Celery root is a fragrant and very healthy plant. It is used to add to various soups, salads, stews and pickles, and is also used in folk medicine to treat many diseases. There are several types of celery: root, leaf and petiole. Root is a valuable spicy vegetable crop, which includes many vitamins, mineral salts and carotene.
When choosing a variety of this culture, it should be borne in mind that the largest root crops from mid-early varieties are Diamant and Yudinka (the weight of the root crop reaches 0.24 kg), from mid-season - Cupid, Egor and Esaul (weight 0.35 - 0.5 kg), and from late ripening - Maxim and the Prague Giant (the weight of tubers is from 0.5 to 0.8 kg).
Celery root is grown using seedlings, which should be prepared at the end of February, since in this culture the vegetation period can reach up to 190 days. Seedlings are grown in boxes, which should be filled equally with humus and sod land, and also add a little sand. For a crop such as root celery, sowing is done with dry seeds, after which they are covered with a small amount of humus (0.2 cm layer). The optimum temperature for seedlings is from 15 to 18 degrees.
Seedlings require moderate watering. Pick-up is done when 1-2 leaves appear in small cups or pots. Two weeks after the picking, seedlings must be fed with mineral fertilizers. To do this, prepare a solution at the rate of 1 teaspoon of nitrophosphate fertilizer per 3 liters of water, and for one celery plant, 2 tablespoons of the resulting solution are required. Before planting in the soil, it is necessary to harden the plant at a temperature of 12 to 15 degrees for several days. Before planting, it is also necessary to pour the seedlings with water, and prepare the planting site in a special way. To do this, you need to dig a bed and add 3 kg of humus and 1 tablespoon of nitro-phosphorus fertilizer, and then mix it all with the ground. Then the bed is watered with a solution of vermicompost (1 tablespoon is taken for 10 liters of water), and for 1 sq.m. Soil requires 2-3 liters of such fertilizer.
It should be remembered that the root celery, which is planted on May 1-10, should be planted with a distance of 20 cm between rows and 15 cm between individual plants. Another important point is that the plant needs to be planted to such a depth that it was before, because if you plant it very deep, then instead of one tuber, many small roots will grow.
Celery root requires care, which consists in regular watering, weeding, loosening the soil, as well as making nutrients. The first feeding is carried out a month after planting. For this, a vegetable complex granular fertilizer, made on an organic basis and intended for long-term action, is mixed in the amount of 2 tablespoons with 10 liters of water, to which 1 teaspoon of urea is also added. For each square meter, 2-3 liters of the resulting solution are required.
Celery root does not tolerate a cliff of its green leaves, as this will very negatively affect the growth of the root crop. To obtain smooth root crops, it is recommended in mid-July to scoop up the earth around the plants and wipe them with a cloth, as well as trim the side roots. After drying the slices after 15 minutes, root crops should be spudded, while watering should be done only after a few days. Harvested in late September, after which the root crops should be sprinkled with sand and stored at a temperature of 0 to 5 degrees. This should not be done at lower temperatures, as root vegetables will become coarse and lose their taste.