Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Experimental Plant Lab in Zone 23: Celery

2011 is the year of experimentation for my garden.  I am trying my hand at growing vegetables which I  have no experience in growing.

I saw a celery seeding at the nursery one day a few weeks ago.  Why not?  I grabbed the small plastic pot and put if on the upper shelf of the push cart along with basil, lemon verbena (the lemon fragrance is intoxicating), and some lettuce (red romaine and red oakleaf) cell packs.

Did I mention I didn't bother reading the growing instructions?  Come on...this gardening stuff isn't rocket science.  Stick it in the dirt...winter rains...mother nature's robustness and things should grow. 

After several weeks the celery is going nowhere--fast. Perhaps I should I read the handy little information insert.  See, I keep them right next to the plant for easy referral.  Oh, now I understand...celery likes a moist, bog-like location (California rains do not a bog create).  And fertilizer.  Who knew?

Since then, I have upped the watering cycle and with the increasing daylight, things are greening up and growing.  Over the weekend, I worked a little worm casting and organic compost into the soil around the plant.

Stay tuned to see how things in the Experimental Plant Lab turn out.


2 comments:

Masha said...

Funny, definitely no bog conditions here either:). How do you control snails?

earlysnowdrop said...

This year I have started hand picking the snails I find in the garden. Then, because I am a big baby who cannot hurt a flea, I put them in the green recycling container. I figure they will meet their demise amid the tons of hot compost and their shells will add a bit of calcium to the mix!

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