This vegetable plant is very popular among amateur agronomists, so that planting celery in a cottage area will never lose its relevance. The beauty of the plant is its spicy aromatic properties and great health benefits. It is used mostly fresh, although root celery is also mentioned in recipes with heat treatment during cooking. So, how to grow celery on your site?
How to plant celery?
In total, there are three types of celery in culture: root, cherezkovy and leafy. Depending on this, planting celery into the open ground is somewhat different. So, root celery is grown only through seedlings, while leaf and celery can be sown immediately to the garden. However, if you plant a leafy species in seedlings, you can already have a fresh, fragrant greens on the window sill in the early spring.
How to plant a celery seed?
More often than other species, celery root is cultivated. It is very well kept, so many grow it to provide itself with vitamin root crops for the winter. To do this, it is necessary to start growing seedlings from early spring. How to plant a celery seed:
- In the middle or late February, in extreme cases - in early March, you need to start the preparatory work, which is to find boxes and substrates. Boxes can be used any. As a primer for celery, there is a mixture of turf and humus in equal parts. For a couple of days before planting the seeds, it must be decontaminated by watering with boiling water.
- Planting celery should begin with the processing of seeds. More details about their preparation will be discussed below.
- Prepared seeds should be sown in the moistened soil, a breakthrough in the grooves of the furrow depth of about 1 cm. The distance between the seeds should be 4-5 cm. From above, they can not be covered with earth - so they will ascend faster.
- The container with celery seeds is covered with a film or glass and stored in a room with a temperature of +24 ... 25 ° С. After the appearance of the first shoots, the temperature is reduced to + 16 ° C.
- For obtaining quality seedlings, it is better to provide additional lighting in advance.
- After 25 days after planting, when there are already 2-3 real leaves on the seedlings, a picking is carried out in separate pots with a pinching of the root by a third. This is necessary for the normal development of the root and obtaining a high quality rhizome in the future.
How to properly process celery seeds before planting?
Since seeds can not be raised for a long time without preparation, their preliminary preparation is practiced. How to soak the seeds of celery before planting: for this you can use a wet gauze. First, the seeds in a gauze pouch are placed under a stream of hot water for a few minutes, and after - they put them in warm water for three days. For disinfection, you can first place the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate for several hours. After soaking, the seeds are dried on paper and then used for sowing.
How to plant a celery root?
Planting of root celery has some features:
- that planting and care in the open ground for celery was successful, it is better to choose early-ripening varieties, then their root crops will have time to ripen;
- This type of celery requires more space than the leaf or cherezkova, because the planting scheme is wider;
- the best predecessors for root celery - cucumbers and cabbage, for which large doses of organic matter were introduced;
- It is never necessary to soil the root celery; on the contrary, it is usually denuded for better maturation.
Planting celery seedlings into the open ground
Celery planting in the open ground is made in a previously prepared bed with loose and fertile soil, which has been prepared since autumn. In order for celery to develop subordinate roots, you do not need to deeply soil seedlings and in no case can you fill the ground with a growing point. This applies to all types of plants, not just the root. In the garden, grooves are made and planted in them, accompanying the process with abundant watering.
Where to plant celery?
It is also important where it is better to plant celery. The choice of the place will depend on the success of the event as a whole. For this plant, it is best to choose a site with direct sunlight or light shading and without drafts. In the partial shade the foliage will be more fragrant. Without fail, the soil fertility in the selected area should be increased by applying rotted compost and phosphoric fertilizing of 7 and 10 kg per square meter. Do this from the fall.
If the acidity of the soil is increased, make it neutral (like a celery), you can add lime together with fertilizers. In the spring, when digging into the beds, nitrogen, potassium and manganese fertilizers are additionally added in the calculation of 4, 5 and 2 g per square meter. Planting celery into the place prepared in this way will give the best results.
How far to plant a celery?
The distance between the celery when planting should be approximately the following: 30 cm between plants and 40 cm between rows, if it is a question of the root species of the plant. Celery and leaf celery can be planted closer - at a distance of about 15-25 cm, because they do not need much space, as root. If there are a lot of seedlings, you can plant it thicker, and as you grow, remove the weakest shoots, thinning the beds. Ultimately, the distance between the plants should be 15-20 cm for celery and leaf celery and 25-40 for the root.
Celery - planting time
You do not need to hurry to plant the seedlings of the root celery on the beds. Especially if there is a risk of a night cold snap. It is better to wait for the middle or end of May. Planting celery in the spring in the open ground should be done on a cloudy day, best of all - in the morning. Dry warm weather after planting should last for a week - this will give the best results on the survival of seedlings in a new place.
How to plant celery - features of planting different species
Any celery, planting and care in the open ground, which is carried out according to the basic requirements, is preferably grown by seedling method. The root variety of the vegetable can not be grown in any other way, whereas leaf and petiolate in some cases give a good result even when the seeds are sown directly into the open ground.
Planting leaf celery into the open ground
The best varieties of leaf celery:
- early-ripening variety "Kartuli" - has increased resistance to drought and cold, has excellent taste qualities;
- middle-ripening "Zakhar", "Samurai" - are distinguished by high yield and pleasant intense aroma.
If you want to first try to grow celery greens, you better know in advance how to properly plant celery leaf. Seeds can be sown directly into the open ground. However, this method is not quite successful, because at the beginning of development seedlings grow very weakly and slowly. Therefore, a seedling method of cultivation is more often practiced. Seeds, as in the case of root celery, must undergo a preparation stage - soaking in a warm moistened gauze for several days.
The prepared seeds are shallowly embedded in the soil mixture in the first days of March, the seed containers are covered with a film and provide a stable temperature regime of + 20 ° C for them. After emergence, the temperature is reduced to + 15 ° C. In order for the seedlings to develop well and to be strong at the time of its transfer to the open ground, it needs additional illumination and regular watering. At the stage of two real leaves, the seedlings are dived into individual pots, pinching the spine. In open ground, the plant can be planted in April-May, observing the scheme of 25x25 cm.
Planting celery celery into the open ground
The best varieties of stalked celery:
- early varieties "Pascal", "Golden, Malachite";
- medium-ripening "Tango" - high-yielding, long-retaining marketable appearance, has good taste qualities;
- The late Triumph variety is cultivated on open and protected ground.
The cultivation and planting of petioled celery does not differ from the cultivation of leafy or root species of plants. Differences begin at the stage of transplanting the seedlings into the open ground. Firstly, the petioled celery is planted deeper than the planting of the root celery into the open ground. The depth of planting is about 10 cm. Later, when the petioles begin to thicken and form, they are hilled or wrapped with paper. So they get rid of bitterness and make it more tender and juicy. This method is called whitening of petioles.
With what to plant a celery in a single garden?
The interaction of growing crops is often positive. So, celery with its scent repels many pests of other plants. In this case, he himself in the neighborhood with them grows even more fragrant. So, with what crops can plant leaf celery:
- beans;
- cabbage;
- bow;
- tomato;
- cucumber.
Planting cabbage with celery
The mixed planting of celery and cauliflower, as well as white cabbage, gives an excellent result. The scent of celery repels butterfly-whitewood and earthen fleas, and cabbage accelerates the development of celery. It is only necessary to choose early maturing varieties of cabbage or plant them at a distance that will allow each plant to receive its share of light. Otherwise, the planting of celery will be covered with cabbage leaves, and it will not have time to form normally.
Can I plant celery next to tomatoes?
Tomatoes and celery feel very good in the neighborhood. If you do not know what to plant next to the celery, boldly plant them in the vicinity of the tomato seedlings. In general, tomatoes get along with a small number of other plants, because of what they consider selfish, but with celery "friendship" they have fruitful: celery has a beneficial effect on tomatoes, scaring off pests, tomatoes also provide them with an ideal level of shading, so that celery develops very harmonious.