me? I figured, no problem Ill check the PF and that will give me a big start, LOL. So for starters...

What are the zones for growing celery outside
How deep are you supposed to plant it
Is it a full sun plant like I believe it is or no
water...keep moist or dry
fertilizer?

Any help to make this as much fun as I was hoping would be wonderful, even if I need to keep it in a pot in the house.

Janet

Its been in a pot for two days now and is already showing lots of new growth, mostly on top but its also showing new growth on the side of the root, like an offset. I had no idea I would see growth this fast, pretty cool.
Anybody have a clue as to the type/name of the celery most sold in stores?

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54538/index.html
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54538/index.html
The first link will give explicit conditions and the names of popular commercial cultivars (the one that you buy in the grocery stores) The second is pertinent for home gardeners but not as much info. Hopefully you have one of the self blanching cultivars. The older cultivars like giant Pascal had to be blanched for best eating qualities. I don't grow celery, as a matter of fact it won't grow here. Hopefully somone who does, can share thier experiences with you.

Thanks for the info Farmerdill, but um both of those links took me to the tomatoe "tumbler". Looks like a good one for me to try tho. LOL

Sorry, I was taking a break from transplanting broccoli and did not check to see if I copied before pasting. Try
http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/NWREC/celery.html
and
http://www.gardenersnet.com/vegetable/celery.htm

You might also be intersted in the history of celery;
http://www.celeryresearch.com/celery%20history.htm

Now those are some really great links! Thank you so much!

No problem. Thanks for bringing it up. I'll try to update the plant files but it is getting into my planting season. I did learn a few things myself. Celery is no longer blanched. Last time I looked at growing it was in the 40's when the green celery had to be heeled into a trench and covered with dirt for a week to 10 days to get rid of the green color and strong flavor. That kind of work, plus the water and soil requirements rid me of those ideas quickly.

I dont blame you one bit, I guess I should at least start a line of pics showing the growth. Hmm I guess it'll depend on how fast it grows after this great beginning. Ill take a tape measure to it also to help me track its progress. I know even from the beginning it had a great celery smell to it, made me want to grab the peanut butter and raisins.

So here is my attempt at a start anyway. Lets see what happens from here. Ill try to keep up on this and take pics about once a week.

Dravencat,

Did you just buy the root in the regular produce section of a run-of-the-mill grocery store? Would you by any chance know the difference between a celery and a celeriac? This link will show you why I'm curious.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/488969/

Jefe



This message was edited Mar 27, 2005 11:25 AM

Jefe, I have no idea what the difference is between the two. I went to the store saw thesehuge roots(looked like oversized softballs) and thought it would be neat to try. It does have a very strong celery smell to it but as yet I havnt tasted it to see what the texture is like. This is something Im definatly going to have to try and research.
I went into this with my blinders on but figured if it didnt work out I didnt waste alot of money, just my time, and if its better to cook with thats a good thing too since I like to make my own soups rather than purchase a can of soup any day. Ill see what I can find out and if I find anything useful I post a link in your thread too.
Thanks for that question, that gives me another direction to look in my quest for growing this thing .
Janet

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/vegetables/celeriac.html
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MV043
http://www.deliaonline.com/ingredients/ingredientsatoz/i_0000000056.asp

I think Jefe's right, you do have celeriac. You might enjoy the above links.

One further note you probably have time to start seeds of regular celery if you so desire. There are not too many cultivars available to home gardeners. Tendercrisp (Shumway) or Ventura (Johnny's) take about three months from transplant to the peanut butter, cream cheese stage, Some cultivars will take 4 months.

Those were fantastic links Farmerdill, Thank you. Looks like you were busy this mornig. Those gave me much needed info. I fully believe you and Jefe are correct that I have celeriac. Ive never used this in cooking before so this should also be interesting to see how it works out for me. By those links it should be very easy to use and I think Im going to have to start some soup soon, just to test it mind you.
Thanks guys, youve been a huge help.

4 1/2 inches of rain yesterday, so this is a lazy morning.

LOL I know what you mean, it feels like its been raining forever already and its only been oh 3 days counting today, sigh, I know we need it but dang its so bleek out there.

Dravencat,

My biggest question on celeriac is the taste. I'm going to check some ethnic markets to try to find one. Some people have said they don't taste very good. Taste is such a subjective topic that I usually want to find out for myself.

Have you considered naming your celeriac "Wilson"? With the sprouts on top, he kind of looks like that ball that Tom Hanks got attached to in the movie Castaway.

Jefe

I was thinking George or Socrates. heehee

I had some male friends from the Czech Republic and they were rather surprised when I gave them a celeric root included in a box of groceries. Those fellows exchanged some significant glances between themselves when they saw it. They told me that in their country celeriac was considered a male enhancer and strengthener and was usually made into soup. I assured them I had no hidden intentions and it was an innocent mistake. ;-)
I've never had it myself, but I did try to grow celery once and failed miserably.

roseone33...... Hahaha...great story!!!!

Oh thats too funny.

So, then...um...where does one find a recipe for celeriac soup? ; )

Rhonda

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=celariac+recipes&page=1&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D7a63c7f7ffd07a04%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3Dcelariac%2Brecipes%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.cooker.com%252FRecipes%252FRecipeInfo.asp%253FRecipeID%253D963%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DnsBrowserRoll%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cooker.com%2FRecipes%2FRecipeInfo.asp%253FRecipeID%253D963
http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=celariac+recipes&page=1&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D7a63c7f7ffd07a04%26clickedItemRank%3D6%26userQuery%3Dcelariac%2Brecipes%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fquicklime.spodlife.org%252Fsandi%252Frecipes%252Fsweet%252520potato%252520and%252520celariac%252520mash.html%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DnsBrowserRoll%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fquicklime.spodlife.org%2Fsandi%2Frecipes%2Fsweet%252520potato%252520and%252520celariac%252520mash.html

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=celariac+recipes&page=2&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dd8ae7c56a8f4f59c%26clickedItemRank%3D11%26userQuery%3Dcelariac%2Brecipes%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Feverything2.com%252Findex.pl%253Fnode%253DChicken%252520Soup%26invocationType%3Dnext%26fromPage%3DNSCPNextPrev%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Feverything2.com%2Findex.pl%253Fnode%253DChicken%252520Soup
http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=celariac+recipes&page=2&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dd8ae7c56a8f4f59c%26clickedItemRank%3D15%26userQuery%3Dcelariac%2Brecipes%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.recipeland.com%252Frecipe%252F11173%252F%26invocationType%3Dnext%26fromPage%3DNSCPNextPrev%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.recipeland.com%2Frecipe%2F11173%2F

How are some of these for starters?

If those links don't work for you, try this one.
http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/celeria2.html
or
http://www.justvegetablerecipes.com/inxclc.html

Who'd a thunk that such an unknown had so many uses. Now Im glad I bought this thing plus it seems to be a pretty fast grower. I might not have cared so much in the summer but in spring when your daydreaming of green this is a great little plant. I just took this pic this morning, can you believe the growth on this thing?!

This message was edited Mar 29, 2005 8:52 AM