[Kevin_000]

Hi
I am growing self blanching celery (Loretta) for the first time this year. I seems to be doing very well excepting that the 'stalks' are very thin - just 1 - 1.5 cm across.

Is this normal?

Is there a problem here?

And, would it help if I tied them up into bunches with garden twine?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

[snow white]

They do look very different to the other celery.  Can't help you with any advise though.  I have tried both and realised that I was just growing them for the slugs no matter how many pellets i put down.

[Salmo]

Keep on watering, watering, watering, but try to water the soil and not the heart of the plants.

They will grow a lot in the next few weeks and the stems at the centre will be tender. There seems to be a lot of waste outside leaves. Mostly I have found it difficult to produce much that is edible raw, but it is fine for cooking.

Their peak will probably be the end of September. You must finish them before the first sharp frost.

Oh yes, they do like plenty of water.

[Kevin_000]

Hi
Thanks for coming back.

Yes, they are in a deep bed with ++ gritty sandy soil,  though I've been adding horse muck an compost it's still prone to better than wanted drainage.

I read you post with great care.  I think you are implying I should water them

I really appreciate you coming back with this advice

Water? I shall drown the little *.

And then I will ask Snow White about slugs - dang!

(Thanks SW)

Cheers

Kevin

[Nobbie]

Don't forget to water them 

I found that it bulked up a lot in the last couple of months, but I was giving it a good soaking with buckets of water every time I visited the allotment. I'm on clay, but it's amazing how much water you can throw on without ever getting the soil very wet as it gets sucked up in no time.

I gave up in the end as there were too many slugs and worms getting into the hearts and ruining the quality.

[snow white]

Especially when you can buy a bunch for 49p.  Not worth the effort. 

[Nobbie]

Especially when you can buy a bunch for 49p.  Not worth the effort. 

Yes, that was the clincher for me, it's not like you can say the taste of home grown is amazingly different. A lot of effort for little real return as I'm not a big consumer of celery.