Celery

Vegetable · cool season

Bunches of green celery
Photo: Lombroso, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

When to plant

  • Start seeds indoors about 10 weeks before planting out.
  • Plant outdoors about 1 week after your average last spring frost.
  • Ready to harvest about 100 days after planting out.

Needs steady moisture. Cold snaps after transplant cause bolting.

Frost dates depend on where you live. Enter your ZIP code to get exact dates.

Growing basics

Sun
Part sun (4–6 hours)
Spacing
8–10 in
Soil temperature
At least 50°F
Time to harvest
About 100 days
Containers
At least 3 gallons
Plant family
Carrot family (umbellifers)
Harvest per plant
About 1 lb
Seeds keep
About 5 years

Companions

Keep apart: Horseradish. Horseradish spreads aggressively. Give it its own spot.

Keep apart: Mint. Mint spreads aggressively into neighbors. Keep it in a pot.

Keep apart: Fennel (bulb). Fennel slows the growth of most garden plants. Grow it on its own.

Keep apart: Sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke). Sunchokes spread aggressively and shade neighbors.

Grow it well

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