Thread: splayed celery
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Old 16-06-2007, 06:32 AM posted to aus.gardens
John Savage John Savage is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
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Default splayed celery

"0tterbot" writes:
i put in some celery a while ago (which has proved to be one of the easiest
things i've ever grown - highly recommended!) however, i rather assumed
celery grows up tall like they look in the shops g, but mine is all
splayed out.


Congratulations, celery is fun to grow. There is no need to try and get it
like the stuff you see in the shops. Feed it well and give it plenty of
water and you can just keep picking off a few sticks every day while it's
young and tender and still small and you will have fresh celery for a whole
year off those plants. The young really green stalks have a lot more flavour
than the bland stuff from the supermarket. Keep breaking the older stalks
off so that new ones keep appearing. Nurse them through winter and they'll
be good for another year! New plants ('pups') will appear on the side and
you can break these off when they reach advanced seedling size and have
developed a good root system and plant them instead of buying new seedlings
from the store. You need never buy another celery seedling again!

I'd say celery is 4th on the list of most satisfying food plants to grow,
next only to tomatoes, spuds, and zucchini.

so i'm not sure what to do next, or if it's all actually fine & i don't need
to do anything.


Just do nothing more and enjoy it, particularly in winter stews and as a
steamed green with white sauce.

Have you tried eating the young leaves, too? If not too strongly flavoured
for your liking, cut them up as a salad green.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)