Celery seedling sown on 17th March 2015 as part of the Really Wild Veg growing trials.

The wet summer may not have been much fun, but our celery has been loving it. One of the real challenges with growing celery on well-drained soils is keeping it damp enough so that it grows strongly and does not bolt early.

The three trial plots each contained eight plants grown as two rows of four. The harvest on the 26th August gave the following weights:

Wild – 368, 162, 178, 152, 133, 130, 159, 51 making a total of 1,333g with an average weight of 167g

Heritage – 197, 405, 155, 428, 141, 49, 283, 289 making a total of 1,947g with an average weight of 243g

F1 – 175, 197, 240, 436, 350, 147, 427, 412 making a total of 2,384g with an average weight of 298g

No pest or disease damage was noted in any of the plants and the only problem has been that by September a few plants had begun bolting. Interestingly, none of the wild plants have bolted.