How To Grow Celeriac

Celeriac is a great tasting vegetable, it can be served boiled, but is far better served roasted. Indeed if you are roasting it then adding some garlic or chili infused oil can really bring out the flavour of it.

Celeriac is actually a direct relative of celery, which has grown in the wild an emanates from northern Europe. Unlike a lot of vegetables they do not like well manured soil, indeed they do best planted in last seasons compost.

They like moist but well drained soil and do not tolerate being water logged (Despite being made up from a large amount of water!). They also like a position in full Sun. Whilst you can plant them in the soil they do best being germinated in propagator inside, then moved into pots and hardened up outside. Basically celeriac likes a nice warm climate, so never plant out if there is a danger of frost. This means that you can start them outside in March if your climate is frost free at that time of year, or start them inside in March and plant them out towards the end of May if you live in a cooler climate.

If you do plant the celeriac seeds outside then plant them shallow at around ¼ of an inch to ½ of an inch at the deepest as they germinate best when they can “See” the Sun. And speaking of celeriac seeds you are highly unlikely to find them at your local gardening store, so a quick search on the Internet may be called for.

When hardening them off you need to pay very close attention to the temperature, as if they drop below 45 degrees for more than a few days they will think they are in “Winter” mode and then when it warms up all they will do is flower and not grow. You should plant them in rows about one foot apart and around one foot from each other, as they are a root vegetable and the roots will extend far beyond the celeriac plants themselves seeking out nutrients.

It is easier to grow than celery and it has a much longer shelf life, as you can store it in a cool dark place much like potatoes. Celeriac really is a great, simple vegetable to grow as it can be boiled, roasted, added to mashed potato, or even grated and eaten raw with salad.

It is not affected by many things but if you have problems read up on Celeriac Pests And Diseases

By Richard Allen -