Celery Harvest – Picking Celery In Your Garden

by johnah on November 13, 2020

Celery Harvest – Picking Celery In Your Garden

The following are some facts about picking celery:

1) You need to pick it before its time to rot.

If you don’t do so, then your celery won’t have enough nutrients to keep it alive until the next year.

2) You can only use one hand at a time while picking.

So if you want to pick it with both hands, then you must hold the celery firmly with one hand and gently push down on the other side with your thumb.

3) When picking celery, you should not touch any part of the stem or leaves.

You should just go through them like a knife going through butter.

4) When you cut the top off of a stalk, you should remove all the green leaves first.

Then when you cut the bottom off, leave only the white part of the leaf intact. (You can see here what I mean.)

5) If you want to make sure that your celery doesn’t get too soft and mushy, then always take it out from under cover of night.

It’s best to do this in a cool place away from direct sunlight.

6) It takes about three months to grow celery in the ground or about one month in a pot.

Then it’s ready to harvest.

7) If you want the celery to grow again then you must plant its root back in the dirt.

(You can eat the top part if you want to.) Three weeks later it will be ready to pick again.

In conclusion, when is celery ready to harvest?

I could tell you the exact day to pick it, but that would just be pointless knowledge. Instead, I have given you the facts about picking celery so that you can make your own decision on when to harvest. It is up to you and no one else.

The following are some opinions about how to plant and grow cutting celery:

1) You should soak the seeds overnight before planting them.

It usually takes one to five days for the celery to sprout, so be patient. (It also helps to mix the seeds with a bit of water and some fertilizer before you plant them.)

2) You must plant your celery in loose and rich soil.

(If you don’t have loose and rich soil, then add some fertilizer or manure to it before you plant the seeds.)

3) You don’t want the celery to get too much sun, so make sure to plant it in a place that isn’t exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time.

If the celery gets too much sun, then its stalks will become too tough and stringy to eat.

4) You shouldn’t plant the celery too deep, so just make a small hole for it and then cover it up again with soil.

5) You should keep the celery watered.

If it gets too dry, then the stalks will become weak and they may even fall over. On the other hand, if the celery gets too much water, then its stalks will become soft and full of moisture.

6) You want to make sure that the celery has room to grow, so when you plant it, keep a few inches between each seed.

7) You should harvest the stalks of celery before they become overgrown.

The best time to do this is at night because the celery is most active then. It’s also best to harvest in the fall when there is a slight nip in the air.

8) You can eat the tops of the celery as well.

9) You can plant celery in a pot, but you must be very careful with it because if it gets too dry, then the climate is too harsh, or it doesn’t get enough sun, then the celery will wilt and die.

It’s also important to keep the soil fresh by adding some fertilizer every once in awhile.

10) Celery doesn’t like to be too crowded, so only plant a few seeds in each pot.

11) The celery will be ready for harvest in about a month. When you do harvest it, you must root the stalks in dirt or mud so that they keep growing back again. (You can eat the leaves too if you want to.

They’re called celery leaves and they have a nice taste.)

12) If you want celery to grow back again the next year then you must plant the roots in an area that gets a lot of sunlight. Also, make sure to keep it watered.

As with my other books, I’ve tried to give you a good foundation so that you may learn how to grow various plants and crops. I trust that you will continue to learn on your own and discover more about growing things. There is much more for you to learn.

Good luck on your future endeavors.

Best wishes,

William F. Hook

P.S. If you ever see my friend Forrest again, tell him I say hi and that I’m sorry I missed him.

It would be nice to see him again too.

Your good friend,

William F. Hook

The Adventures of Matti the Jackal (A Short Story)

(Originally published in “Dusks and Dusters” Issue #1, April 2012)

Matti the jackal knew she was being followed.

The heavy and erratic footsteps behind her were a dead giveaway. The scent of stale sweat, body odor, and cheap beer that seemed to hang in the air was another.

Still, Matti didn’t bother to look behind her or even speed up. No need to. She knew who it was.

Her pursuer wasn’t just clumsy and loud, he was also a sure bet.

She continued down the alley, clinging close to the shadowy walls and rounded the next corner. Sure enough, Earl was there waiting for her.

He stood 6 foot 4 and probably weighed close to 400 pounds. His gut protruded far out in front of him and his arms were as big around as Matti’s waist. He was bald, save for a patch of hair that grew from his chin and a thick coating of grime and dirt covered his face.

Earl grinned at her, his teeth yellow and crooked. “Well, well, if it ain’t Miss Matti the Jackal.”

“Hello, Earl.

Keeping your meat hooks to yourself today?”

The big man snorted with laughter. “You know nobody can catch you, Miss Matti.”

“True, but I know nobody likes being called a pervert, Earl.”

Earl’s face dropped. “I ain’t no pervert.”

Matti smirked. “You’re 55 years old, weigh close to 400 pounds, have no teeth, and you still follow little girls around the alleyways trying to grab their asses. I’d say that makes you a pervert, Earl.”

Earl’s face grew red and he started forward. “I’m not a pervert! I…”

“

You what?”

Matti asked, her face matching his in color.

“I…I…just…” Earl stammered, but never finished as his face twisted up, his eyes grew wide, and he let out a roar as he grabbed his chest.

His huge body shuddered and he collapsed to the ground.

“Earl!” Matti cried and dropped to her knees at his side. She shoved her fingers against his neck, trying to find a pulse, but there was nothing.

Earl the pervert was dead.

Matti sat back on her heels and swore. She glanced around and realized that several people had come out of their homes and were standing in their doorways or looking out their windows at her. She wiped her hand across her brow and then held it up before her as if showing them it was clean.

“He died of a heart attack,” she explained. “He was big and fat. It was gonna happen soon.”

The people nodded and slowly went back inside. Matti glanced down at Earl’s corpse. It was times like this when she wished she had someone to talk to about it, but her mother died when she was young and her father had been killed by bandits two years ago.

She had no family and it was just her and Earl.

She sighed, stood, and then dragged his body into the alley where she covered it with trash. She’d come back later with someone to collect him for burial. She then walked quickly back to the tavern where she tended the bar alone for the rest of the night.

Fortunately, business was so-so, so she didn’t need to do much talking.

The next day, Matti returned home to find a visitor waiting for her on her front porch. He was a tall man with light brown hair and wearing a brown pants and jacket. A bow and quiver rested against the wall next to him.

“Hello,” Matti said as she approached. “

Can I help you?”

“

Are you Matilda Swann?”

he asked, getting to his feet.

“I am.”

“My name is Connor of the Bakaaran Mercenaries. You may have heard of us.”

“I have,” Matti said, wondering where this was going.

“I’ve been sent to offer you a job.”

“

A job? Why would I need a mercenary group for a job?”

Connor smiled. “I have to say, you’re much different than how Earl described you.”

“

Earl?”

“Yes, Earl. He was the very fat man who died outside your tavern yesterday.”

Matti’s eyes grew wide.

“Oh don’t worry,” Connor said. “There’s no price on your head or anything. It’s just that Earl was an…interesting fellow.

He had this naive idea that you needed help running your tavern, so he often offered his advice when he came in. He was always very excited to do it, too. Anyway, he must’ve told us his idea about you and the tavern because we immediately contacted him when we saw your place was for sale.”

“

You knew Earl?”

“Oh yes. In fact, he was the one who found us our last job. There’s this little village called Dert. It’s a miserable little place, but it has a nice well in the center of town. We often camped outside it on our way to…” Connor paused and looked down, seemingly upset. “Anyways, we were going to raid it, but Earl convinced us to not do so, saying that the villagers were good people that would do nothing but suffer if we plundered them.”

“It sounds like Earl,” Matti said nodding.

Sources & references used in this article:

Distillation and Use of Essential Oils From Dill, Celery, Lovage, and Parsley, Made in Germany by RJ Thomann, J Ehrich, U Bauermann – … Plants Conference: part 1 of 4 …, 1992 – actahort.org

Market diseases of asparagus, onions, beans, peas, carrots, celery, and related vegetables by B West, D Drost – Utah State Extension, 2010

Do NH4: NO3 ratio and harvest time affect celery (Apium graveolens) productivity and product quality? by MA Smith, LP McColloch, BA Friedman – 1966 – books.google.com

Evaluation of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of selected celery (Apium graveolens var. dulce) varieties in the context of juices production. by S Saleh, G Liu, M Liu, W Liu, H He… – Folia …, 2019 – content.sciendo.com

Celery-harvesting implement. by I Mezeyova, A Hegedűsová, J Mezey, M Šlosár… – …, 2018 – researchgate.net

Celery in the Garden by JG Smith – US Patent 690,899, 1902 – Google Patents

Carrot, Celery, and Other Vegetable Umbels by D Drost, B West – 2010 – digitalcommons.usu.edu

The celery stalks at midnight by VE Rubatzky, M Yamaguchi – World Vegetables, 1997 – Springer

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