Golden White Ribs 2 Celery - Apium graveolens

Apium graveolens White Gold is an herbaceous vegetable plant cultivated for its fragrant petioles and leaves. The pale green foliage is compact and vigorous. It bears beautiful golden reflections. It has wide, fleshy ribs (stalks) shaped like a gutter. The sowing period extends from February to the end of May. Harvest 6 to 7 months after sowing.

Celery is a descendant of a plant called marsh ache, native to the Mediterranean. Celery was not considered a vegetable but rather a medicinal plant until the Renaissance. The stalks are used as a condiment in soups and pot-au-feu, and to flavour sauces and stuffings. The raw, tenderly cut ribs can be used in salads.

Celery has many virtues: anti-rheumatic, appetising, digestive, and remineralising. It contains vitamins as well as copper, iron, and iodine.

Celery will require a significant supply of well-decomposed compost (5kg per m²), wood ash, and manure.

Harvest: celery is harvested by cutting the whole plant at ground level as needed. Celery is sensitive to frost.

Storage: before the frost arrives, from late October, the plants are dug up with their roots and stored in trenches or kept in sand in a cellar.

The gardener's tip: celery is particularly demanding in terms of water and nutrients. Provide a good mulch to maintain moisture at the base of the plant, and a good supply of organic matter.