The Easiest Way to Grow Celery + Have a Steady Supply
How many of you use celery all the time? We do! While I tend to not eat celery on its own, I use it year-round for soups, stir fries, stews, stuffing, chicken salads, and more. Celery is one of those vegetables that I never really think about, but then realize that it is essential to so many dishes we love! Today, let’s explore how to grow celery— I’ll share two ways to get started—and also how I keep my celery patch going for a year-round supply here in Southern California.
Can I just say, there’s nothing more annoying than needing a couple stalks of celery for a meal and then having the rest of that store-bought head of go to waste within the week. Growing your own celery at home stops this from happening! One of the best parts about learning how to grow celery is being able to have some on-hand in the garden on a harvest-what-you-need basis. Today’s post will hopefully help you all achieve that!
Celery is a cool season crop
While I grow celery year-round now in my backyard, I still consider celery to be a cool season or Fall/Early Spring crop. This is because celery can bolt in hot weather, celery can have an off-flavor during high temperatures, and celery seems to perform and taste best when grown in cooler temperatures. Celery is in good company though. If you’re curious what other crops are great for the Fall, Winter, and Early Spring garden, make sure to check out my guide for all the delicious options!
In general, it’s helpful to know that celery is more of a cool season crop (especially in our area with triple digit summers) because we can also use this information to choose the best location to plant celery in our garden. As I share how to grow celery, I want to point out that my year-round celery is in a semi-sheltered spot near some perennials that grow large in Summer. Therefore, my celery is protected from the intense afternoon sun during our hottest months. Personally I’ve found this to be a key factor to growing good celery year-round.
Last but not least, while celery is a cool season crop, it will not survive hard freezes. In fact, celery is said to withstand temperatures as low as 28 degrees, but can die if the temperatures are lower. Thankfully, the lowest my climate typically gets in Winter is about 30 degrees.
Grow Celery From a Scrap Bottom
Let’s start off with the two methods for how to grow celery. First, propagating celery from a store-bought bunch. Yes, you can grow celery from a grocery store scrap! Save the bottom of your store-bought celery bunch because we are about to turn it into a full grown plant!
Since celery can take a long time to germinate and grow from seed, I find that saving and planting the bottom of your storebought celery bunch is very much worth it. When I say “save the bottom” I mean to chop the entire bottom inch from your celery bunch. If you see the picture below, you’ll notice the roots coming out from the core area on the bottom of the celery. It’s very important that this area is intact so that roots will grow!
Related article: Fall & Winter Gardening Guide for Southern California
Check out the roots starting to form at the base of this celery. It’s simple to propagate celery from a storebought bunch.
Once you have your celery bottom scrap, you have two choices: start rooting your celery in water or plant your celery scrap directly into soil. I’ve personally done both ways and it really depends on weather, your time, and the amount of effort you want to put in.
What’s the difference between planting the scrap in soil versus rooting in water first? In the photo below, you can see two different celery scraps growing. The one on the left has been rooting in water on my kitchen counter and the one on the right was planted directly in soil. Since our weather has been in the 70s during the day but into the low 40s at night, the one growing outdoors has considerably less re-growth due to cold temperatures. Either way, both are ahead of the celery I started from seed.
Rooting your celery bottom in water first is best if it is cold outside. This allows the celery to form roots and get a head start on establishing before being planted out in the garden. You simply take a shallow glass dish, place the celery scrap in it, and fill with just enough water to cover the bottom area (where the roots will form). Leave this on a kitchen counter where some natural light comes in and check the water level daily. Eventually you will see little white roots start to grow!
Once your celery scrap has formed roots and no harsh frost is imminent, you can plant your celery directly in the garden. Check out my tips below for finding the right placement and growing conditions for celery in your garden.
Don’t want to take the time to root your celery scrap first? Just plant it! Yep, you can cut the bottom off your celery bunch and plant it immediately in the soil. Water well, and keep watered! It’s very important that you don’t let it dry out completely in these beginning stages.
Here’s a side by side of my celery bottom rooted in water and another celery scrap that I planted in the ground to root. The hardest part about planting in soil is making sure it doesn’t dry out too much! Either way, they are both great options in terms of rooting celery scraps.
How to Grow Celery From Seed
The second method for growing celery is from seed. I do want to make sure you know that I’ve written down the general process of how to start any plant from seed HERE. Celery seeds can take anywhere from 14-21 days to germinate which is kind of slow….it can take even longer if you start them outdoors in our California winter like I did. Haha.
The ideal time to start celery from seed in Southern California is in early Spring ( indoors in January/February) or Fall (think October) so you have some celery throughout Winter. Celery technically grows best here in Southern California during our cool season, but it is possible to grow it year-round if you keep it in a cooler part of your garden during out hottest months.
Why start celery from seed? As with most seed starting, you have access to more varieties and a pack of a hundred seeds can cost you anywhere from $3-$5. Plus, celery seeds don’t “expire” after one year, so you don’t have to re-purchase seeds for the next several years.
Related Article: Top 10 Flowers for a Potager Garden~ Calendula made my list!
The celery pictured below is called “red venture.” While the flavor wasn’t much different, it was still usable, delicious, and exciting to grow! I plan to play with blanching this variety a little more next season. You also won’t find this variety at the grocery store.
I’ve listed a few of my favorite celery varieties to grow in mild climates below, but this particular one is ‘red venture.’ Personally, I don’t taste much of a flavor difference, but I do like growing a wide array of colors in my garden.
Summary of Growing tips & Conditions for Celery
Celery is happiest as a cool season crop in zone 10, but I can grow it year round if I place it in mostly shady cool areas in Summer.
Celery can be grown from seed or propagated from a base.
Celery likes mostly shade in warm climates. If it’s Summer here, I’ll place my celery in full shade, and if it is the cool season I’ll grow it in partial shade. Celery can bolt and become bitter when it is too hot.
Keep it watered. Celery loves water, as you can probably tell when you crunch into it. It has a high water content!
Celery doesn’t like frost, but can sometimes be okay. Mature celery can handle lower temps, but once you get down close to 30 degrees, it can be a gamble. Luckily, we rarely get that cold here. Just be aware that you might want to protect your celery if we get a random frost.
How to Grow Celery Almost Year-Round
Here’s how I grow celery at all times of the year, and also never have to buy it again:
First, I don’t only grow only one celery plant. For example, my celery is actually a mini celery patch. It started out as about six or so seedlings, but now it grows on it’s own in a microclimate of my garden that seems perfect for celery!
Second, if you simply let your celery go to seed (ie. self-seed or volunteer), you can eliminate any further need to sow seeds or propagate celery in the future. I’m not kidding! Below, you’ll see a photo of a whole bunch of celery seedlings that have self-seeded next to my small patch. I cover more about self-sowing plants in regards to flowers in another blogpost, but essentially you can let your celery plants go to flower and drop their seeds. Eventually, your celery patch will have plants at various stages and there will always be some celery for you to harvest when needed.
My year-round celery patch is to the left, and all of those little sprouts are baby celery! After celery goes to flower, the flower heads dry into hundreds of tiny seeds. I let these fall to the ground on their own, and this is what happens!
Harvesting Your Homegrown Celery
You can harvest only what you need from your celery by cutting off the outer stalks as needed. Carefully use a knife and simply cut the outer stalks towards the bottom. This method of harvesting lets the celery continue to grow and is great for home gardens where you might only need a little it at a time.
You can also harvest the entire bunch of celery if you prefer. Just grab all the stalks in a fist and carefully pull out of the ground.
Why is my homegrown celery bitter? I’ve heard this question before and there are a few reasons your homegrown celery could taste bitter. First, hot weather and less than ideal growing conditions can alter the taste of your celery. Second, there is a process called “blanching” that most growers perform in order to bring out the sweetness of celery before harvesting. In this sense, “blanching” is not what you hear on cooking shows and does not involve cooking. Deep green celery stalks tend to be less sweet, you might even notice that the celery from the grocery store is very light in color. I haven’t had a chance to photograph/video how to blanch celery yet, so until I do, I’m going to recommend that you check out some vidoes on YouTube. Basically, anywhere from 1-3 weeks before you plan to harvest your celery, you wrap newspaper around the stalks and tie with twine. Let the leaves stick out the top so the plant can continue to photosynthesize. Non-blanched celery tends to have a MUCH stronger flavor but depending on what you prefer or what you use it for, you don’t have to blanch it. If your celery has been bitter in the past, try blanching!
‘Tall Utah’ is a wonderful, heirloom variety of celery to grow. It has been very dependable for me here in Southern California.
My Favorite Varieties of Celery to Grow From Seed
A tried-and-true variety in my garden is ‘Tall Utah” (pictured above). I grew this variety in my very first garden, so I can personally say it is friendly to beginners.
“Red Venture” grew vigorously for me last year and the stems are a beautiful reddish purple.
“Chinese White” and “Chinese Pink” are newer varieties in my garden, but so far I’ve found them to grow well. The only difference is that the stems seem a little thinner and also slightly stronger in terms of flavor.
The best part about all this? You can text allll your friends and ask them to save their celery bottom scraps for you! I hope you feel inspired to add celery to your garden spaces this year. Don’t forget to check out my Fall & Winter Gardening Guide for a list of other vegetables you can grow with celery during our cool season here in SoCal, and subscribe to my blog to get all the monthly updates, reminders, and recipes!
Other articles you might find helpful after reading this:
Growing Carrots in the Home Garden
The Basics of Starting from Seed
What Type of Garden is Right For You? In-Ground, Raised Beds, and More!
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Randi 🙂
How cool!!! Hola to you Randi, and to Sam and Pete as well 🙂 this made me smile as I actualy have one celery bottom sitting in a little dish as I type this. I started it about a week ago and so far the green growth is evident but no roots yet. This will be the 3rd time I’ve grown celery. Once from seed and this is my second time growing from scraps. So fun to do! They haven’t lasted previously becasue they would always become way to bitter for my liking and I ended up taking them out. Reading this I see it might of been to much sun. Both times I’ve planted them in the ground so this time I’ll plant it in a container so I can move it around and see how long I can keep it growing!
Anyways, thanks a bunch for these tips and another fantastic article to read… that red variety looks so pretty and I can’t wait to see how the pink and white varieties grow for you! Stay warm out there my friends as the nights here have also been in the low 40’s and I don’t know about you two but I’m a cold weather wimp and that’s plenty cold for me… hahaha but I don’t mind, nothing like beeing coazy in a sweatshirt and having excuses for extra coffee!
Be well you three 🙂
Oh my, on cold days I always treat myself to extra coffee! 😉 It’s been relatively chilly here….coldest night yet has been low 30s but not a legit frost. Sometimes we get a real frost in January or February, so we will see! Thanks for sharing your own experience with celery. I definitely can tell you that full sun in our warmer climates can create bitter celery—I’ve tasted it! Good luck with your growing it this year. Report back! Thanks for reading!