Petiolate celery growing on the site is not easy. It takes a lot of effort to grow seedlings first, and then a real powerful plant. And the result is not always obtained, which was originally aimed at.
Many varieties of this plant are grown in a trench way, that is, in deep trenches. Gradually, as the plant develops, the stems are sprinkled with soil to whiten and acquire a more delicate taste. If celery grows in an ordinary bed, then its stems can also be bleached. You need to do this process about a month before harvesting.
Bleaching celery stalks consists of fencing off or isolating them from the sun's rays in various ways.
When and how to bleach stalked celery properly
The best time to start this procedure is the first week of September. Celery by this time should have reached more than 30 cm in height. Isolation from sunlight is necessary for the plant to get rid of the bitter spicy taste and lighten the color of the stems.
First, you need to carefully collect all the greens in a bunch and lightly tie it with a small strip of fabric. Then, using thick paper, cardboard or other suitable material, wrap the entire plant in a circle so that the top of the wrapper is below the leaves, and the bottom of it is firmly pressed to the ground. The wrapper is fixed to the plant with tape or fabric strips.
Celery should remain in such a package for about 20-25 days, after which it must be dug up along with the roots.
Whitening methods
Many summer residents do not welcome the bleaching of celery by hilling it with earth, since the plant has an unpleasant earthy taste. You can hide plant stems from sunlight using various packaging waste or building material residues. For these purposes, ordinary newspapers (in several layers), wrapping paper, medium-thick cardboard, boxes of juice or milk, as well as penofol, trimming corrugated pipes and even plastic bottles made of dark plastic will do.
For example, you can make tall cylinders from plastic bottles by cutting off their top and bottom. They are, as it were, put on a plant and pressed tightly to the soil. The voids in the plastic cylinder must be filled with falling leaves or sawdust. In the same way, cuttings from wide plastic or corrugated pipes and cardboard packaging from food products are used.
You can also use straw to close celery from sunlight by building a dense shock around the stem.
It is recommended to use only the material that does not have foreign odors, as the plant absorbs them.
No bleaching celery varieties
There are a lot of varieties of stalked celery. They all have their pros and cons. For example, common varieties taste great and have a long shelf life, but stem bleaching is required. There are also self-bleaching varieties that do not need to be fiddled with for a long time, but they are short-lived in storage.Plants of such varieties quickly deteriorate, they need to be eaten as soon as possible, and they are also very afraid of cold weather. Self-bleaching varieties include: "Tango", "Golden", "Golden Feather", "Celebrity", "Latom".
