Myfriend asked me about growing celery, yesterday, and I mentioned celeriac as a substitute. I don't think we'll be doing it this year (2016). It is one I must try in order to get away from store-bought celery, but not as pressing as other veggies. Cornell suggests it will tolerate frost. Therefore, I assume a freeze is a no bueno.

After watching other plants I'm betting celeriac would be something that could go under dappled or some shade. I'd bet it prefer some shade in our climate.

Like onions, this.. oh this stupid tablet! I must have it for my chiken, I'm trying to type. So, Ineed a sub for celery.

update on it would love to know how it goes.

Celeriac will tend to bolt in hot weather if it was exposed to temperatures 55 degrees for about a week to ten days, so our wide range of winter temperatures will be hard on it. I only use celeriac occasionally in cooking, so don't bother trying to grow it here since I don't use it very often. I grew it in winter in zone 8 Texas one year and it was more trouble than it was worth because it doesn't like really hot or really cold temperatures so you spend a lot of time trying to protect it from very cold winter weather and also from very hot winter weather. I haven't tried to grow it in zone 7.

As a biennial, once celeriac is exposed to cool temperatures around or below 55 degrees for a few days, it "thinks" its' first season is over because it perceives those cold temperatures as winter/the dormant season. Then, when the weather warms up, it perceives the warmer weather as its second year, and does what biennials do in their second year---it goes to seed. If this sounds like a familiar problem, it is....we have this trouble with all sorts of cool-season biennials in our climate where the cool-season can be shockingly short most springs. (Last year's prolonged rainy spring weather might have been perfect for celeriac, but we're unlikely to have that same sort of long, cool, rainy spring in 2016 because our weather generally doesn't repeat like that....I almost always get a searingly hot dry year after a pleasant wet year.) The performance of many cool-season crops here is very similar to celeriac in the way that they can bolt and go to seed based merely on the wide range of temperature fluctuations we see here in winter and spring, and I only have so much space I'm willing to devote to cool-season stuff that may or may not produce a good yield. I give a lot more space to warm-season crops that produce well without much worry about the temperatures, though potatoes always get a lot of space because they always produce.....as does asparagus. I do pamper rhubarb a little bit, but not too much because I run out of patience with its' heat problems too.

If I was going to try to grow it here, I'd sow the seed indoors 8-12 weeks before I was expecting my air temperatures to start staying above 55 degrees consistently so I'd have decent-sized transplants to put in the ground once the air temperatures stabilize. Then I'd plant it in soil very heavily amended with organic matter and I'd plant it where it was in dappled shade or in early morning sun for a couple of hours but with shade the rest of the day. Keep in mind it loves, loves, loves water and absolutely needs moist soil at all times. I feel like you almost could grow it in a swamp, or on the edge of a swamp. It will not tolerate dry soil or hot soil, so mulching the soil heavily to keep the ground moist and cool will help. It takes a long time to mature so you probably wouldn't be able to harvest it until fall if you can keep it alive through the summer heat. Mature celeriac in the fall will tolerate some freezing temperatures (and they will sweeten up its flavor slightly), but not a hard freeze.

We really do not have the weather it needs here, and I am pretty picky about not wasting my time on crops that need an extraordinary amount of weather-related pampering. Or, at least, I carefully choose what gets pampering, and about the only thing in my garden that is pampered and well-protected is tomatoes (no surprise there, huh?) and maybe peppers if the cold nights just hang on forever.

I put celeriac in a big pot of soup recently and, while my family ate and enjoyed the soup, they didn't care much for the celeriac. I ate my celeriac, but I'm pretty sure the other two members of this household did not.

Aaaand that's a wrap! Thanks Oklahoma. boo

Cutting celery? What do you suggest? Buy bulk celery seed? boo hiss lol

Good to see you Dawn. I was beginning to worry about you. I had pretty much decided against it this year. I ate it in roasted veggies the other day and it was ok, not as good as the parsnips. I think it must absorb flavors around it, kind of like zuchinni. I think leaf celery is a better bet, though it needs lots of water, too. I grew it in 2014 and the dried leaves still have good strong flavor.