What is celery? Planting and care

What is a celery, probably many summer residents would like to know. Grow this healthy culture in recent years has become very fashionable. For the production of root crops or herbs, it is grown for one season. Seeds of this culture can be harvested only in the second year of cultivation.

general description

So, what is celery and how does it look like? This plant belongs to the same family as the carrot, but it does not look like this at all. Celery bushes grow quite luxuriant and not too high. On the garden, this culture at first is quite easy to confuse with parsley. She has the same smoothly-cut leaves.

The taste of celery is specific. Some people like it very much. To others, it seems that the juice of the leaves of this culture has a "bug" taste. Cooked celery tubers, unlike leaves, like almost all people. To taste they resemble potatoes.

Why has it become fashionable to grow a culture such as celery lately? Comments vegetable farmers this plant has earned good, above all, for its unpretentiousness. Growing celery is not difficult. In this case, using it for food is actually very useful for health. In the roots, petioles and leaves of this culture contains just a huge amount of vitamins and trace elements. Also in the tissues of celery there are also substances of youth - antioxidants.

Variety choice

What is celery, therefore, is understandable. In fact, it's a spicy culture, which can be successfully grown including in Russia. But in any case, in order to get a good harvest of celery, you need, of course, to choose the right grade. It is believed that for the middle zone of Russia is best suited:

• Celery Root of Gribovsky;

• The golden pen;

• Variety Anita;

• Apple.

In the Urals and Siberia, varieties such as Pascal, Malachite and Utah are often grown. Also for these regions with a harsh climate, Esaul, Russian size and Egor are great.

On sale today there are both leaf, and petiolate or root varieties of celery. They are grown around the same technology. The choice of a particular variety in this case depends, of course, on the personal preferences of the owners of the suburban area.

How to properly prepare the planting material

To continue to get amicable entrances, the seeds of celery must first be thoroughly rinsed. Perform this procedure usually as follows:

• Poured into a mug of warm water (about 60 ° C);

• Pour out the seeds of celery;

• Stir them with a spoon;

• Leave the seeds in water until the latter cools.

After this procedure, all the essential oils from the seeds will come out, capable of significantly delaying their germination. At the final stage, planting material should be thoroughly rinsed with cool water. Next, the seeds are scattered on the tissues and wait for them to dry out.

Boarding in boxes

Most often this culture is grown in seedlings. Celery is usually sown in boxes at the end of February or beginning of March. . The air temperature in the room where this culture will be grown should not be less than 24-25 ° C. Actually the seed itself is planted in boxes in a superficial way. Sprinkle with celery planting material. Seeds should germinate in the open air and in the light. Boxes for seedlings in the first stage can be taken low. In the future, celery will still have to dive. The soil for this culture is best used to buy, intended for seedling tomatoes.

In the event that the planting material was well washed, it will begin to germinate in a week. In order that the plants do not stretch, at first the air temperature in the room should be reduced to 15 ° C. Piquation of celery in separate pots is carried out immediately after the appearance of the first three real leaves. In tuber cultivars, during the procedure, about a third of the root is usually plucked. In the future, it will allow you to harvest earlier.

When to transfer to the open ground

According to the technology described above, a sufficiently strong and healthy seedling can be grown. Celery root, petiolate or leafy, however, must also be properly transferred to the ground.

Culture is relatively cold. Therefore, you can transfer seedlings to the garden in the beginning-middle of May. But by this time the temperature of the air in the street should not fall below 10 ° C by day. If the planting of celery will be made earlier, instead of building up lush greenery in the future, it can stretch out and release flower stalks. Before you take the seedlings to the cottage, it is also a few days to keep it on the balcony for adaptation.

What should be the soil on the bed

In order to get a good harvest of celery, when growing it, of course, it is necessary to comply with agricultural technology. It is highly discouraged, for example, to plant this crop on the place where carrots, dill or parsley grew earlier. The ideal predecessors for celery are tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes or cucumbers.

Soil on the bed chosen for this culture, it is desirable to dig up in the fall. In order for the plants to develop well in the future, it is necessary to add a little humus and superphosphate (25 g per 1 m ² ) to the ground.

Plant celery seedlings in the holes. In each of them previously placed a little clay and mullein. This allows you to protect plants from excessive moisture retention after watering. Like the seedlings of any other culture, celery should be transferred to beds early in the morning or in the evening, preferably on a cloudy day.

Planting in beds: technology

Too much thickening of celery is impossible in any case. Between grown up bush in the future should be good ventilation. If it does not, a mite or aphid must be planted on the garden with the plants. Most often celery bushes are planted at a distance of about 10 cm from each other. Between the rows at the same time leave about 30-40 cm. Also some gardeners place the celery according to the scheme of 20 x 20 cm.

The wells should be scooped out so deep that the root system of the plants is placed in them completely and at the same time there is still a stock of about 3 cm. It is necessary to transplant the bushes from the pique glasses together with the clod of earth.

It often happens that as the celery grows, it "falls apart" on the sides. That is, its leaves fall to the ground. To prevent this from happening, the bushes immediately after planting should be wrapped in foil. In this case, they will begin to grow strictly upward and eventually become lush and strong.

Celery: care of plants

Cultivation of this culture, almost like any other, involves the following, first of all, the following operations:

• Regular weeding;

• Periodic irrigation;

• Feeding;

• Loosening.

Pour the celery daily at a rate of at least 5 liters of water per 1 m ^{2 of} planting.

How to properly feed

Root celery during the summer should be fertilized at least once with potassium. For petiolate and leaf varieties, additionally one should also use nitrogen fertilizing. Very well, this culture responds, for example, to nitrofuscus. You can feed the celery and diluted in the proportion of 1 x 20 chicken manure infusion. Apply fertilizer to the bed should be about two weeks after planting. If desired, you can feed the plants with the same composition one more time in three weeks.

Root celery should be loosened after each watering. On the bed with petiolate or leaf this procedure can be done less often.

Whitening

Celery celery - the culture is delicious and healthy. However, it has one small drawback. Her leaves and petioles contain a bit of bitterness. Therefore, before harvesting, such celery needs to be bleached. For this bushes, a few weeks before the cut of greenery, you should start to hoe. The result of this procedure is that the stalks of celery after a while will turn white and lose bitterness.

Harvesting

Both the root and stalk celery ripen to about the middle of autumn. The crop of the first variety is removed as follows:

• Cut greens;

• Dig up tubers;

• Wrap the tubers in foil or put them in a box with sawdust;

• Transfer the boxes to the cellar.

The greens of root celery can be dried and used as a seasoning for soups or second courses in the winter. Chicken varieties of this culture are usually excavated with roots, and, without removing the wrappers, also transferred to the basement or stored on the lower shelf of the refrigerator.

Instead of concluding

So, we found out what celery is. This culture, as you can see, is relatively undemanding. Care for her is as simple as for other vegetable plants - tomatoes, carrots, radish, tomatoes, etc. Therefore, those gardeners who like the taste of celery, put it somewhere in a small corner on its site, of course, is worth it. Time, this culture will take a little to care in the summer, the benefit of using it for food can be simply colossal.