Among the main ingredients in my daily green juice is celery - and the flavor from homegrown celery is a treat not to be missed.
I grow celery all year long - in my outdoor garden and in my vegetable greenhouse. I also grow cutting celery or leaf celery, as well as celeriac, the warty-looking globe vegetable with gnarly roots that grows just beneath the surface of the soil. All of these are grown from seed and started early indoors.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My garden always includes a bed of organic celery. Celery is nutrient-rich with vitamins A, C, and K, and when homegrown – more flavorful than store-bought varieties.
Here are some delicious stalks freshly picked from my garden last summer – so lush and green.
This is celeriac. Celeriac is also known as turnip-rooted celery or knob celery or celery root. It isn’t the most beautiful vegetable, but its distinct celery-parsley flavor is amazingly delicious, and hard to ignore.
Celeriac is a long-season vegetable that takes more than 100 days to mature from seed. I love to use it for soups. It’s also high in vitamins A, C, and K.
I also grow cutting celery, which is also good in my green juice. This herb is often mistaken for flat-leafed parsley, but the flavor gives itself away. It tastes more pungent than store-bought and can be used as a celery substitute.
My celery and celeriac are both started in my greenhouse. Many of this year’s seeds, seed trays, and other supplies are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in central Maine – a company I’ve been using for quite some time.
Starting after the holidays, I along with my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, sow thousands of seeds. The process is easy and quick, so we’re able to get a lot done in preparation for the growing season. Here is a packet of seeds with its corresponding marker.
The seed pack itself contains valuable information such as plant type and variety, seed type, number of seeds in packet, germination rate, and days to maturity. Always refer to it when starting vegetables and flowers from seed.
Select the right kind of tray based on the size of the seeds. The containers should be at least two-inches deep and have adequate drainage holes.
Ryan spreads the soil mix across the seed trays completely and evenly, filling all the cells of each tray.
Using his fingers, Ryan makes a hole in each cell, and then drops seeds into each one.
Ryan does this for two trays, each containing 72 cell compartments.
Seeds are small, so be very careful when pouring them out of the packet.
These seeds are pelleted. Each seed is coated with a layer of clay to increase its size and make them easier to handle.
Ryan drops one to three seeds into each cell. It’s always a good idea to keep a record of when seeds are sown, when they germinate, and when they are transplanted. These observations will help organize a schedule for the following year.
Look closely to see the seeds in the cell. These seeds will be selectively thinned in a few weeks. The process eliminates the weaker sprout and prevents overcrowding, so seedlings don’t have any competition for soil nutrients or room to mature.
The markers clearly identify the varieties in the tray.
Ryan covers the seeds with more Miracle Grow Seed Starting Potting Mix.
And then levels the soil mix gently with his hands.
After the trays are fully seeded, Ryan gives them a good watering and places them into the Urban Cultivator until they germinate. If you haven’t yet started your vegetables from seed, start some now – the growing season will be here before you know it.
It's a week of snow and freezing rain here in the Northeast, but inside my greenhouse, I'm forcing bulbs - a technique used by gardeners to bring the beauty of spring blooms indoors during the depths of winter.
I force amaryllis bulbs every year, but this year I decided I wanted to force others, such as checkered Fritillaria meleagris and the beautiful blue star-shaped Camassia. I love both these flowers and grow them outdoors in abundance. Last week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, filled three pots of these bulbs from Colorblends Flowerbulbs - a third generation wholesale flower merchant in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut. Soon I will have them blooming wonderfully in my home. I can't wait.
Enjoy these photos.
Every spring, my pergola garden is filled with light blue and purple Camassia. Camassia forms clusters of linear, strappy foliage around upright racemes. Camassia is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to Canada and the United States.
The flower stalks stand 24 to 30 inches tall and display dozens of florets that open from the bottom up. Camassia is also known as camas, wild hyacinth, Indian hyacinth, and quamash.
I also grow lots of Fritillaria around my farm. Commonly known as Guinea Hen Flower, Checkered Lily or Snake’s Head Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris is an heirloom species dating back to 1575.
Each Fritillaria bloom has pendant, bell-shaped, checkered and veined flowers that are either maroon or ivory-white with grass-like foliage on slender stems.
To force both these bulb types, Ryan fills wide mouthed planter pans that can accommodate all the bulbs. He’s using Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix, which protects against any over- or under-watering.
Ryan also mixes in Osmocote fertilizer. The slow-release prills filled with nutrients feed the plants for up to six months.
Ryan plants the Camassia bulbs first. Ryan gently pushes each bulb down into the soil, so it is well-anchored. And, just as it is done outside, always plant bulb roots pointed down.
Any bulbs used for forcing should be dense and heavy and free from mold, mildew, discoloration, or a peeling outer shell.
The bulbs can be placed close together. They will hold one another upright and show beautifully in maximum bloom.
Ryan covers all the bulbs with another layer of potting mix.
These planter pans are made by master potter, Ben Wolff. I have the largest known collection of planters made by Ben and his father, Guy.
Ryan covers the soil with a layer of pea stone. It looks decorative and will also help to bolster the stems as they grow.
Next, Ryan fills another pot with ‘Snake’s Head’ Fritillaria bulbs.
These bulbs are smaller and each one produces grassy foliage and one or more stems topped with a single dangling bloom.
One by one, Ryan places the bulbs on top of the soil, point up, next to one another. Don’t worry about crowding – the more the merrier.
Forcing bulbs essentially means to create the conditions needed to trigger blooming. And forcing needs patience – it can take six to eight weeks or sometimes as long as 13 weeks for the bulbs to come into flower.
Once again, Ryan covers the bulbs with potting soil.
He pats it down slightly to compact the soil mix. Because Fritilllaria meleagris is more delicate, Ryan leaves this vessel as is. The flowers will emerge through the soil.
The potted bulbs are brought into the greenhouse for a thorough drink.
…And then placed on top of the head house windowsill where they will get ample light.
And the wait is on… What bulbs are you forcing this season? Forcing bulbs is an uplifting project during an otherwise cold and dreary winter.
Starting onions from seed isn’t difficult. They can be planted closely together in seed starting trays, and because they are shallow-rooted, they can be pulled apart easily when ready for transplanting outdoors. And by mid-summer, I'll have bounties of beautiful, flavorful, fat onions to enjoy and share.
Enjoy these photos.
Remember all the onions I harvested last year? It’s one of my favorite crops to pick. The onion, Allium cepa, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium.
Onions require 90 to 100 days to mature from seed, which is around four months. I start seeding them after the New Year and then in spring they are transplanted outdoors in the garden.
Seed starting trays come in all different sizes and depths. I use trays with shallow compartments for planting onion seeds. These are 20-row seed flats from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. They keep varieties separate and make the removal of seedlings easy for transplanting to larger celled trays or pots later.
Because I use a lot of onions for cooking and for sharing with my family, I plant many trays of onion seeds. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, fills the seed starting tray with an appropriate mix.
It’s best to use a pre-made seed starting mix that contains the proper amounts of vermiculite, perlite and peat moss. Seed starting mixes are available at garden supply stores. I use Miracle-Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix.
The soil should be level with the top of the tray. Ryan fills several trays first and works in a production line process.
Ryan uses the edge of a wooden ruler to make quarter-inch deep furrows.
Here, one can see the indentations in each cell.
On one side of the marker he writes the vegetable variety so we can keep track of what grows well and what doesn’t.
On the other side, Ryan indicates what color this particular onion variety is – R for red, W for white, and Y for yellow.
Ryan places a marker into one of the cells, so it is clear what variety is growing in what tray.
Onion seeds are very small, so be sure to take time dropping them into the tray cells.
Slowly, Ryan drops the seeds evenly into each compartment.
Look closely and see the seeds in a row. It is good to start larger onions from seed, so they can be harvested the same year.
Once the seeds are dropped, Ryan adds an additional light layer of soil mix, so the seeds are completely covered.
Then he tamps down lightly to make sure there is good contact with the soil.
It doesn’t take long to seed several trays of onion seeds.
The trays are all given a good watering.
And then placed into my Urban Cultivator growing system – it has water, temperature and humidity all set-up in the refrigerator like unit. He covers the trays with plastic humidity domes until germination begins. Once established, the trays will be moved out into the greenhouse where they will remain until they are ready to be separated and transplanted into the ground.
The sprouts will be selectively thinned in a few weeks. This process eliminates the weaker sprouts and prevents overcrowding, so seedlings don’t have any competition for soil nutrients or room to mature. I hope these blogs help remind you what you can do to get ready for the next gardening season.
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