Celery Blush

Apium graveolens 

Story:  This self-blanching, British bred celery is both ornamental and delicious, developing pink blushed bases without the need for earthing up. It is both sweet and low maintenance - we first got this seed from She Grows Veg and it is a new addition to our catalogue this year, let us know what you think of growing it!

When to sow: Sow from January to March with heat like tomatoes and plant out after last frost. These are slow growing plants so be sure to get them sown early, sowing them on the surface of moist seeding compost before sprinkling compost or vermiculite to cover them.

Requirements: Once the seeds have germinated, celery is low maintenance. It does best when grown without much competition and may suffer from celery leaf miner - an issue best handled by removing damaged leaves and practicing crop rotation.

Harvesting: Harvest from mid summer to early winter.

Saving Seed: Celery closely related to celery leaf and celeriac so can cross with them. Luckily we tend to harvest these crops before it has the chance to flower so there is no risk of cross pollination. Allow the celery to go to flower and for the seeds to form and begin to dry on the plant. Once seed heads are brown, cut the entire stems and bring inside to dry fully. Crumble the seeds from their stems, package, label and date. 

Number of plants to save seeds from: 5 minimum

Pollination: Insect pollinated

How to send seed back: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact, if you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. Please aim to send back 1 tablespoon of dried seed or more so that we can continue to share with network members. Send to: Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.

Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 3 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just three packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.* 

*Community groups and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us if this is the case.

If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.