Celery - a delicious and fragrant plant, the cultivation of which has its own characteristics. From this article you will learn how to properly plant and care for celery.
It should immediately decide which celery you want to grow - root, petiolate or leaf . Depending on this, the cultivation process will be slightly different.
How to plant celery on seedlings?
The main feature of any celery is that it is grown by seedling method. As a rule, it is better to plant the celery with seeds for seedlings in February, so that it has time to ripen and give a harvest at the beginning of frosts. The planting period of petiolate and leaf species can be shifted to March.
Pre-sowing seed preparation is desirable in order to increase their germination capacity. For this, the planting material is soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, and then moistened and germinated for several days.
In addition, the important points in growing celery is to maintain a suitable temperature and a competent choice of timing for picking. Let us consider them in more detail.
In order for the seeds sown by you to germinate in a timely manner, the temperature in the room should be within 18-22 ° C. If this condition is met, wait for the first shoots 7-15 days after planting. At this time, the seedlings should be kept in a bright place, and the temperature can be reduced by several degrees. Too high temperature (25-30 ° C) in the room where you germinate the seeds, is able to keep them in a state of rest, not allowing to germinate even in the light.
Picks should be carried out on the 7-9th day after emergence. One should not hesitate in this matter, since the late picking will lead to deformation of the root crop, the appearance of several branched roots, and an increase in the period of vegetation. Dives the plants in pots 5-7 cm in diameter. The root celery is grown with a double pick.
Seedlings at the age of 55-60 days, which formed 4-5 of this leaflet, can be planted in the open ground. This is important for root celery, overgrown seedlings of which also tend to deformed fruits. With regard to petiolate and leaf varieties, here the age of seedlings does not play a special role.
A place for permanent planting of celery should be a garden with a high level of illumination and fertile soil.
If you grow celery to get root, it is not recommended to hibernate. Experts advise even to clean its upper part from the ground. But petiolate celery, on the contrary, loves hills.
A few weeks before harvesting, the side leaves of the plant are torn off, then the soil is removed from the root, and only then (usually in October), the roots themselves are excavated.