How to grow & care for celery

Celery can be a fussy vegetable to grow, it doesn’t like it too hot or too cold! But once you’ve got it growing happily celery will provide you with plenty of crispy, fresh stalks whenever you need them. No need to buy a whole bunch from the supermarket when you just need two stalks for a soup or a single stalk to fill with peanut butter for a delicious snack.

In cool and temperate regions sow or plant in late winter and early spring. In subtropical regions sow or plant in mid-autumn to early spring and in the tropics sow or plant in the dry season (April to July).

Top 4 tips to growing celery

Celery doesn’t like it too hot or too cold. So grow in the milder seasons of spring or autumn.
You can grow celery from seeds or seedlings.
Celery will tolerate full sun to part shade location in your garden.
Protect celery seedlings from snails and slugs.

Shopping List

Celery seeds or seedlings
Scotts Performance Naturals Organic Based Soil Improver
Scotts Performance Naturals All Purpose Organic Based Fertiliser
Garden trowel
Pot & Scotts Performance Naturals Premium Organic Based Potting Mix - if growing in pots

Prepare

Choose a spot in your garden with full sun or morning sun only. Celery prefers moist, but well-drained soil.
Enrich the soil with organic matter before planting by mixing through Scotts Performance Naturals Organic Based Soil Improver and Scotts Performance Naturals All-Purpose Organic Based Fertiliser.

Growing Celery from seeds

Sow celery seeds by sprinkling them onto the surface of your prepared garden soil or Scotts Performance Naturals Premium Organic Based Potting Mix. Very lightly cover with potting mix or soil and keep moist until they germinate.

Celery seeds germinate best in temperatures 15-20 degrees Celsius, so start seeds in punnets indoors if needed, before planting into your garden when nighttime temperatures are above 10 degrees and the seedlings are 10-15cm tall.

Growing Celery from seedlings

Carefully separate each celery seedling, without disturbing the roots too much, and plant them into prepared garden soil or Scotts Performance Naturals Premium Organic Based Potting Mix if growing in pots. Space seedlings 15-30cm apart.

Planting in the garden

Sow celery seeds or plant seedlings into prepared soil, in a spot with full sun or part shade. Space plants 15-30cm apart, depending on the variety. Celery needs a well-drained soil, but with plenty of water or regular irrigation throughout the growing season to ensure crisp, tender stalks.

As celery grows you can “blanch” the stalks by wrapping several layers of newspaper around them. This helps to keep them pale green and tender. If you don’t want to do this - look for “self-blanching” varieties or stringless varieties.

Planting in pots

Sow celery seeds or plant seedlings into a pot that is at least 30cm wide by 30cm filled with Scotts Performance Naturals Premium Organic Based Potting Mix. Space plants 15-30cm apart, depending on the variety. Celery needs well-drained soil - so make sure your pot has sufficient drainage holes - but you’ll need to ensure the soil doesn’t dry out during the growing season to ensure crisp, tender stalks.

As celery grows you can “blanch” the stalks by wrapping several layers of newspaper around them. This helps to keep them pale green and tender. If you don’t want to do this - look for “self-blanching” varieties or stringless varieties.

Harvest

There is no need to harvest the whole celery plant at once. Individual celery stalks can begin to be removed (a few from each plant) once they are the thickness of a pencil.

Harvest as many stalks as you need from the outside of the plant with a down and out pulling motion to “click off” what you need from the main plant.

Pests & Diseases

Slugs and Snails can cause significant damage to celery stalks and leaves. Protect celery plants by setting beer traps (saucers filled with beer) amongst them or use Defender Snail & Slug Pellets.
If whitefly or caterpillars attack celery use Defender™ Pyrethrum Insect Spray as per the labels instructions to control them.