Celery leaf delicate

Apium graveolens - Smooth

Celery originates from the Mediterranean. It is grown in three forms - celeriac for thickened roots, stalk celery for thickened leaf stalks, or as a leaf form for abundant leaf rosette.

This biennial plant comes from the Apiaceae family. The fruits, like the entire plant, contain many aromatic substances. Celery is a source of vitamins, especially vitamin C (the leaf form contains up to 10× more vitamin C than bulbs), as well as B1, B2 and a whole range of minerals. Its strong aroma and taste come from essential oils.

In the kitchen, it is used for both cold and hot dishes, suitable for salads and soups. Many people find its essential oils troublesome and they cause allergies - legislation therefore lists it as an allergenic plant.

We consume stalk celery raw, in salads, or we can snack on it with meat. It provides the most benefit to our body as juice for breakfast. Leaf celery is used to make salads, the stalks are consumed cooked, and raw juice is pressed from it.

How to Grow Celery

• Celery likes sunny locations; conversely, it grows poorly in shade, then lacks aroma and can be more easily attacked by fungal diseases. Throughout its growth period, it needs sufficient watering. Watering is important during planting and in the second half of the growing season when the bulb is developing. Celeriac needs to be hoed regularly.

• The long growing season can be shortened by pre-cultivation. Seedlings don't need to be grown in a heated room. For pre-cultivation until planting time, a greenhouse or conservatory is suitable. February or March sowing applies to celeriac, leaf and stalk celery. We don't plant celery earlier than mid-May at the final location.

  Celeriac requires pre-cultivation of seedlings under glass. The ideal time for planting is early May, at the latest mid-June.

  For stalk celery, we sow seeds in a greenhouse or cold frame. Planting is done in May in beds, at a spacing of 30×30 cm. During growth, we earth up the stalks with soil so they blanch.

  We sow leaf celery in February in a greenhouse or cold frame and plant out in May.

  Seeds germinate in two to three weeks at temperatures between fifteen and twenty degrees.

• It is demanding in terms of nutrients and calcium content in the soil. It requires loamy, humus-rich soils. Leaf and stalk celery need more sandy-loam soil. Optimal pH is 6.5 – 7.5.

• During the growing season, we apply multi-component fertilizer. Root vegetable fertilizer is suitable.

• Among pests, celery is mainly attacked by carrot fly and celery fly. We treat celery with Basudin (carrot fly) and Sumithion Super (celery fly) preparations.

  Septoria leaf spot of celery appears on celery leaf blades, where small gray-brown spots with yellow margins and a large number of very small black dots appear. The centers of the spots later turn brown and dry out.

  Scab of celery bulbs manifests as brown spots that enlarge. Affected tissue becomes corky and cracks. This is followed by putrefactive decay of the bulb. We prevent the disease by not growing celery on the same plot for at least 3 years. Partial protection is the use of borax at a dose of about 20g per 10m2.

  Celery leaf spot appears on older leaves as yellowish, later yellow-brown spots. Leaves dry out and die. We carry out preventive protection with Kuprikol.

• Smaller celery bulbs can be harvested in July. Celery leaves are harvested by thinning, so that sufficient leaf area remains.

  Leaf celery begins to be harvested gradually from July, and only at the end of September do we carry out a one-time harvest.