Celery is characterized by good cold resistance. Its seeds do not freeze in winter, and in spring they germinate much earlier. To plant celery in the winter and take care of the plant during the growing season in early spring, you need to follow certain rules.
What celery is suitable for planting in the winter?
You can sow any celery in winter - leaf, petiole, root, and the root is recommended to be sown in this way, since the growing season in the culture is quite significant - 5-6 months. Plants sown in autumn will sprout 2-4 weeks earlier, which will extend the growing season and get a larger crop.
Landing time
It is very important not to make a mistake with the sowing time. It is necessary that the vegetable seeds do not have time to germinate before the onset of cold weather, otherwise they will die.
It is optimum to plant a crop at daytime low positive temperatures and night frosts. In Central Russia, this time begins in October and November. You can sow even in the snow, if a thaw is planned soon.
It is convenient to sow celery with parsley. These plants are related and similar in many respects, including the growing characteristics.
Requirements for the site, its processing
For celery, plots located on the south side are best suited, open and sunny, well-warmed and ventilated. It is not recommended to choose shaded places near buildings and under large trees.
The surface of the beds should be flat, and they themselves should not be in the lowland. For plants sown in the winter, this is extremely important, because in a wet flooded area, the seeds can be soaked.
The soil under celery should be nutritious, light, loose and moisture permeable. It must be prepared at least 2 weeks before sowing. First you need to remove all plant residues from the beds, then dig the soil and add humus of 6-8 kg per square meter, 10 g of phosphate and 5 g of potash fertilizers. Level the soil and leave it until the day of sowing.
Planting celery
Seeds for winter sowing are not processed and not soaked, they must be dry. You can dragee them or sow on the tape. It is necessary to use fresh seeds collected this year, they have the highest germination rate.
The sequence of work is as follows:
- On the prepared site, make shallow grooves.
- Sow celery in them to a depth of 2-4 cm. You can sow more densely than in spring, in case some of them do not sprout. In the spring it will be possible to thin out the plants.
- The distance between the rows (15-35 cm) depends on the variety and variety - leaf celery is sown denser, root - less often.
- Cover the grooves with a layer of soil or peat.
Watering the beds is not necessary. After all the seeds have been sown, be sure to cover them with a mulch layer of at least 5 cm. In a snowless winter, you will need to cover the celery with another additional layer of warming material.
Care for celery planted in the winter during the growing season
In the spring, as soon as all the snow has melted, you need to immediately remove the winter shelter. The sun warms up the earth faster, and the seeds begin to rise.
When the soil dries a little, carry out the first loosening. Culture generally likes the soil to be light, airy, so loosening the beds needs to be done more often, especially for root varieties.
Plants are hygrophilous, it is necessary to water them so that the earth is constantly moist. Without water, there will be no leaves or root crops. You need to water the celery under the root, trying to prevent moisture from getting inside the sockets, which can cause them to rot.
Celery is fed 2-3 times per season with a feed mixture of urea, potassium sulfate and superphosphate. Each fertilizer take 1 tbsp. l on a bucket of water.
Harvesting
Leaves begin to be cut as soon as they reach 10-15 cm, petioles - 20 cm. Harvesting continues throughout the summer. Root celery is harvested at the end of the growing season when the root crops have reached the size characteristic of their variety. In this case, the timing will be different.
They store petioles and leaves in the refrigerator, root crops - in a cold and wet cellar. It is possible to lay in storage only vegetables that are completely whole, without damage, rot and traces of diseases. Before this, they need to be dried for 2-3 days.
Celery is a crop that can be sown both in spring and autumn. Winter sowing is even preferable, since the seeds germinate earlier, the plants are stronger and more magnificent, give a more generous crop.