Red Celery

[montyb]

Found red celery seeds last year and made an attempt at starting. I've never tried growing celery and last year I started them in peat pellets. They sprouted fine but they stopped growing and maybe 1/4 in and never grew any more. Any ideas what went wrong? I really want to try growing cause red celery is something my great grandfather used to grow in the late 1800s according to my grandmother. Never saw it ever till I found these seeds. They had good light, sprouted and were warm never cold. Any suggestions?

[ddsack]

I grew some red celery from seed last year, did not even know they previously existed. I started in a 4 cell pack in starting mix, probably around 12 spaced seeds per each 2 inch square. I don't remember the germination percent, but I had plenty of plants for the garden row. I left them in the cell pack until I was ready to transplant into the garden. Celery don't mind some root disturbance, so I had to pick/tear them apart for planting rather ruthlessly. I probably gave them a dash of light fertilizer every few waterings while they were in the cell pack, especially as they started to get crowded prior to planting out. They did well in the garden, but never got very thick stalks. Probably because they were in the partially shaded end of the lettuce bed, I got them in the ground late, and was lax with weeding early on. I found the uncooked taste to be more bitter than green celery, but that may have been because of my less than ideal growing conditions. It would be fun to try growing side by side with green celery, or intersperse every other plant for a nice display.

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by montyb

...They had good light, sprouted and were warm never cold. Any suggestions?

They may have been too warm! I grew red/pink celery a few years ago and iirc germinated and grew it outdoors (mild winter climate). It was very prolific and came back every year until I moved.