Organic Gardening by Charles Dowding

Author:Charles Dowding
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Green Books (Perseus)
Published: 2015-07-08T08:08:09.236000+00:00

CELERIAC

Season of harvest: October to November, store until April Follow with: spring sowings or plantings

Turnip-rooted celery is a strong-tasting root, bringing the flavour of earth and celery to soups, stews and salads in winter and early spring. Celeriac loves to grow in well-composted soil offering moist conditions, and benefits from some extra watering in a dry summer. Its roots are fibrous and mostly superficial, which limits its growth in drier soils; a heavy clay is best.

I have grown many varieties and noticed few significant differences.

Sowing and planting

Decent-sized roots require a long growing season, so seed is usually sown under cover between late March and early May, for planting out by mid-June. The seeds are tiny and should not be covered with any compost, so a sheet of glass over the seed tray or modules is beneficial. Nothing will appear for up to three weeks, maybe when you are just about to give up!

The tiny seedlings should be pricked out into 3-4cm (2-2.5")modules, until about 7-8cm (3") high, then hardened off and planted after any risk of late frost, which would weaken but probably not kill them, and might encourage them to bolt before winter.

Growing

Regular hoeing or hand-weeding will probably be necessary until about August. By then, especially if you have planted ‘on the square’ at about 35x35cm (14x14"), there should be leaves covering all bare soil and preventing much new weed growth.

A thick surface dressing of compost always benefits celeriac immensely, both for a gentle supply of nutrients over its long season, and for retention of moisture in dry weather. Roots grow larger in wet summers.

By September there should be a fair-sized root, mostly above soil level. Some gardeners like to remove all lower leaves, supposedly to help roots to swell. I find this of little benefit growth-wise, but it makes the plants very attractive! I did a trial of one row de-leafed at the bottom, one row untouched, and the latter grew noticeably bigger.

Harvesting and storing

Lifting in November, and before any severe frost, is about right. Masses of fleshy roots make a spade or trowel helpful, together with a knife to sever roots as or after the plant is eased upwards. With the celeriac in hand, trimming of leaves and excess soil should reveal some hints of white flesh, but trim sparingly if you are harvesting to store the roots, in similar conditions to carrots – say in a box or sack in shed or garage, free of significant frost, because a thin layer of soil always helps to keep roots moist and firm.

Problems

Carrot root fly When preparing celeriac to eat, you may see lines of brown across and into its bottom end. These are tunnels of carrot root fly maggots, but as with parsnips the large bulk of the roots means that damage is less important.

Frost is a hazard because so much of the root is above ground and exposed to cold air.

Holes inside the roots can be from dry spells or varietal traits. Slug holes are more significant, often inhabited by woodlice, and many slugs may make an earlier harvest worthwhile.

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