Levisticum officinale

<p style="text-align: justify;">Celery has been grown as a vegetable since Antiquity, when it was consumed as an herb and for medicinal use. First cultivated form was cutting celery and, over centuries, celeriac and stalk celery were selected.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Celeriac is appreciated by gardeners for its ease of cultivation; it is a hardy root vegetable with a long growing season. I recommend the <strong>Monarch</strong> variety, an improvement on the Géant de Prague variety, which produces attractive, flavoursome roots and resists bolting well — ideal for beginner gardeners!</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Stalk celery is a leaf vegetable, less hardy than celeriac, but also valued for its robustness in the garden. I recommend the <strong>Géant Doré Amélioré</strong> variety, useful in the kitchen because its midribs are not stringy. But, if choosing, don’t miss the <strong>Giant Red</strong> variety, with red petioles, much more flavoursome than the green ones! Cutting celery should be grown for making bouquet garni or for flavouring dishes.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="attr">For cultivation, plan ahead and start sowing from March indoors in a warm, bright spot. Germination is fairly slow and the young plant grows slowly, very slowly at first! Once young plants are sufficiently developed, keep the best and prick them out into individual buckets. They can then be planted in the garden from May onwards, or earlier with frost protection. Celery requires a generous supply of well-rotted compost or well-decomposed manure (5 kg per m²). After planting, ensure they do not lack water — water frequently.</span></p> [caption id="attachment_55775" align="aligncenter" width="910"]<img class="wp-image-55775 size-large" src="https://www.promessedefleurs.com/blogwp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/celeris-trois-espèces-910x1024.jpg" alt="" width="910" height="1024" /> 3 cultivated species: Stalk celery - Celeriac - Cutting celery[/caption]