Harvest celeriac
I always grow celeriac but never, I confess, with resounding success. Some years are better than others, but my crop would not pass professional muster. However, celeriac and chestnut soup on Boxing Day is a fixture of this household and I like to make celeriac purée to eat with the turkey – and of course I always want to grow our own vegetables, if at all possible.
I sow the seeds in March and then prick them out into plugs. They are slow to grow at every stage so are not ready to be planted out until mid-May, which coincides with the soil properly warming up. The swollen base does not develop until the leaves are well established, and needs good-quality soil and plenty of water. Soil with lots of organic matter will make a huge difference both in retaining water and in helping it to develop a really good root system that will grow deep to find all available moisture, and this can dramatically reduce the watering you need to do.
If the weather turns really cold, both celery and celeriac can be protected by mulching with a thick layer of straw or bracken, although one Christmas I had to dig celeriac out of the frozen ground with a pickaxe. It was not ideal, but at least we were able to make celeriac and chestnut soup for Boxing Day.