When and how to plant celery seedlings (root, petiole) in open ground

Celery is a healthy and tasty plant. The harvest depends on what variety you planted: if root celery, then you will get a juicy root vegetable; and if petiolate, then succulent petioles. The crop has a long growing season, so in regions with short and cold summers it needs to be grown through seedlings (especially late-ripening varieties!). This material has already talked about the features of growing seedlings, but now the time has come for spring planting of plants in open ground! And we should talk about it.

When to plant celery seedlings in the garden: optimal timing

It is important to transplant the seedlings to a permanent place in the country in a timely manner. After all, if you plant the plants too early, cold weather and sudden frosts can weaken or destroy the celery. And if it’s too late, the plants will “overstay” in the container, will survive transplantation into open ground worse, and may also not have time to grow a good harvest (strong petioles or roots, depending on the type).

When choosing the time when you are going to plant celery in the garden in the spring, first of all you need to focus on weather and temperature conditions! The soil in open ground should warm up to 12 degrees Celsius. In this case, the threat of returning night frosts should completely disappear . Estimated landing time: mid-May. In different parts of our country, weather conditions can vary greatly, therefore, the landing dates differ, for example:

in the middle zone (Moscow region) - optimally planted in the second ten days of May;
in Siberia, the Urals, in the Leningrad region - planting takes place in the last ten days of May;
in the South , plants can be replanted as early as mid-April.

The timing of planting plants in the garden in the spring is also determined by the age of the seedlings (about 2 months after the appearance of friendly shoots). As a rule, by the time of planting, celery seedlings (both root and petiole) grow four to five well-developed true leaves , and the plants themselves reach a height of 12-15 cm.

How to prepare celery seedlings for planting in open ground

So that celery seedlings, after planting in the garden, can quickly and easily take root and adapt to the garden, it is necessary to prepare them.

First of all, it is useful to feed the plants 2-3 weeks before transplanting. You can use any complex fertilizer for seedlings, for example, Fertika-Lux (or some other). Any drug must be used according to the instructions! A couple of hours before fertilizing, be sure to water the plants with plain water.

Two weeks before planting in open ground, it is very useful to begin hardening off celery seedlings. Hardening improves the immunity of plants and makes them generally more resilient. During the first days of hardening, the room where the plants are grown is simply ventilated abundantly. Then you should begin to take the seedlings out into the open air, for example, onto a balcony or directly into the garden. Hardening in the open air starts from 1 hour and ends the whole day (on the eve of disembarkation). That is, it turns out that the hardening time needs to be increased gradually every day! The same applies to lighting: the first days the plants are outdoors should be in the shade; they should be gradually brought out into the sun.

Where to plant celery in the country: choosing a location

In order for petiole and root celery to produce a good and tasty harvest, it is necessary to plant it in a suitable area in the garden. The ideal bed for the crop: a sunny, open place with light, loose, fertile, sandy loam soil that is neutral in acidity.

When choosing a place for planting, it is recommended to take into account the principles of crop rotation (that is, alternation of crops). Good predecessors in the garden for celery: legumes, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage. Bad predecessors: parsley, dill, parsnips, carrots.

Good neighbors in the garden: onions, garlic, potatoes, onions. You can plant celery in the rows between these crops (the smell of this plant repels some pests).

Preparing the bed

It is recommended to prepare the bed for growing crops in advance (preferably ahead of the season, that is, in the fall, or at least 4-2 weeks in advance). Before digging (to the depth of a shovel), you need to add humus or compost (4-6 kg per 1 square meter), as well as mineral fertilizer, for example, Nitroammofoska or Diammofoska (according to the instructions). It is important to apply the last mineral fertilizers when digging in the spring, but in the fall it is advisable to apply potassium sulfate and superphosphate.

Advice! If the soil on the site is heavy, dense and clayey, then sand should be added for digging (1 bucket per square meter) and preferably non-acidic peat (the same amount).

Description of the plant

Celery is a biennial plant that grows up to 1 m in height, has a thickened rhizome and pinnately dissected leaves. Blooms with white inflorescences. It is classified as a member of the Umbrella family.

For culinary purposes, 3 types of celery are cultivated: root, petiole and leaf. The root vegetable produces a rounded root crop, reaching a diameter of 10 cm. The leaf vegetable produces tender leaves. The petiolate leaves are large, the petioles have white or pink shades.

Root plant varieties are not as popular as leaf varieties

Celery has a pungent odor and a sweetish-bitter taste. It is used for preparing salads, first and second courses, seasonings, sauces, and vitamin drinks . The seeds are used as a seasoning.

Did you know? Residents of Ancient Rome noticed that celery leaves and roots had a positive effect on the male and female reproductive systems. Centuries later, scientists proved this effect of the plant by identifying the pheromone androsterone in it, which is secreted by the sweat glands of men in order to attract representatives of the opposite sex.

The vegetable plant has a rich chemical composition. It contains vitamins A, groups B, C, E, H, K, PP. It is rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, iron, iodine, fluorine. In total, it contains 8 macroelements and 17 microelements. It also contains starch and sugars, saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Scheme for planting celery seedlings in open ground

Step-by-step scheme for planting celery seedlings in open ground:

A couple of hours before the procedure, water the plants with plain water at room temperature (not cold!).
Make holes in the selected area. The size of the hole should be slightly larger than the earthen clod of plants. Distance between holes: for seedlings of root celery - 40-50 cm;
for petiole - 20 cm;
The gap between rows is 40-50 cm for root rows, 30 cm for petiole rows.

If earlier in the spring or autumn you did not apply fertilizer for digging, then you now need to add it to the bottom of the hole: a handful of humus and 1 teaspoon of Superphosphate (or a handful of wood ash instead). Fertilizers must be mixed in the hole with an equal amount of regular soil. And also be sure to put a thin layer of soil on top of the fertilizer so that the root system of the seedlings does not get burned.

After this, you need to water the holes with plenty of water and wait until the water is absorbed.

Carefully remove the seedlings from the container along with a lump of earth. Since transplantation is carried out using the transshipment method, it is impossible to destroy the lump of earth. The method allows you to preserve the root system from damage.

Place the plant with a lump of earth in the hole. The seedlings should remain at the same level at which they grew before.

Fill the voids in the hole with soil and compact the soil around with your hands.

Water abundantly.

Nuances of cultivation - from sowing to the formation of an adult seedling

We sow celery in seedlings from the end of February - beginning of March. First of all, we are preparing a light nutrient substrate, for which you will need to mix six parts of peat, two parts of humus, part of turf soil and sand. For 10 kg of mixture, we recommend adding 20 g of urea and a glass of ash. If desired, such a substrate can be replaced with vermicompost and sand, mixing them in equal proportions, or you can purchase ready-made soil for seedlings at the garden center.

Young seedlings for cultivation

You can use any convenient container as a container for planting. These can be ordinary boxes, seedling cassettes, trays or homemade plastic containers. Next, fill the container you have chosen with a pre-prepared soil mixture, make small indentations in it with a match and place sprouted seeds in each, sprinkle them on top with a thin layer of earth no more than 0.5–1 cm thick. For ease of germination, experts recommend doing this on gauze. To do this, lay a single layer of gauze on the ground, moisten it with Epin’s solution and scatter the seeds on top. Don’t be afraid to sprinkle them thickly, as there is a high probability that not all seedlings will sprout. Now we moisten the seeds with Epin’s solution and cover them with film on top; for convenience, use shoe covers to create a greenhouse effect.

As soon as the seeds hatch, lightly sprinkle them with soil, gradually removing the film, and do not forget to moisten the soil as it dries. When the first shoots appear, the container must be moved to a room with a temperature of 13–16 °C, illuminating the seedlings with phytolamps so that they do not stretch out. If the seedlings have sprouted densely, they need to be thinned, removing weak and diseased specimens. And when 3-4 true leaves appear, celery seedlings can be plucked

Transplanting seedlings into separate cups must be done as carefully as possible so as not to damage the taproot. Otherwise, this may lead to partial loss of the crop or significant deformation of the root crop.

Caring for celery after transplanting

In order for seedlings of root or petiole celery to take root well in open ground during the first time after planting, and to produce a good harvest in the future, it is necessary to provide it with competent care. Plants should be cared for as follows:

If after planting the seedlings the weather is sunny, then it is recommended to shade the plants on the south side with agrofibre for the first 2 days (for example, put up posts and stretch non-fabric over them).
If the first time after transplantation there is a risk of spring frosts, it is necessary to protect the plants! To do this, for example, you can place arcs in the garden bed and stretch agrofibre (spunbond) over them.
At first, it is important to be careful about soil moisture; during this period, plants take root and take root in a new place, so they need life-giving moisture. Water celery regularly, avoiding overwatering.
Plants need to be watered abundantly. For example, if you water frequently and with a small amount of water, the celery root may grow bearded.
It is useful to mulch the surface of the soil around the plant. The mulching procedure retains moisture in the soil for a longer time. For example, you can mulch with straw, rotted sawdust, and non-acidic peat.

If you do not mulch the bed, then you need to periodically loosen the soil surface between the rows after rain or watering. Loosening is accompanied by weeding.
If the seedlings were initially planted in nutritious, fertilized soil, then during the growing period you can do without fertilizing.
When growing petiole celery, it is necessary to carry out high hilling to bleach the petioles.
Peculiarity of caring for root celery: in mid-summer it is necessary to rake away the soil from the top of the root crop and tear off the side roots. Manipulation will help to obtain a larger harvest.

As you can see, the process of planting celery seedlings in the garden is very simple! It is much easier to directly grow seedlings at home. If you carefully follow the procedure according to all the rules, the plants will 100% take root well and will delight you with a good harvest.

Seed sowing technology

Following the rules for sowing seeds will help you obtain strong and viable vegetable seedlings. Important points are the choice of soil mixture and containers for seedlings, preparing the seed for planting.

Selection of soil and container

Celery seedlings love loose, breathable soil that can retain moisture well.

Experienced gardeners recommend preparing the soil mixture yourself. For this purpose, you will need to add soaked coconut substrate (2 l), a little vermicompost or compost (1 l), and perlite (0.5 l) to peat (10 l). Purchased soil is watered with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or Fitosporin-M.

It is advisable to choose purchased seedling cassettes as containers for seedlings. Containers in the form of small boxes, cake boxes, cardboard milk or juice cartons are also suitable. Ideally, the height of the container should be about 7 cm, and there must be drainage holes at the bottom.

Seed preparation

Old seeds are not used to obtain seedlings. They have a low germination rate. The seeds of this vegetable crop contain large quantities of essential oils that prevent germination. The following measures will help speed up the emergence of seedlings:

soaking the seed, placed in a canvas bag, in hot water (+60 ⁰C) until it cools completely;
washing the seeds followed by soaking for 3 days in melt water;
stratification of the seed (first it is kept for 5 days on a damp cloth, then sent to the refrigerator for 14 days);
bubbling for 1 day followed by half an hour soaking in Epin, HB 101.

The seed must be dry at the time of sowing.

Direct sowing: planting methods

Celery seeds are sown as seedlings in boxes (subsequent picking will be required) or in separate cups (or peat tablets). There are other options for planting vegetables to obtain seedlings.

Into the snail

You can sow seed in the so-called snail. They do this as follows:

Take a strip of polyethylene and a roll of toilet paper (their width should be the same).
Toilet paper is placed on polyethylene.
Spray the surface of the paper with a spray bottle (take water or Vitalizer solution).
Place the seeds on a damp surface, adhering to the top edge (make an indent of 5 mm from the top).
Roll it up so that the seeds are inside. The twist is fixed with an elastic band and sent to a plastic bag.
A week later, the snail is unwrapped and a thin layer of soil mixture is poured over the sprouted seeds.
The snail is rolled up again. They put it on a pallet. Moisten using a spray bottle. Cover with a bag.
When sprouts appear, remove the bag.

In a container with snow

We sow petiole celery for seedlings using the “on snow” method. It is convenient because the seed material is miniature in size and dark in color. In addition, melt water will stimulate seed germination.

Sowing is done as follows:

The container is filled with soil mixture to the very top.
The land is watered and leveled.
Lay out a layer of snow.
Dry seeds are sprinkled on top of the snow layer. They try to sprinkle in rows. The distance between them should be about 2–3 cm.
Spray the planting with Epin solution or another growth stimulator after the snow mass has melted.
Cover the container with polyethylene. Leave it in a warm and well-lit place. The temperature in the room should be +25 ⁰С.

In diapers

The method of sowing in diapers is simple and convenient. Swaddling seedlings is possible in several ways: with or without the use of soil mixture, coconut substrate.

To germinate seedlings using the diaper method:

Pre-germinate the seeds.
Prepare the film. Regular bags or thicker film will do. The base is cut to the size of a notebook page.
Lay the film on the table, pour a couple of tablespoons of soil into its middle. Make a depression in the slide.
Place a seed in the hole.
Fold the bottom edge one-third to create a bottom and roll the film. The manipulation is carried out loosely, as if swaddling a baby.
Secure the roll with an elastic band, place it in a container, water it generously and feed it.
Cover the containers with seedlings with film and place them in the light.