Medwyn Williams advises it’s time to prepare the ground for celery planting
Get the ground prepared for planting out at the end of the month
This week I'll move my celery from the greenhouse and place it outside on a bench to harden off before I plant it out in raised beds at the end of the month.
I'll keep the pots uniformly moist throughout this hardening off period and the stalks or petioles will be allowed to grow on freely, the idea being that I want as much top as possible to produce a strong root system in readiness for planting up in the bed.
The final preparation of the bed took place a week ago with some very well rotted manure worked into the top layer as well as some old compost.
The horse manure was at least three years old and so well-rotted it resembled peat more than manure, but I know the celery will truly thrive on this sort of treatment. I also added 115g (4oz) of Medwyn’s Complete Base Fertiliser, 115g (4oz) of Nutrimate and 115g (4oz) of ground calcified seaweed and then used my Mantis tiller to rotavate the bed.
Last year I had a complete disaster with my celery, thanks to the rabbits which are proving very difficult to control and becoming the bane of my life! I had some really top quality celery growing, collared in large, black, builders’ damp course. When I arrived at the land one morning the whole lot had been munched.
Bearing in mind the raised bed is about 60cm (2ft) above ground, and then I had 45cm (1½ft) collars on them, the rabbits still got at them. I did initially have a stiff, fine nylon mesh wrapped around the perimeter of the bed and that seemed to keep them away.
I have the same thing around my other raised beds where I grow beetroot. However, once I had the full collars on I thought that would have been sufficient in itself but to no avail. This year the mesh will stay on right through until lifting time.
■ Why not follow me on Twitter throughout the season as I grow vegetables for my display at Malvern – @medwynsofangles.