The plant is grown in a way similar to that used for Parsley - none of the hassle associated with Celery or Celeriac - although it does still prefer moist soil and plenty of water. It seems to be very tolerant when it comes to site and soil requirements. Due to space restrictions, the first time I grew it, I had some plants in a big plastic crate, filled with multi-purpose compost. Now, I have a patch of it next to one of my compost bins. On the face of it the soil here looks very unpromising, though I suppose it must benefit to a certain extent from nutrients leaking out of the base of the compost bin.
I sowed this little group of plants last Spring (2015 that is), and up till now it has performed just like Parsley, and we have used leaves of it whenever required. Now, it is running to seed (it's a biennial, like Parsley) and has produced some tall thick flower-stems.
I'm going to leave them to flower, then I can save the seeds for sowing next year.
Because this plant has a strong taste, we use it primarily for flavouring soups, stews and stock - anything that calls for Celery in fact - but not as a vegetable in its own right. It has a very pronounced "Umami" (savouriness) effect. One or two leaves (stalk included) each time is all you need. If you are going to eat it raw, I suggest using only the tiniest leaves - like these perhaps:
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| For the purposes of scale - that is an 8-inch side-plate |
For the time being I have given up on trying to grow Celeriac. My results to-date have been far from impressive, and certainly not worth the effort that has gone into them!
We are the opposite in our house - we enjoy celery stalks, esp. raw, but not the leaves, which usually end up in the compost. I've never used the leaves to add flavour to soups. I'm wondering if they would add the savouriness that you refer to as they are likely much milder in flavour than cutting celery.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth a try, surely?
DeleteDid your leaf celery die back during the winter? The seed packet I got for it wasn't viable, only one plant came up from an entire packet and it promptly died. It's a lovely big plant, something I wouldn't mind growing in the front of the house.
ReplyDeleteNo, mine did not die back much. I stayed about the size of a conventional Parsley plant for several months, and then just took off. It is about 3 feet tall now and still growing. To be fair, we had a pretty mild Winter and it probably would not survive a prolonged sub-zero patch.
DeleteI didn't realise we were in the 22nd Century? (2105) 😄
ReplyDeleteI prefer the leaves of Celery to the stalks. I've bought Celeriac plug plants this year to try to catch up but I expect the woodlice will still hollow them out before I can harvest them 😀
Thanks for pointing out the typo - I've fixed it now! I've never had problems with woodlice - just small size...
DeleteWe gave up on both celery and celeiac a couple of years ago. They seem to be a problem for many many gardeners.
ReplyDelete