Derald wrote:

Nyssa wrote:

I wish you luck with the celery.
Truth told, I am more hopeful than optimistic. Celery,
though, is a significant wintertime commercial crop down
around Lake Okechobee in south FL.

I grew beautiful, plump and juicy celery in Michigan, but
my attempts in SE VA were a bust. Too stringy and thin
stalks. Between the long growing span of celery and the
heat here, celery wasn't happy and the results weren't
worth the effort and garden space.

I know the feeling.... I have family in Newport News and
in
Gloucester and their gardens always do well. Of course, I
have no clue
whether any of them ever has grown celery. Perhaps you
can adjust
planting dates? Follow the locals' lead. Down here in
FL, northerners often have difficulty adjusting to seasons
that are out of phase with
those to which they'd been accustomed: Autumn, is the
start of the season for very many vegetables, including
celery, and fall-winter is the only time one has any hope
of growing lettuce, "English" peas, potatoes, etc.
My approach is to grow the most of what we eat the most
and DW
makes a mirepoix for pretty near every protein, it seems.
Today's supermarket prices put celery on the list.

Since celery usually takes around 120 days to maturity, by
the time I'd get the seedlings planted out into the garden,
there simply wasn't enough time of cool weather for good
development of tender, juicy stalks. The heat makes the
celery stringy and the stalks small.

I'm about 60 miles west of your Gloucester folks.


Nyssa, who can't grow half of what she uses because it
won't grow here or the voles get it
No voles here but I've seen the little boogers in
operation. We do have moles, though, which do not eat the
roots but tunnel among them causing damage from exposure.

Yep, the voles around here LOVE onions, carrots, potatoes...
anything with roots. Nothing like going out into the garden
and seeing just the green top of an onion sticking out of
an empty hole. Or pulling what you hope with be a big
carrot and finding someone else has already taken a bite
out of the side. sigh

Nyssa, who still hasn't ordered her seeds yet