[rowlandwells]

looking through the seed catalogue i am thinking about growing some celery next year  self blanching seems the best option i know gardeners would  grow trench celery as i remember the old gardeners called it dirty celery because it still had the dirt on it thats what we called it round here  i believe the variety was pink in colour

there seemed a lot of work in growing celery the old traditional way digging a trench put muck in the bottom of the trench back fill the bottom with a layer of dirt set the celery plants in the trench and as the celery grows rap newspaper round the stalks and mold up with soil then cut as required

i never had any luck with growing celeriac this  year but i'me not going to give up i must be doing something wrong i need to have another go i just to decide self blanching or the old traditional growing 

[solway cropper]

I would say give it a go, you have nowt to lose.

I've grown self-blanching for the last four years, both in the ground and in deep containers and with reasonable success. The young stalks are generally fine but as they get older they seem to get more stringy which is OK as I just put them through the blender and use in soup.

Celery is a water plant and really must be kept damp at all times. This is a problem with container growing unless you have a good layer of water retentive material in the mix. I would say MPC is no use as it dries out very quickly. I did try blanching by putting 6 inch collars of plastic drainpipe over some plants but it made little difference to the final result.

[Salmo]

SC is right about water being essential to sucess. I grow self blanching.

You need to start the seed in March but not set out the plants in the bed until frosts are over when they will have5/6 leaves. Plant them about 8 inches apart each way in a block which will help them to blanch.

You should have plants to cut from mid-August and through September into October. Once the first frosts arrive they will stop growing and get tough. Eventually a hard frost will catch the leaves.

[compostqueen]

I never liked celery til I grew it myself. I grow the self-blanching stuff too. It's easy    I grow celeriac too, which is more tricky but is well worth the effort as it's so delicious

[Rangerkris]

I have some seedlings coming through, don't really know where to go next with them hahahha im about to pot some on and let them grow away in the greenhouse.

[Trillium]

The pink variety you refer to rowland is 'red' celery, and a fellow I knew grew it last year. In the end he said it wasn't so nice to eat but gave great flavour to soups, etc.

For all celery you need to know that it's a bog type plant - needs lots of water during its growing season - hence the trenching, etc. You don't necessarily need to trench provided you  loosen the root area soil well and keep it well and regularly watered (mulch helps a lot). And many are self blanching, otherwise make some sort of blanch out of cardboard tubes or wrappers you can wrap around the growing stalks, etc.

[Rangerkris]

Thanks Trillium  i think i will try this at home and work as i get there more than the plot and ccan keep watered well.

[rowlandwells]

hello all taking your advise going to have another try growing  Victoria [Kings] this season fingers crossed 

thanks RW

[compostqueen]

I grow Victoria and it's self-blanching so no trouble at all.