Hello my fellow garden enthusiasts and welcome (back) to the Planet Forward blog. Even though the growing season has technically come to an end, I wanted to write about my celery. I haven’t written about it all season and it was my experimental crop this year. I know celery, like many root vegetables, is not glamorous nor does it get the attention of the flashier garden residents like tomatoes and zucchini; however, it is integral to many fall dishes. Celery is part of what some call the holy trinity or the Italian soffritto or mirepoix in French. No matter the name it consists of celery, carrots and onions, and really is the basis for cooking in many cultures.

It was a day in early November when I was making a beef stew when I realized I didn’t have enough celery for the recipe. I decided to take a gamble and go out to my garden to see if my celery was still viable. Though I had closed up the rest of the garden I left the celery behind because it was small and not worth cutting. I was shocked to find that my celery had lived despite the cold weather we had experienced here in the northeast.  So I cut down the celery and brought it in the house.

Young celery image courtesy of veggiegardeningtips.com

Yes, the celery stocks were very thin, I admit to that, but each head had an ample number of stocks. A few stocks had to be discarded due to either bug bites or they had wilted and withered in the cold, but over all the celery was firm and crisp. I was very impressed with the resilience of my celery. I have no clue what happened to my garden this year, but a few of the plants were able to survive long past their growing season.

My Martha Stewart organic zucchini that I cultivated from seed grew well into October and just before November they finally succumbed to the elements and withered. It is sad now that we don’t have fresh zucchini flowers in the fridge or actually zucchini to sauté and add to various dishes. However, I will not go into zucchini withdrawal because any summer stews I made were in large batches and I froze some to enjoy for the winter.

Now that the season seems to really be over (although I do still have some parsley tented in a tarp) I can start to plan for next year. I look forward to putting my new knowledge to the test and embracing whatever challenges the growing season throws at me. If you have any tips, tricks, stories or advice to share please contact me.

Until next time, happy gardening or happy garden planning.
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