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Planting and Growing Celery

bunch of celery on the table, a stalk of celery
Image Credit:
Alfredo Maiquez/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Apium graveolens
Grown as
Biennial
USDA Zones
2a
2b
3a
3b
4a
4b
5a
5b
6a
6b
7a
7b
8a
8b
9a
9b
10a
10b
Toxicity
Non-toxic
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Partial Sun
Water Needs
High
Height
1–3 feet
Spread
Under 1 foot
Soil pH
Neutral
Special Features
Container-Friendly
Resilience
Salt Tolerant
Plant Type
Vegetables
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Celery might have a reputation for being a diva in the garden, but with a little patience and know-how, you’ll be harvesting crisp, flavorful stalks that grocery store bunches can only dream of. 

Whether you’re adding crunch to your soups or flavor to your stews, growing celery at home is totally worth it. We’ll walk you through everything you need to know—from seed to soup spoon!

Celery needs a long, relatively cool growing season to grow nice and tall (12- to 18-inch) stalks, requiring up to 140 days to come to harvest; however, some short-season varieties are available. In cooler regions, it does best planted in the early spring. In warmer areas, plan to plant in mid- to late summer.

Although celery has a reputation for being fussy to grow at home, celery always has a place in our gardens because it’s so useful in the kitchen—for stews, stir-fries, soups, and salads. Celery is considered a hardy biennial, but it’s typically grown as an annual. It’s best to start celery from seed indoors (transplants are hard to find and do not always succeed), and the plant is prone to bolting in cold weather, so it requires a little extra care, but you can succeed armed with this knowledge!

Planting

When to Plant Celery

  • Due to its need for a long growing season, it’s best to start celery seed indoors.
    • For a spring crop, start seeds 10 to 12 weeks before your last spring frost date.
    • For a fall crop, start seeds in time to transplant seedlings 10 to 12 weeks before the first fall frost date.

Where to Plant Celery

Select a planting site that receives full sun (at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight per day). Celery needs nutrient-rich soil. Loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches with a garden fork or tiller, then mix 2 to 4 inches of aged manure and/or compost into the soil, or work in some 5-10-10 fertilizer. Celery prefers soil with a pH between 5.8 and 6.8. Get a soil test if you’re not sure of your soil pH.

It’s important for celery to grow in moisture-retentive soil that doesn’t drain too quickly. Wild celery grows in boggy ground, so you’ll need to ensure consistent moisture for this thirsty vegetable, while a sunny spot should ensure good, even growth.

How to Plant Celery

Starting Seeds

  • Before sowing, soak seeds in warm water overnight. This will speed germination. The seeds are tiny, so handle them with care and a keen eye!
  • Fill seed flats or pots with good-quality seed-starting mix, then gently firm it level.
  • Press soaked seeds into seed-starting soil; to get good germination, do not cover with soil. The easiest way to sow the seeds is to carefully tap the packet above the surface of the potting mix and watch carefully as the seeds fall. Ideally, you want them to fall about an inch apart. Once you’re done, firm the seeds into place.
  • Cover starter trays/pots with plastic wrap to retain moisture. Germination should occur in about a week, but it can take up to 3 weeks; be patient.
  • Soon after seedlings appear, place a fluorescent grow light 3 inches above them for 16 hours a day (plants need dark hours, too).
  • Maintain an ambient temperature of 70° to 75°F (21° to 24°C) during the day and 60° to 65°F (15° to 18°C) at night.
  • Mist regularly.
  • When seedlings are 2 inches tall, transplant them to individual peat pots or to deeper flats with new potting soil. In flats, set the plants at least 2 inches apart.
  • Harden off seedlings before transplanting by reducing water slightly and putting them outdoors (in a sheltered spot protected from the sun) for a couple of hours each day.

Transplanting Outdoors

  • Plant celery outdoors when the soil temperature reaches at least 50°F (10°C) and nighttime temperatures don’t dip down below 40°F (4°C). (Cold weather after planting can cause bolting.)
  • Plant seedlings 8 to 10 inches apart.
  • Water thoroughly. 

Growing

To grow well, celery has three critical needs:

  1. Cool weather; celery won’t tolerate high temperatures.
  2. Constant water; stalks will be small, stringy, tough, and/or hollow if they go without water.
  3. Soil that’s rich in organic matter and—because its roots are shallow (just a few inches deep)—fertilizer applied on top of the soil.
  • Make sure to provide plenty of water during the entire growing season, especially during hot, dry weather.
  • Use row covers for the first 4 to 5 weeks in order to protect from pests.
  • When plants are 6 inches tall, mulch around them to keep the soil moist and roots cool.
  • Side-dress with compost. Comfrey pellets are great, as are coffee grounds, tickled into the soil between plants.
  • In the second and third months of growth, side-dress with 1 tablespoon of a 5-10-10 fertilizer 3 to 4 inches from each plant.
  • Keep celery weed-free, but be careful when weeding, as celery has shallow roots that could easily get disturbed.
  • Tie growing celery stalks together to keep them from sprawling.
  • Start earthing up trenching varieties once the stems reach about a foot tall, banking the soil up by about 3 inches (8 cm) each time until you can hill up no more.
  • Blanch (wrap or cover) stalks to eliminate any bitter taste and to produce pale green stalks. Use anything that will keep out light: brown bag paper or cardboard (secure with old nylon stockings, string, vegetable wires), half-gallon milk cartons (cut-out tops and bottoms), or the like. Do not cover the celery’s leaves.
Celery growing in the garden.
Photo credit: Yuris/Shutterstock.

 

Harvesting

  • Harvest celery from summer through the autumn until the first hard frosts stop growth. As a biennial, celery may overwinter in milder climates, producing occasional stems throughout the coldest months and picking up again in spring before finally stretching to flower.
  • You can harvest plants whole, but cutting or picking individual stems as required will keep plants producing over a longer period.
  • The parts of celery that are harvested are mainly the stalks, which are above ground.
  • Pick the stalks whenever you want. Young celery is as good as the mature product.
  • Harvest stalks from the outside in. You may begin harvesting when stalks are about 8 inches tall.
  • Celery can be kept in the garden for up to a month if the soil is built up around it to maintain an ideal temperature. Celery will tolerate a light frost, but not consecutive frosts.
  • Tip: The darker the stalks become, the more nutrients they will contain. Texture changes with color; dark green stalks will be tougher.

How to Store Celery

  • Keep celery in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Celery stores really well; you can keep it for many weeks with no trouble.
  • Celery stalks can be frozen. Cut the stalks into half-inch pieces and store them in freezer-grade bags.

Pests and Problems

Celery is relatively trouble-free. To control pests early on, cover the plants with garden fabric (row covers) during the first 4 to 6 weeks of the growing season.

Celery Pests and Diseases
Pest/DiseaseTypeSymptomsControl/Prevention
Carrot rust fliesInsectWilted/stunted plants; tunnels with rust-color excrement in roots of carrot-family crops; root rotMonitor adults with yellow sticky traps; use row covers; add native plants to invite beneficial insects; destroy crop residue; rotate crops
Cucumber mosaic virusVirusMay include stunting; mottled green/yellow/white pattern or ringed spots on leaves; distorted leaf growthDestroy infected plants; choose resistant varieties and certified virus-free seed; use row covers; disinfect tools; weed; control aphids (virus carriers); use mulch
EarwigsInsectMany small holes in leaves/stalksTrap in tuna can filled with ½ inch of fish oil and sunk in soil such that edge is slightly above ground level; remove plant debris and other nearby hiding places
Flea beetlesInsectNumerous tiny holes in leaves (looks like leaves were hit by a shotgun)Use row covers; mulch heavily; add native plants to invite beneficial insects
Slugs/snailsMolluskIrregular holes in leaves; slimy secretion on plants/soil; seedlings “disappear”Handpick; avoid thick bark mulch; use copper plant collars; avoid overhead watering; lay boards on soil in evening, and in morning dispose of “hiding” pests in hot, soapy water; drown in deep container filled with ½ inch of beer, or sugar water and yeast, and sunk in soil so that top edge is slightly above ground; apply 1-inch-wide strip of food-grade diatomaceous earth as barrier

Types

There are two main types of celery available:

Trenching celery needs soil mounded up against the stems as they grow to produce crisp, pale stems. To make this easier, trenching celery is typically planted into trenches, hence the name, but some gardeners aid this blanching process using cardboard tubes, pipes, or collars.

Self-blanching celery requires none of these extra steps. This makes it much easier to grow, and the stems are just as tasty!

Wit and Wisdom

  • Keep in mind that grocery store celery is lighter in color and bigger than homegrown celery because the commercial varieties are grown in greenhouses and/or protected from the sun; they may carry a lot of pesticides, too.
  • Nibbling on celery after a meal helps to clean your teeth and mouth.
  • To crisp limp celery, soak it in cold water with a few slices of potato.
  • The ancient Romans believed that celery had healing powers, especially when it came to headaches. It’s also been thought to cure a hangover, toothache, or arthritis, and serve as an aphrodisiac.
  • Bland or boring? You may be delighted to discover that celery has many benefits. See why celery is healthy and happening.

Vegetables

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening, so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana.

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Fineartmarcella</span> Tue, 02/10/2015 - 22:45
Hello, this is my 2nd yr growing celery, last yr was a continual, repeat seeding disaster, so this yr I started early, but now I have the green celery thumb and have 1 foot tall Giant Red Celery plants growing under shop lights and now, well last mth, they were at the size to plant outside, but this is the 1st of February in Kansas City!!! They are starting to sprawl out, and are getting weaker, you just can't keep them close to the light when they are a foot tall, the top is almost touching the light, but the rest is much further. So, since they have a great root system now, my thoughts were to cut them all to about 1 inch high and have them grow back, it will be time to plant in the garden in about 2 mths I'm hoping they will be much stronger by them. My question is will I kill them if I cut them totally off at 1 inch?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 02/11/2015 - 14:10

Well, congratulations on this success! ...Let's hope we can keep it going. It would appear that, while you apparently are doing everything right, in excellent conditions. You probably know that the best time to transfer outdoors is after the last frost. (See our Frosts Dates Calculator for your area http://www.almanac.com/content/frost-chart-united-states/KS/Dodge%20City It looks like you last spring frost is pbobably April 7).

Research in California suggests that topping off (trimming) the stalks about halfway will not afffect growth. (A study/report from Michigan even suggests clipping them with a mower...but we would not go that far.) Further, they were doing it in 1913, according to one report that describes a topped plant as a "stubby paintbrush."

One other bit of advice from a century ago: prepare your trenches in advance, soak the bottoms if no rain falls, and transplant on a cloudy day. Good luck!

 <span>Roerinaci</span> Thu, 11/06/2014 - 10:32
Hi was thinking of growing celery this spring..I have a section in my garden that is moister than the other parts of the garden..it get full sun in morning and part sun in afternoon ..would this be a good place to grow celery??
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 11/10/2014 - 11:22

With the cold settling in, this is the time to think about next season's garden.

In answer to your question, moist is one thing, wet is another. If the area is one of standing water or one with slow drainage, celery is not likelly to be successful. While celery likes and needs ("requires" above) water, too wet is not good.

Keep thinking . . .

 <span>Stef</span> Fri, 10/31/2014 - 04:25
To harvest do i remove the whole stalk from the ground or cut it as needed ?
<span>Heidi Fagan</span> Tue, 10/14/2014 - 18:02
How to harvest the celery, ?.I am a first time celery grower. I live in the Great Northwest! (Wa. State). I HAVE BEAUTIFUL CELERY GROWING. It is crescent shaped. It is mid Oct. The stalks are not store sized but I am happy for the first crop. Plenty of water even here is a must. My question is how to harvest it & can the root be left in the ground for next year?. May sound dumb, but I am VERY new to gardening. Thank You, Heidi
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 10/16/2014 - 16:01

Hi, Heidi, Congratulations on your celery! Some celery is grown as a biennial, some as an annual. If your plants have stalks of at least 6 inches, they can be harvested. We are not aware of roots growing into anything useful once the edible portion of the plant is removed.

 <span>Carp</span> Sat, 10/04/2014 - 17:51
can you freeze celery we grew it for the first time this year and we have more then we can use right now
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 10/06/2014 - 12:16

Yes and no. You can freeze but only for later use in cooked dishes (such as soups); celery loses its crispness when frozen. To freeze, select crisp, tender stalks, free from coarse strings. Wash thoroughly, trim and cut stalks into l-inch lengths. Water blanch for 3 minutes. Cool promptly, drain and package leaving no headspace. Seal and freeze.

 <span>Ray Conrad</span> Tue, 08/12/2014 - 20:03
why is celery so green, and many times it is bitter? What causes this? I love good light green celery. My father had it in the garden. He would cover the stalks with straw and then shovel dirt against the straw. This allowed the celery to "ripen" more and make it tender.