Growing celery is not the easiest feat to tackle. It is quite a persnickety vegetable to grow, but these growing tips will hopefully make it a little easier to keep celery that is crisp and tasty in your fridge all season long.
Don’t Under Water
Celery likes a lot of water and is very sensitive to drought. It will not tolerate under watering and needs consistent and constant moisture in the soil around it. If celery gets too dry, the taste will become bitter. You may even have to set a reminder for yourself in order to remember to water it, especially during the hottest days of summer. To help your plant retain moisture, you can also spread mulch on the surface of the soil.
Feed It
Celery plants also need a lot of fertilizer to grow big and thick. You will need to feed your celery plant at least once every one and half to two weeks. Celery tolerates soggy soil better than most plants, so it is acceptable to use liquid fertilizer every two weeks to keep it growing bigger.
Keep It Shady
If there’s one plant that cannot tolerate heat, it’s celery. Keep celery cool and in the shade to keep it happy. If your celery gets too hot or too much sun, you will end up eating stringy, tough celery stalks instead of moist, crisp ribs. You will know if your celery is getting too much sun by monitoring its color- too green means too much sun.
Be Patient
This finicky vegetable likes to take its time. Be patient while growing celery because it can take up to five long months of cool, shady surroundings for your vegetable to reach its full size. If you want to ensure your celery does well and grows large, start the seeds indoors to make sure they get a good start before the summer heat strikes.
Ward Off Pests
Celery loves cooler temperatures, but so do slugs and snails. Slugs and snails also love to eat celery, so you’ll have to ward these slimy pests off if you want to be able to eat the veggies you’ve worked so hard to cultivate. If you spot any pests on the celery plant, remove them. Then, spread lime or ash around the plant to make a protective boundary to keep slugs and snails away in the future.
