6. Good Organic Gardening - November-December 2016 AvxHome.in

TIME TO PLANT | Celery
- in the -
vegie patch
Crunch time
This crisp vegetable is used in
many dishes, especially in Italian
cuisine, and is great for crudités
Did you know?
Celery was found in the tomb of
Tutankhamun, which dates to
1325 BCE, and its leaf decorated
an ancient Roman coin.
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
Frequently dismissed as “rabbit” food
or food to eat to stave off hunger
pangs when you are on a diet, celery
is actually one of the healthiest of all
vegetables. It has lots of vitamins, minerals
and abundant antioxidants and is low GI
but high in fibre. It may also be useful as
an anti-inflammatory.
Celery is very versatile as it can be eaten
raw or cooked. It’s one of those vegetables
that is handy to have in the garden because
it’s the basis for so many recipes from stocks,
sauces and meat dishes to salads. A celery
stick is also a vital garnish for a bloody Mary!
Although it’s sold as a bunch (actually
one plant), it doesn’t need to be harvested
all at once from the garden. Celery can be
used gradually, picking it stick by stick.
Technically, each stick or stalk of celery is a
petiole or leaf base.
Varieties
Varieties to grow for green, crunchy celery
include ‘Green Crunch’, ‘Stringless’ and ‘Tall
Utah’. ‘Dorata D’Asti’ is a variety that has
pale-green stems on a large plant that weighs
up to 1.1kg when mature. It’s well suited to
grow to pick individual stems. ‘Red Stalk’ is an
heirloom variety with red-tinged green stems.
It grows quickly and crops early (in just
12 weeks) and can be prone to bolting. It’s
best grown with blanching as it can be bitter.
A close relative of common celery is
leaf or Chinese celery (Apium graveolens
var. secalinum), which is also known as
“smallage”. It has a looser structure and
thinner stalks than celery but has celery-like
foliage. It can be used instead of celery in
stocks or add the chopped leaves to salads
or other dishes as a garnish.
Planting and
growing
Celery is usually grown from seed planted in
spring and early summer. It can take several
weeks to germinate and is best started in a
punnet with seed-raising mix. The seed needs
to be just lightly covered for best germination
rates. If germination is slow, soak the seed
overnight before sowing.
After three or four weeks, the tiny
seedlings can be transferred into small,
individual pots to grow to a size that’s safe to
transplant into the garden.
Stagger plantings over several weeks to
prolong the harvest through summer and
autumn. In warm to hot areas, it can also be
sown in autumn and grown through winter
or in very late winter or very early spring as a
spring-to-summer crop.
40 | Good Organic Gardening