Veg4Show

Well all the hard work with the celery this year payed off. I have staged celery at both my shows so far which i was very happy with. Despite my celery being behind by about 3 weeks for my first shows because my first sowing all died, Im pretty happy with the outcome. I would say next year I will try and improve on the blanching as i think the reflective foil, as its double sided also reflects light into the celery. This problem will be solved with using black damp proof sheeting as an internal layer with the reflective foil on the outside.

Many people at the shows ask how I keep it so clean, and the simple answer is you have to spray every 5 weeks and slug pellets every time you water if they are washed away. Most people turn there nose up at this and don't like the fact you grow your veg for the show bench rather than eat it. The only veg I don't eat in the beds (in the garden area) is the celery due to the vast amounts of spraying. I don't care as every professional grower does this, and I'm not going to show celery half eaten alive and full of rot to please people I don't even care about. One tiny bite turns into a small brown mark, this gets bigger and bigger and turns into a big brown rot on the sticks that renders it useless.

I have a massive allotment full of veg that is organic for eating, with wildlife patches that are untouched, so I do my bit for nature on ground that we pay for.

essentials for show celery:

Calcium Nitrate: You cant always get hold of this, but the normal calcium in a blue box you get up the garden center is just as good. Used once a week, watering down the heart of the celery and around each plant to help avoid heart rot.

Liquid deris and alternate with Provado to prevent pest damage.

Slug pellets/slug clear: obvious one, slugs love celery and will gather in there 1000s.

Dithane fungicide: spray from june onwards to prevent celery leaf spot, celery leaf minor (small maggots form) celery blight etc.

Feed: Chempak No. 2 and switch to no.8 during july. I feed once a week as soon as they are planted out. In August any celery in pots get fed twice a week, and the end of August the celery in pots get fed every other day.

Finally any celery you pull up should be composted, i use a shredder and put it back in the bed for next year to produce even better celery.