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Celery is an excellent addition to many dishes due to the high content of B vitamins. A, B, E, K, amino acids and ascorbic. Before growing celery itself, you need to understand its three main varieties – leaf, petiole, root. Having chosen a variety that will grow in the ground in the country, you need to purchase its seeds. The leaf variety is an unpretentious culture for its care. Planting celery occurs through seedlings, it is necessary to sow the seeds at the end of February. And the landing itself in open ground takes place in the spring in March. The most common varieties for cultivation are: root – Gribovsky, Diamant, Maxim; sheet – Zakhar, Cheerfulness, Gentle; petiolate – Golden, White Feather, Malachite.
Seed preparation
Before the very beginning of cultivation, seeds are prepared for better germination after sowing. By themselves, they sprout for a long time due to the large amount of essential oils in themselves, which slows down germination. Without pre-treatment of seeds, growing seedlings can be a difficult process, because they may not germinate for almost a month, especially if they do not have enough moisture in the soil. To speed up germination, the seeds need to be soaked and prepared for future sowing.
The following describes methods for preparing seeds for growing root and petiole celery. The first method is barbating the seeds in oxygen-saturated water, followed by soaking in a 1% weak solution of potassium permanganate for about 45 minutes at a temperature of 20-22C, after which water rinsing under running water and further sowing takes place. The second method is based on soaking the seeds with a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 45 minutes and rinsing with tap water. The next step will be soaking the seeds for 18 hours in Epin’s solution (4 drops per glass of water) at normal room temperature and then sowing. It is undesirable to change the sequence of actions, otherwise you may not achieve good results in germination.
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Demonstrative video on how to grow greens.
How to plant seedlings
Due to the long period of root ripening in celery and the relatively short summer for this crop, it is desirable to grow it by seedling method no later than February. Before planting seeds, they are treated with one of the above examples. Prepare boxes or pots of soil for future growing celery seedlings. A few days before planting, it is necessary to shed the soil with boiling water of a solution of potassium permanganate. Grooves for sowing should be made no deeper than 1 cm, and then thoroughly moisten the soil.
Seeds should not be sown too densely, the ideal distance is 4-5 cm. Watering is required to be carried out regularly and only with a spray bottle. The grow box can be covered with film or glass to create a greenhouse effect.
When the first shoots appear, the temperature in the room should be lowered to + 16C, for a slower pulling of the seedlings. Densely planted seedlings should be thinned out. In winter, when the seedlings still do not receive enough light, the seedlings are strongly stretched, so that this does not happen, they need to be illuminated for additional hours with a lamp at a height of 30-40 above the box. As soon as the second leaves of our seedlings appear, it should be dived into separate containers with soil.
We are preparing the soil
Preparation of beds for celery begins in the fall, because this culture loves fertile land. Good predecessors for its cultivation are zucchini, cucumbers, potatoes. In autumn, 3-4 kg of organic fertilizers, 20 g of potash fertilizers and 35 g of phosphate fertilizers per 1 sq.m. should be applied for digging. Celery loves such microelements as calcium and magnesium, but cannot stand acidic soils, therefore, if necessary, liming of the earth (deoxidation) occurs. It is important to remember that different organics are introduced for different varieties. So, for example, manure is applied under leaf and petiole, and compost is applied to root ones.
How to plant celery
In May, dived seedlings can be planted in open ground, which has been prepared since autumn. For landing, you should choose sunny days that will be throughout the week. The distance between plants should be at least 30 cm, seedlings should not be buried too deep, otherwise the root crop will be uneven in shape. After planting the seedlings, the bed should be covered, and when June comes, the covering material can be removed. Care for celery is almost the same as for many other garden crops.
Regular watering is necessary, after which you need to push the ground or mulch it, pull out weeds in a timely manner. Fertilizers are applied twice a season, 2 and 5 weeks after planting celery on open ground. The mixture for top dressing consists of 5 g of saltpeter, 10 g of superphosphate and potassium salt diluted in 10 liters of water. Watering is carried out in the evening and in the morning, half a liter for each plant. Let us consider in more detail the care of each variety of this plant.
For salads, leaf celery is most often used. The most tender leaves for eating are the young ones, which are harvested from mid-June. Caring for such a variety is almost no different from the above, but the plant prefers to be both in the sun and in partial shade. The leaves are harvested for the winter by freezing. To do this, tender and juicy greens are cut, washed under water and allowed to dry well.
Cut and put in a container for further freezing. Petiole celery is unpretentious in care and the standard method is enough for it.
In addition, this plant loves shade. Upon reaching about 35 cm in height, the lower leaves are cut off. Petioles are tied at the top, and the lower part is tightly packed in thick opaque paper. Toward the end of August, they will receive a white color, juiciness and tenderness. Caring for this variety involves abundant watering with water at room temperature, otherwise the lower part of the plant will harden and be tough to eat. After 45 days have passed since the seedlings were planted, the leaves are cut so that the petioles remain 2 cm tall and the central buds are not damaged.
During the season, you can get 2-3 crops of greens and petioles. For conservation and first courses, celery root is well suited. In addition to the standard care for celery, this variety, like its fruits, also requires separate care. At the beginning of August, the top layer of the earth is removed from the fruit (root) and the upper roots are carefully cut off. Harvesting of root crops begins from the end of July and ends around September before the onset of frost. When harvesting, you need to carefully dig them out, otherwise the root crops, the damaged ones are not stored for a long time, but rot.
Video “Celery in the garden beds”
Informative video with illustrative examples and recommendations.
