Saturday, January 21, 2012

Magic Celery

Did you know that you can grow celery from the bottom part that you would normally toss aside.  It's magic.  

First, cut the bottom portion of celery stalk.  Reserve the top portion for your favorite recipe or a snack.

Dig a hole in the vegetable garden deep enough to completely cover the celery, and plant the celery in the hole with the freshly cut side up.

In 10 days, the progress was amazing.  I can hardly believe my eyes.

I saw this experiment on the internet, but I didn't totally believe it would work.  Well, what do you know?  I think I actually see my first stalk forming. 

So, will this magic celery grow to a full-sized celery bunch?  Only time will tell...

31 comments:

  1. That's pretty cool! I'll have to try it. I do know you can do the same thing with the bottoms of green onions. Laura

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    1. Next time I buy green onions, I'll give that a try. Thanks for the tip.

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    2. What I think is so cool about this....I really love the leafy part of celery - which is usually cut off, or it's buried deep inside and not very green. With this method I will get it fresh and green....full of the sun's goodness!! Yeah!!

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    3. Mine is still going strong with plenty of leafy goodness. I'll post an update photo soon.

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    4. You can also do this with romaine lettuce. I have tons of them almost ready simple from the ends.

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  2. It makes sense. much like how you can grow pineapple from the cut off top (though I've heard this only is the case for pineapples grown and bought in Hawaii - probably due to the fact the pineapples are closer to ripeness when picked).

    I had found out about the onions from one of my friends who found out about it from his mother in law in Venezuela.

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    1. I grew a pineapple top once, but I didn't hang in there long enough to get an actual pineapple. I think it takes almost 2 years.

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    2. I grew a pineapple from a pineapple bought in Oklahoma. It did take a few years but it worked. It was still growing hen my sons friend knocked it off of the plant! :/

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  3. Great idea. When I buy celery I typically only need a stalk or two. Now I'm imagining a Stone Soup garden started from kitchen waste like celery and green onion bottoms and pineapple tops!

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    1. We can add potatoes. You can cut them in half; grow one half and eat the other. Mmmm, potatoes, celery and green onion soup with some pineapple for dessert.

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  4. This is great! I had heard of the onion trick on Pinterest. But, now celery, too.
    Recycling at its finest.

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    1. Coincidently, I saw the celery trick on Pinterest. That's a fun web site.

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  5. This is a really cool tip. When I get my veggie garden going, I'll have to try it.

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    1. I finally got around to making some chili this weekend. Fortunately, I still had some celery left to toss in the pot.

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  6. I'll have to try that.
    How about sweet potatoes and beans for more grocery store stuff you can plant?
    Cindy S.

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  7. When did you plant the celery? I'm starting my garden the weekend after Mother's Day and I was wondering if that would be a good time to start the celery.

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    1. I started my celery on January 11th. I would not advise starting celery in Texas in May. Celery is pretty tough to grow in our climate. The growing season is long (90-120 days) and requires temperatures ranges of 55 degrees at night and 70 degrees during the day. Those temperatures ranges are pretty hard to come by in Texas.

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  8. That is really cool! I know celery is hard to grow here, but if it's free why not try it.

    Laura

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    1. Absolutely. I would normally just throw the bottom into the compost anyway. So why not experiment a little and see what happens. It's still growing at this point, but with spring temps warming so quickly, I don't know how long it will keep going.

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  9. Put some sort of tent over it(kind of like a person using an umbrella)I don't know if it will work but it's worth a try. I live in Nebraska but I'm definitely going to try this. It can't hurt.

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    1. Looks like spring is coming early to Texas. It's been so hot here lately some form of shade may be needed to grow a full sized harvestable plant.

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  10. How critical is is that the climate provide 120 days between 70 (high) and 55 (low)? I'm going to try starting a celery root in a nearly fully shaded spot in my garden. Our last freeze date is Apr 15 (first freeze is Nov 10), so early May's about the earliest I could try starting. But the Placerville area of CA just may not be the right location, because our monthly averages look like this:
    .. .. Average Daily .. Design
    Month .. hi .. .. low .. Max/Min

    Jan .. 54 .. .. 36 .. 29
    Feb .. 59 .. .. 38
    Mar .. 62 .. .. 40
    Apr .. 68 .. .. 44
    May .. 76 .. .. 49
    Jun .. 85 .. .. 56
    Jul .. 94 .. .. 61 .. 100
    Aug .. 93 .. .. 60
    Sep .. 87 .. .. 56
    Oct .. 77 .. .. 50
    Nov .. 63 .. .. 42
    Dec .. 55 .. .. 36

    wish me luck

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    1. Celery needs at least 6 hours of sun in addition to cool and moist conditions. If your winters aren't too harsh, you might consider getting an early start and covering the plants with row cover when temperatures dip. Best of luck to you. I hope you have a great crop.

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    2. It's already sprouted! The nascent little canopy is a good 3/4" tall by about 1 1/2" in diameter. I'd've attached a photo if I could've figured out how.

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    3. I just started one, I put mine in a pot in the house. I hope it grows.

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  11. So you can have your celery and eat it too. You just have to be patient.

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  12. I started mine in a plate of water.........it grew!!!................then I planted it in dirt and it's still doing well.....neat idea

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    1. I did the same thing with the heart of romaine lettuce. Its about 3 inches above where I originally cut the lettuce off the heart. Still growing strong!

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  13. You can put a piece of white plumbing pipe over it and the celery will come up straight and stay light covered and tender and you will have a beautifully uniform close of celery to harvest!
    Nummy......celery sticks and freshly ground peanut butter!!

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  14. I saw this and tried it, and it grew like crazy. I think it might have been around June when I had it on the windowsill, it started to grow so I figured I would put it in the garden. By September it was about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. This experiment was a huge success. I had a large amount of sheep manure in the bed it went into. This time I will be planting 15.....they are already on my windowsill and I will attempt to grow them over the winter.

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