Page 14 - Allotment Gardener Issue 2 2024

HORTICULTURE
Celery is one of the most difficult vegetables to grow a perfect specimen of, whether for the show plate or the salad plate. Here NAS horticultural adviser David Allison gives some tips on growing celery for show.
There are so many things that can, and do go wrong, which I will talk about later. But don’t let that put you off, a good specimen is a delight to behold. That is why the NVS and the RHS award 20 points (the highest available) to trench or blanched celery and 18 points
for self-blanching celery. Both the RHS Horticultural
Show Handbook, and the NVS judges and exhibitors guide set out the merits and defects of each, plus advice to judges and exhibitors, and diseases that may affect them (see below) so I won’t replicate them here.
Celery in its natural habitat
is a bog plant, so should be
grown in a rich, high organic
matter content growing
medium, which must never
be allowed to dry out, especially in summer and early autumn when they are reaching maturity.
Seed Sowing
Celery is grown from seed, one of the smallest of vegetable seeds. As the seed is too small to space out individually it is sown broadcast, but as thinly as possible, on a tray of multi-purpose compost. The tray is given a good watering before sowing and I do not cover the seeds with compost. I just press them lightly into the compost.
The seeds need heat for germination, so they go into a propagator or on a soil warming bench. They take about two weeks to germinate,
and when they are large enough, I transfer
the seedlings into small pots (used cups from vending machines are ideal and cheap!).
These are made up as follows;
Trench
Self Blanching
Condition
5
6
Uniformity
4
3
Size
4
3
Shape
4
3
Colour
3
3
Total
20
18
Another alternative is to sow the seeds into multi-cell trays, a few seeds into each cell. When they germinate, they are reduced to one plant in each cell. The time of sowing depends on the date you require them for showing or eating. A sowing in early February will give you mature plants in August. If you need them for September, you do not need to sow until late February. If you want to spread the maturity dates, it may be advisable to make two sowings a month apart.
When the plants are too big for the small pots, they are potted on into four- or five-inch (100 to 125mm) pots. In April the plants are
SHOW-OFF
CELERY
By David Allison FNVS
14 | Issue 2 2024 | Allotment Gardener