It Takes Two to Tango

Celery. Hard to grow? Not Tango. I found my first attempt at growing celery to be quite easy. It was grown in a new raised bed that I use the square foot gardening method in. The bed was filled with 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 was a blend of different potting mixes, compost, and bags of manure. After planting four celery plants per square foot, I made sure to keep it well watered. Otherwise it took care of itself. I was stunned to see that it actually looked like celery. Unfortunately when the celery was ready…I wasn’t. I love celery chopped up in tuna fish sandwiches, or I smother it with peanut butter. Turns out that I didn’t feel like eating any of those around the time the stalks were forming and ready. To my dismay, when I started to harvest some of the 8 celery plants this weekend, I found them to be tough and the flavor was VERY strong. Although it still looked beautiful, just like celery from the store, it was past its prime. I did find that two of the plants were still good. I chopped off stalks from them, before they got the old heave-hoe into the composter, and they tasted fine. It was a good lesson for me to learn. The garden doesn’t wait for you to be ready. You need to be ready for the garden.