Growing greens in a summer cottage is a common practice for most gardeners. Basically, the standard set is sown: dill, parsley, salad. Another popular and very useful plant is celery, the fragrant greens of which are familiar to many. However, the most valuable, from the point of view of benefit, are the stems of this culture, for the production of which they are grown petiole celery.

Description and features of petiole celery

Celery is a two-year umbrella vegetable crop. It is represented by several species: leaf, root and petiolate (stem). In salads and other culinary dishes, the stem is most often used.

The plant is a grass with thick stems and dissected foliage saturated green hue. The flowers are collected in umbrellas, the root has the appearance of a stem.

Recently, the petiole type of culture is gaining its popularity due to its exceptional properties, so today it can be found in almost every country house. The use of this vegetable as a food has a beneficial effect on immunity, promotes weight loss, and stimulates fat burning.

Did you know? Celery may well replace meat products for vegetarians, due to its high content of easily digestible protein.

Growing celery

The plant propagates by seeds, but due to the fact that the seed sprouts rather slowly, it is recommended to breed seedlings and strictly follow agricultural techniques.

Sowing time

Sowing seeds for seedlings is made in early spring, the optimal time is in late February or the first decade of March.

Suitable soil

Heavy, fertile, neutral soils (pH 6.5–7.5) with humus are best suited for growing crops. Sour areas should be avoided.

Seed preparation

Before planting, planting material must undergo training:

1. Seeds must be decontaminated first, this will reduce the risks of diseases characteristic of this plant. To this end, seedlings are poured with a weak pale pink solution of potassium permanganate at room temperature (about + 22 ° C) and incubated for 24 hours. The procedure can be accelerated if the solution is heated to a temperature of + 50 ... + 60 ° C, then it will only take 15–20 minutes (before the liquid cools down).
2. The second step is treatment with growth stimulants.. To accelerate germination, the planting material is soaked in a special preparation (for example, "Immunocytophyte") for a day, according to the proposed instructions.

Sowing seeds

Seeds are sown in prepared low boxes filled with a moistened substrate of humus, turf, sand and garden soil. Planting material is sown in even rows over the soil, without deepening too much. The distance between the rows should be at least 5 cm. From above, the seeds are sprinkled with a thin layer of soil (2-3 mm), after which they are sprayed with water and covered with glass or a transparent film.

Important! When choosing seeds, it is important to pay attention to their size. As a rule, the larger they are, the more fleshy the stems of the vegetable will be.

Seedling Care

To ensure good germination, it is important to properly care for seedlings:

1. Immediately after sowing, the containers with seeds, covered with a film, are placed in a warm, well-lit place with a stable air temperature of +20 ... + 24 ° С. In this case, artificial lighting is necessarily used with a lack of natural.
2. It is important to constantly maintain soil moisture, for which its surface is regularly sprayed from the spray gun.
3. After 3 weeks, the first shoots usually appear, which means that the film or protective glass from the boxes can be removed.
4. After the first leaves appear, the soil is slightly loosened and moistened by spraying.
5. As soon as 3 leaflets appear on the seedlings, the picking procedure is carried out. Plants are carefully pulled out of the soil, pinch off the tip of the root and transplanted into a separate pot with a moist substrate, deepening the sprout into it to the lower leaves. For 3 days, dive plants protect from sunlight, then again return to their original place and continue care.
6. Fertilizing seedlings is carried out as they grow once every 7-10 days before being transferred to open ground. Usually use complex mineral fertilizers (for example, nitrophoska), according to the instructions.

Landing

In the spring, after the end of night frosts, they begin preparations for transferring seedlings to the open ground. To do this, 7-10 days before transplantation, they begin to take it daily to the open air. It’s worth starting with 15–20 minutes, gradually increasing the hardening time.

The area reserved for celery planting must be dug up, humus and wood ash added to the soil to feed the soil with nitrogen and other minerals.

Seedlings should be placed in the soil so that the rosette of the plant is above the soil surface.

Important! It is strongly not recommended to fertilize the soil for celery with fresh manure, this is fraught with a nitrogen burn of the root system.

• if the site is well lit by the sun, then the seedlings are planted in a checkerboard pattern with a step of 17–20 cm, in 2 rows, 50 cm between the rows;
• on a partially shaded area (a shadow of no more than 3 hours during daylight hours), a 50 × 25 cm scheme is used, where 50 cm is the distance between the rows and 25 cm is the gap between the bushes of the plant;
• if the shadow covers the area for 5 or more hours, it is advisable to leave 35–40 cm between the bushes, leaving 50 cm in the aisle.

Outdoor Celery Care

Proper care of petiole celery in a summer cottage is not a difficult task, but there are some nuances that must be taken into account.

Watering

This culture is very fond of moisture, with the obligatory condition of drainage of the soil. In other words, the soil should always be moist, but stagnation of water at the roots should be avoided, as this may cause them to rot.

In hot, arid regions, you need to water celery every day, early in the morning or in the evening, when there is no scorching sun. In a cooler climate, watering is done every 2 days, but by the end of ripening they switch to daily, so that the stems of the vegetable do not acquire a bitter aftertaste. Water is poured exclusively under the root.

Video: Growing petiole celery

Fertilizer application

You need to feed the plant in several stages:

1. The first, as described above, is done at the seedling growing stage.
2. Then, 20 days after transplanting into the open ground, organic fertilizer is applied under the root. Most often used infusion of cow manure (1 part in 10 parts of water) or bird droppings (1 part in 20 parts of water). Top dressing is combined with the next watering.
3. At the stage of intensive growth, fertilizing with mineral nitrogen-containing fertilizers is performed (for example, ammonium nitrate at the rate of 30 g of substance per 10 l of water). After the previous stage, at least 1 month should pass.

Did you know? Celery is such a universal and persistent culture that it grows in all parts of the planet, with the exception of permafrost zones.

Weeding and loosening the soil

Celery grows poorly when normal air exchange is disturbed in the soil.

That is why it is important to properly care for the site, performing the required procedures:

1. Weed grass must be removed regularly as it appears, without waiting until it begins to inhibit the growth of the vegetable crop.
2. In the period between irrigation, it is important to loosen the soil in the row-spacings in order to ensure its ventilation and redistribute moisture.
3. It best prevents weed propagation and retains moisture from fresh straw mulch distributed around the bushes. Mulching greatly facilitates the care of the plant.

Disease and Pest Prevention

Unfortunately, despite the unpretentiousness, petiole celery is susceptible to a number of diseases:

1. Cercosporosis - a disease of fungal nature, from the defeat of which the leaves and stems of the plant suffer. Rounded spots with a diameter of about 0.5 cm appear on their surface, light in the center and brown at the edges. As a result of the development of the disease, the stems and foliage dry up. In order to prevent, it is necessary to carry out mandatory disinfection of seed, as described above, to observe the rules for care, to avoid waterlogging of the soil, water stagnation. If the disease was not prevented, the plants are sprayed with a fungicidal agent (Fundazole), according to the instructions for the drug.
2. Septoria - a fungal disease that manifests itself in mature bushes, forming dry yellow and brown spots. Measures for the prevention and treatment of this disease are similar to those used in the fight against cercosporosis.
3. Cucumber mosaic - A viral disease spread by aphids affects the plant, disrupting its normal growth. It appears in the form of rings of various colors on the foliage. Infection can only be prevented by pest control. Affected bushes are not treated, they are removed from the beds and destroyed.
4. Rust - is a disease that manifests itself in the form of red-brown tubercles on the back of the leaves. It usually appears at the beginning of the season on young plants, in the absence of treatment it can destroy celery and infect the soil. To prevent the occurrence of this ailment, it is necessary to strictly follow agricultural technology and observe the timing of sowing and planting seedlings. Patient bushes are sprayed with a solution of the drug "Fitosporin", according to the manufacturer's instructions.

No less dangerous to the crop is the defeat of celery by pests:

1. Celery fly - a very unpleasant pest that lays eggs at the very beginning of the season, as a result of which small convex spots appear on the foliage, and passages form in the stem. The plant becomes sick, the flesh takes on a bitter taste. Most often flies arrive from weeds growing nearby. To prevent the appearance of the pest, you need to carefully weed the beds. In addition, it is very useful to plant onions around the site with celery, which repels the pest.
2. Bean aphid - black small insects eating a plant, this is the most formidable pest for celery. Aphids are considered the largest of their kind and are developing very rapidly. Preventive measures to combat aphids are not provided, therefore, when the first signs of infection appear, it is important to immediately spray the plants with orange peel infusion or a decoction of potato or tomato tops.
3. Carrot leaf - lives on coniferous trees and at the beginning of the growing season can fly to young celery bushes. The pest eats the juice of the plant, which leads to its deformation and death. Prevention measures include regular soil care, cultivation, and cleaning of weeds.

When can I harvest and how to store it properly

Celery is usually harvested in September. Of course, the leaves of the plant can be partially plucked for eating before, but the stems need to be given time to become as juicy as possible.

First of all, the tallest bushes are dug out of the ground, while the smaller ones are left to ripen until October, but experienced gardeners recommend harvesting before night frosts.

Video: Harvesting and storing petiole celery

Dug bushes are placed in a cool, dark place without cutting off the root, so fresh celery can last about 2 months. Next, the petioles are cut and stored in the refrigerator (up to 3 weeks). Cut and washed stems for long-term storage are frozen. Useful properties in such a product last up to 2 years.

Acquaintance with the agrotechnics of growing petiole celery and the peculiarities of caring for it allows us to conclude that the plant is unpretentious and resistant to any weather conditions. High yields and the possibility of long-term storage justify the growing popularity of this crop.