How To Grow Celery Indoors [8 Actionable Steps]

Pipelining cultivation of celery in an indoor garden, How To Grow Celery Indoors [8 Actionable Steps]It's becoming more and more common for ambitious gardeners to move their gardens indoors. Most produce is amendable to this transition, but there are some that are more resistant to others. Celery is one such plant that is notoriously difficult to grow. With that in mind, how can you go about growing celery indoors? We've done the research to bring you the answer.

To grow celery indoors, follow these steps:

  1. Choose your base growth
  2. Choose your container
  3. Set the seedling in place
  4. Water with compost tea and water
  5. Add compost at regular intervals
  6. Wait And Be patient
  7. Blanch the celery 
  8. Harvest your celery crop

Ready to get started? We'll break down the best tips and tricks for your celery plot so you can be prepared for any curveballs this difficult plant throws at you. Just keep reading!

Contents

Celery Growing Guide

Celery is a little more difficult to grow indoors than most produce, but that's not due to the environment. Celery is a notoriously difficult plant to grow in general. Moving it indoors, in many cases, makes it easier to keep an eye on. That kind of direct supervision means you have a higher probability of securing a successful harvest.

How, though, do you go about growing celery indoors? More often than not, you'll find success by taking the following steps:

Choose Your Base Growth

There are more types of celery available for indoor growth than the inexperienced gardener may imagine. With this in mind, you'll be able to shop for the kind of growth you want before you start planting. Some of the best celery varieties to start growing indoors include:

  • Ventura
  • Tango Green
  • Parcel
  • Utah
  • Red Venture
  • Golden

The good news is that there are several ways you can start growing celery of any of the aforementioned breeds. You can grow celery from transplants, seeds, or from stalks. You'll need to choose what kind of initial growth you want before investing in containers, as the needs of your celery will vary base on its pre-planting state.

Choose Your Container

Small homemade celery plants standing in a window

Once you've decided what kind of celery to grow and what state you want it in before you plant it, it's time to choose a container. While, again, the type of celery you choose to grow will influence the container you want to invest in, all breeds of celery thrive when they have room to plant their roots.

With that in mind, you'll want to try and find an appropriate planter with at least eight inches of height. Try to avoid purchasing a clay pot, glazed or unglazed, as the clay will sap the water from the soil and make it more difficult for your celery to get the moisture it needs.

Once you've selected your pot, fill it two-thirds of the way with soil that's been well-mixed with organic, moisture-rich compost.

Set The Seedling In Place

With your container set up and your growth ready to plant, it's time to get your celery in place. Ideally, you'll want your celery to sit in the center of your container or with at least one inch between each growth. Once you've set the celery, you'll want to cover everything save for the crown and outer stalks with one inch of soil.

Water With Compost Tea And Water

After you've planted your celery growths, you'll want to quickly give them a dose of compost tea and water. Doing so will prime them for successful growth down the line.

Add Compost At Regular Intervals

As mentioned, celery loves nothing more than regular water. While you'll be keeping the soil moist, you'll also want to consider reinvigorating the soil with compost on a regular basis, at least once a week. Doing so will help the soil retain water and will give the celery the extra, nutritional boost it needs to thrive.

Be Patient

At this point, all there is to do is wait. Make sure to water your celery regularly, but buckle up for a long growing period. Most celery takes up to four months to finish growing, during which time you'll need to baby the plants so that your crop will be a successful one.

Blanch The Celery

If you want to experiment with the flavor of your celery, you'll want to blanch it two weeks before your harvest the whole of your crop. Blanching your celery will mellow out the flavor but will also reduce the nutrients in your harvest.

To blanch your celery, all you need to do is tie together the celery stalks with a piece of cardboard and twine. Leave the celery like this until you harvest it, and you'll be able to enjoy a wider variety of flavors later down the line.

Harvest Your Celery Crop

Finally, once the growing period has passed, you'll be able to harvest your celery. You can pull the entire heads out of the soil or remove stalks from the plant.

How Long Does It Take To Grow Celery?

Celery sprouts in white pot on windowsill

As mentioned, the type of celery you want to grow will change both the care and the predicted growth time of your harvest. On average, however, celery plants take between three and four months to grow. This longer-than-average growing season is worth the wait, though, when you get the chance to enjoy a low-calorie treat grown in your own windowsill.

Can You Grow Celery In Just Water?

Actually, you can! Growing plants hydroponically has become extremely popular as a result of its myriad benefits. Simply follow the proper procedure, and you can grow a batch of hydroponic celery!

Can You Grow Celery From A Stalk?

Like many other plants, you can regrow celery from uneaten or under-grown remnants. The process is reasonably straightforward, though, again, celery is notoriously picky. So long as you approach the process with care, though, you'll have an almost unlimited supply of celery to eat at your leisure.

Remove The Bottom Of Your Celery

Whether you have leftover celery or full growths that you want to replant, you can use them to your advantage. Cut off the bottom of a stalk of celery and set it aside for later planting.

Place The Tip In A Small Container

Once you're ready, it's time to place your celery cutting into a small, clean container. Make sure this container is free of dirt, as you won't be doing any planting for at least a week.

Fill The Container With Water

Fill the container with water. You don't want the water to cover the celery's top, but make sure it covers at least two-thirds of your cutting.

Watch And Wait

From here, you'll need to be patient. Over the next week, your celery will reinvigorate itself with the help of your water. You'll notice little growths starting to appear out of the top of your cutting around day five or six in the container of water. Don't hesitate, during this time, to replace the water if it appears to be getting dirty or if it's attracting bugs.

Replant Your Celery

Once growths start to appear on your celery cutting, it's time to replant. Find an appropriate container and cover your growth with care. From this point on, you'll be able to treat your cutting like any other celery seedling, babying it as you need to until it's ready to be harvested.

Does Celery Need Full Sun?

The amount of sun your celery plant needs will depend on its species. However, most celery plants prefer access to full sunlight for the better part of the day. You will want to move your celery away from full sunlight at noon or when the day is hottest, as they can react poorly to unrelenting heat.

Celery, after all, is a cool-season plant — while it loves the sun, too much heat will cause it to wither, burn, or taste unusually bitter upon harvest.

What Are The Best Containers For Growing Celery Indoors?

When you start an indoor garden, you're going to need a wide array of containers and pots to support your plants. Some hearty strains of produce can withstand DIY containers. Celery, however, needs structured support if you want to harvest a successful crop. With that in mind, let's explore what kind of containers work best for indoor celery gardens.

Read more: 10 Awesome Balcony Garden Containers

Caring For Celery In Pots

It is possible to grow celery in a pot, though do note that you'll reduce the size of your crop depending on the size of the pot you invest in. Celery, as mentioned, is a picky plant, so you'll need to manage your ecosystem in miniature with care.

When it comes to growing celery in a pot, you'll need to suss out your soil's pH before you do any planting. Celery prefers alkaline soil with a pH of between 6.0 and 6.5. Make sure your pot is at least eight inches deep. Try, too, to avoid using clay pots, as they'll reduce the acidity of your soil and make it more difficult for your soil to retain water.

Before planting, make sure to integrate a fair amount of organic compost into your soil. This will make it easier for the pot to retain water, thereby helping your celery grow.

You can find more celery-appropriate pots like this one on Amazon.

Caring For Celery In Containers

Celery thrives when it has nearly unlimited access to water. If you're growing celery in a container, you're going to want to make sure that the container's drainage holes are few and far between. You should also try to keep the soil damp, at a minimum, at all times.

Outside of watering your celery consistently and fertilizing it every two weeks with organic fertilizer, you should be able to foster your crop with little trouble. Container-grown celery is somewhat easier to care for than other types of celery. Do keep an eye on your crop, though, just in case something goes wrong.

You can find additional containers to grow celery in on Amazon.

Caring For Celery In Hanging Bags

Some produce, like tomatoes, potatoes, and even carrots can be grown in hanging bags on your porch. Unfortunately, because celery requires so much water to thrive, these bags aren't the best choice for this plant.

In Closing

Do you feel up to a gardening challenge? Try growing celery indoors. While celery will be easier to maintain when it's in easy reach, maintaining its growth will still put beginners' skill to the test. Even so, for those gardeners willing to give the process a go, there's a plentiful harvest of self-restoring celery at the end of the road.

Before you go, be sure to check out these other gardening guides:

10 Best Walmart Large Flower Pots And Planters

How To Grow Microgreens Indoors

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