Regrow Celery From Its Root Base

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Category: Grow Your Own

Created on Wednesday, 04 November 2020 11:15

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We’re the kind of people who really enjoy the simple pleasures associated with making a dinner that includes fresh anything from the garden. In our case, we get to choose from herbs and vegetables in a potted ranch on a screened patio in Florida. So we have a sub-tropical advantage for year-round produce at home. Yet if you live in northern climates you can still grow celery inside if you have a bright, yet not too sunny of a spot.

Here’s how easy it is to regrow celery from the root end of the bunch. You know, the part you normally throw away?

1. Slice off the base

About 2 inches from the root end of a bunch of celery, slice off the entire base.

2. Insert 4 toothpicks

Insert the toothpicks equally spaced around the celery, about 1 ½ inches from the bottom.  Toothpicks keep the root base from touching the bottom of the bowl. Suspending the root end off the bottom extends the life of the outer stalks as it grows.

3. Place in water

Place the celery base in a shallow glass container or bowl. Fill with water until about one inch of the root end is submerged. Set the bowl where it can get natural light for several hours daily. Avoid the harsh midday sun. Change the water twice a week, making sure the root base end is always submerged.

4. The sprouting

Within the week you should see new leaves emerging from the very center of the top of the base. A few days later you may see small stalks and leaves with tiny roots emerging around the base.

5. The outer stalks

Don’t worry if the cut stalks around the outer base begin to deteriorate and turn brown. Yet while this is normal, if you leave the celery in water after this the outer stalks will get ugly.  It's best to plant your new celery in soil before that happens.

6. Replant in soil

After your roots reach about an inch long you can plant the celery in soil.  I prefer pots yet celery is an excellent garden plant. Try to use a potting soil that doesn’t have pesticides and that is suitable for vegetables. Make a hole deep large enough to hold the plant base from the root end up to the cut end. Place the celery base in the soil making sure there isn’t an air pocket beneath the root end. Carefully fill in and lightly tamp the surrounding soil so only a small part of the cut end and all of the emerging leaves are above the soil.

7. Maintenance

Celery likes the soil to be moist but not wet. Celery thrives in cool weather and rich soil, so give it shade in the hottest part of the day and feed it to replenish nutrients.

And the coolest part is that is that you can simply snip, not pinch, individual stalks as you need them, leaving you with fresh celery forever.

Special Note: Celery is a biennial vegetable, which means the first year after planting you'll grow stalks that you can eat. The next year, your celery plant will grow stalks with seeds. Plant celery two years in a row to have a never-ending supply.

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