I easily recall my dad taking a stick of celery from a glass mug, half-full of water, and stringing it with a sharp knife to get rid of all the outside skin.
As we only ever chop celery into pieces about an eighth of an inch long nowadays (for soup, Waldorf salad etc), the problem never seems relevant anymore!
I reckon it's far too much work to grow your own these days, it takes so much effort for what is just a few pence, even though that really isn't the ethic we strive for here...