How to Grow Celery in Pots? A Detailed Guide to the Planting Method

Celery comes in three types: water celery, dry celery (Chinese celery) and western celery. Dry celery has a stronger aroma. Eating celery regularly, especially the leaves, is highly beneficial for preventing high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis, and it also has an auxiliary therapeutic effect. So, what planting methods are there for potted celery?

1. Planting Time

When growing celery in summer, seedlings are usually raised in mid-June, transplanted in late July, and can be harvested in late September.

2. Container Selection

When growing celery on a balcony, rooftop, in the living room or in a courtyard, the growing containers you can use include flower pots, wooden tubs, professional growing boxes, foam plastic boxes and so on. A soil depth of 15-20 cm is suitable.

3. Planting Method

1. Sprouting

Celery seeds are tiny and the seed coat is fairly thick, so before sowing you must soak and sprout the seeds; only then can the germination period be shortened and the germination rate improved.

The method of soaking and sprouting the seeds has been introduced before as well.

Soak the seeds in warm water at 50°C; after the water temperature drops to room temperature, continue soaking for 12-24 hours. Remove the empty seeds floating on the surface, take out the seeds, and gently rub the seeds; do not worry about the seed coat falling off. After that, you can sow them directly.

2. Sowing

Fill the growing pot with soil, press it down gently, and water it thoroughly. Level the surface and sow the seeds. Cover with a layer of about 1 cm of soil and that is it. Of course, do not forget that celery is a vegetable that loves fertilizer, so be sure to mix organic fertilizer well into the soil as a base fertilizer.

3. Emergence of Seedlings

Celery seedlings emerge with difficulty. In particular, a reminder to everyone: using this simple seed soaking and sprouting method still requires 25-30 days to complete the seedling-raising process. The cycle is far longer than that of leafy vegetables such as rapeseed and bok choy. You must wait patiently.

4. Seedling Stage Management

The work at the seedling stage is not too troublesome; it is generally just the following points:

Water in moderation; here moderation means watering little, just keeping the soil slightly moist. Do not let it become waterlogged, and do not be too eager with watering.

Apply additional fertilizer in moderation; here moderation means applying little. Only when the seedlings are weak and small may you apply additional fertilizer, otherwise the seedlings may be burned to death.

Provide ventilation and light, and pay attention to temperature. Ventilation does not need to be explained; for temperature, mainly do not let it exceed 30°C, otherwise the seedlings will not grow, and it is best to maintain a day-night temperature difference.

In addition, matters such as pest control and weeding will not be described in detail here.

5. Thinning and Transplanting

When the seedlings grow to 5-7 leaves and a height of 15 cm, they can be transplanted.

Thinning means selecting the best and removing the rest. If we have 100 seeds and 95 germinate, among which 85 grow strong and 10 grow weak, then the weakest are eliminated. In addition, they need to be given a broader space to grow.

For transplanting, 85 seedlings definitely cannot all grow well in one growing pot, so they need to be divided among more growing pots.

In home growing, thinning and transplanting can be combined into one process. For example, if one growing pot can grow 5 mature celery plants, then I sow 15 seeds, 10 sprout, I pick 5 sturdy ones and pull out the others, saving the process of changing pots.

This also depends on how much everyone wants to grow. These are two methods. Transplanting must be done on a cloudy morning, early morning, or evening, taking advantage of low transpiration, and after transplanting, water thoroughly. Afterward the celery will be weak for a period, but it will recover quickly.

6. Daily Management

For summer cultivation, because evaporation is high, water once in the morning and once in the evening each day, and fertilize mainly with nitrogen fertilizer. If the light is too strong, use a shade net to block it.

7. Harvesting

Celery has a relatively long growing period; from sowing to harvest takes about 3 months. Generally, when the plant height is 40-50 cm, it can be pulled up and harvested in several rounds.