Regrowing store bought celery

My celery, mint, carrot tops and an onion bottom all found dirt homes today. Keep your fingers crossed. I also put all of my seedlings out in the garage to start "hardening off" with the hopes of planting them in my bales next weekend.

I'm pretty much just starting some herbs indoors right now as I'm trying to figure out what else I can start now that won't be too early to start. Last year, I started things WAY too early (got over excited and impatient for spring to come lol!) and lost a lot of plants in the process. So, now I'm trying to be a little more careful for this year.

Update of the celery and potato. I've decided to get rid of the potato and try again in the fall since I have no more room to allow it to grow and mature like it needs, and put the celery in the pot that the potato is currently in. Kids weren't happy with my decision, but the potato roots are already coming through the pot,s drain holes lol

Aaaw that's sorta a shame about the potato, but then again, if it's got nowhere to go when it grows up... ya just can't leave a tater homeless!!

Okey dokey, MrsL, I put my celery bottom in a small shallow dish of water yesterday, and you should have heard Hubby when he got home from work and went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands! Haahahahaaaa!! "Heya, Dear? Would you come here and explain something to me please?" LOL, heeheeheeheee *giggle*. So, it soaked over night and is now in a 2-quart growers container snuggled into the growing mix. I'll open the verticle blinds at the back slider door a few hours a day to let it soak in the sun.... anything else I should be doing for it? (or *to* it?) ;) Oh boy, this is so exciting and fun!

Albeach, fingers, toes, eyes, and ankles are crossed for your newly potted babies. =)

After I potted mine, I gave it some Miracle-Gro furtilizer ( I fill a soda bottle up with water and put a scoop of the miracle gro in the water and let it dissolve every few weeks) in the water. I do this about every 2-3 weeks or so. Other than that, sounds like your off to a great start to me! The soil mix I decided to try was I mixed miracle gro potting soil with some seed starter mix (mostly just mixed in the seed starter mix since it seems to hold moisture well), and I water it about every 3 days.

Yesterday I started some sweet basil, cinnamon basil, oregano and some mystery seeds (i got as a trade but they must have come out of their package and spilled in the bubble mailer. Wasn't able to tell what kind of seeds they were, so.. another experiment! YAY!! lol!) into the same soil mixture as I did the celery and potato in, and put them in 4 inch pots. Crossing fingers I can make these herbs grow better this year than I could last year LOL! Last year, though, I think I overwatered them lol.

Been itching to start some more things, but just not too sure what I can start now in my growing zone LOL! Spring can't come fast enough!!

I'm not too broken hearted over the potato. Originally I kind of figured the pot wasnt large enough, I was just doing it more as an experiment to see if you could grow more potatoes from a store bought potato with eyes. Didn't really even expect it to grow to be honest, because of the chemicals and all, but, seems to be thriving well... and would be better off if I have something deep enough to keep it in lol! We'll probably try again outside later this year. Already coming up with some ideas on how to do it without having to physically put it in my veggie garden (other container ideas, for outdoor purposes though)

I'm thinking about starting some of my Little Finger carrot seeds in a pot of some kind here soon, since I know they only get to be about 4 inches long. Might be an interesting little experiment for me... who knows, if I can get them to do well in a pot, then maybe I can grow them year round and have fresh home grown baby carrots for soups and stews even in the winter months! How cool would that be?! LOL!

MrsL, did you start your little carrots yet? :) How's your celery doing? I would love to keep seeing updated pictures of it, it's such a cool idea! I need to download my pics into my puter here 'cause after only 2 days my own celery is starting to put out new sprouts/leaves, Yippeee!!! I guess alternating it between the back slider (for morning sun), and a front window-sill (for afternoon sun) is sufficiant. I got so excited about the progress of the celery that I looked at my new head of green leaf lettuce in a whole new way, LOL! Yep, the bottom has been lopped off and is now potted up beside the celery. (I do so hate to see anyone sitting around all alone). I started it over-night in water on Friday night, and potted it up yesterday morning. I'm really excited to see how it does! =)

I have updated pics of the celery in my blog. Forgot to post them all here lol. I need to take another pic of it in a couple days, but first, I'm going to repot it into the bigger pot I think. Just got a feeling that the pot it is in isn't going to be big enough, even though I'm using the size pot that was mentioned in the blog article I read about this idea from lol. It has started to grow a bit more slowly now, hense why I think it needs a bigger pot. I don't see any roots coming out the drain holes yet though.

My spices did start to sprout though! Excited about that! My daughter noticed it yesterday before I did LOL!

No, I haven't started the carrots yet. I might try those out in another week or so, in a pot. See how that goes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking that since these seeds I got are only supposed to grow 3-4 inch carrots, there shouldn't be any reason for them to grow well in a 6-8 inch pot?

If you mean a 6-8 inch deep pot, then there is every reason why they SHOULD do well. =) It's enough depth for the carrot and a bit of some tiny little hairy root fibers, just don't over-fill the pots with too many plants.

Your spices are sprouting? All of 'em? =D I think this year at work I will focus more on
"deadheading with a purpose" the edibles like the basils and chives etc.

Yeah, I meant 6-8 inch pots. I was figuring that should be big enough (and hoping... think thats the biggest pot size I have left LOL!)

Yep, a few days ago I planted some cinnamon basil, sweet basil, oregano, and some seeds I call "mystery seeds" that I got as a trade but somehow came out of the wrappings the trader used to seal them up, and spilled throughout the inside of the bubble mailer. I planted them anyway, just to see what it was LOL! All have sprouted. The oregano just looks like little tiny green dots so far above the soil surface, but everything else is starting to form their first small set of leaves. I'll snap a picture of them later and post them up to show ya's. I'm keeping them indoors though, no intentions of planting out.

I actually planted 2 pots of sweet basil and oregano.... so I can have one of each, and my MIL can have one of each LOL!

I grow carrots outside in big pots all the time.

celery update 2-19-12

Pics of the herbs in order:

Cinnamon Basil
Mystery Seeds lol
Oregano
sweet basil 1
sweet basil 2

lol guess I only started one oregano... Will have to start my batch this week I guess LOL!

Yeah, the spacing of the carrots will probably be where I fail a bit. Having never done carrots before at all, then to boot, never doing them in a pot, I'm not sure how many seeds I should be able to plant in a 6 inch pot with sufficient spacing between them. Will be yet another adventure, I think LOL! I have done some reading up on it though, and by the sounds of it, one of the biggest reasons for spacing them a few inches apart is to help them grow straight. Personally, I dont really care much if they are "straight" LOL! As long as they are edible... I mean, its not like I'm planning to sell them or anything LOL!

Ves... what kind of carrots do you grow in pots? I'm doing "baby" carrots this year. How far apart do you space them in the pot?

I have used the 12 inch square pot or bigger. Seeds are a couple of inches apart. Plant one seed at a time and the germination has been great. Have planted Danvers Half long, Tendersweet, Sugarsnax and Kuroda at different times.

Ah, I don't have any 12 inch pots... all the pots I look at that are bigger than 6-8inches are way more expensive than I am willing to pay. Might see if I have anything around the house that will work instead, though. I'm starting to save my empty gallon milk jugs now, washing them out real well, to use as containers for plants.

The carrots I'm doing are called Little Fingers. I personally like the shorter carrots' tastes better than the "full grown" sized ones. They seem to have a sweeter taste, and the kids seem to like them better as well.

For the carrots you are growing those pots will work just fine. I have bought my pots when they were on clearance or I couldn't of gotten them either. Another place to look for big pots are at thrift stores.

Yeah, I checked Family Dollar for them last fall, hoping they'd be atleast around the $10 range or less... but even then, they were still going for about $20. I didn't really see the sense in spending that much per pot, when I could have just as easily just bought $20 worth of plastic storage containers and punched some holes in the bottom lol. I didn't do that yet, but thats the route I'm seriously considering doing now.

I work there and they had them for 50% at one time. You have to watch really close. But I have also used other plastic containers.

Yeah, I think for now, I'll just start collecting the larger plastic containers from other things. Right now, I'm starting to collect gallon milk jugs and the 33.5oz canisters of Folgers coffee to use. I'll keep an eye out on the larger pot prices though. I do need to get a bigger pot soon for my dracaena tree anyway.

Gallon milk jugs with the tops cut off are just the right size and shape (square) to make great containers for a lot of plants. It's best to cut the tops off in such a way that the container is about as deep as you can get it. Even if the handle means that the soil space will be oddly shaped, the plants won't care about that. But no plant benefits from being forced to be shallow-rooted.

Because the plastic is translucent, you maybe want to think of some way to wrap it in something that will keep the soil in the dark. Light = possible algae growth = no good. (Even our beloved ocean kelp has to be used in the right proportion for the task at hand.)

Well, my gallon milk jugs are actually yellow, not clear like some others, so that should help take care of the possible algae growth problem.

I thought you were supposed to cut just below the handle base?

I'm also thinking about saving my hubby's 2 liter Mt. Dew bottles also for this purpose... just not sure what I'd like to put in them that would grow relatively well in something like that LOL!

Oh Oh OOOH, MrsL, pop into your favourite local nursery/garden center and see if they have any growers' pots left over lying around. If not, ask them to hang onto some for you when they get some emptied out. I know at work we get tons of 'em gathered up and hang onto them in case someone comes along and needs them. (Like ME, for example!) =)

This sounds weird, but I keep my eye out for the plastic or ceramic square tissue (kleenex, et al) box holders at thrift stores or yard sales for $1 or $2. I turn them upside down, put a piece of screen or a flat rock across the hole that is now at the bottom, and voila, a durable and attractive plant pot with drainage. They are not big enough for a lot of our gardening needs, but are nice for herbs, lettuce or maybe small carrots anyway.

"I thought you were supposed to cut just below the handle base?"

It's not a question of supposed-to or not-supposed-to. It's your project and you should do it however you want.

I'm just saying, I wouldn't. From your plant's point of view, more cubic inches = more space for roots to grow into = more roots = bigger, probably healthier plants. So what if it looks funny? The plants don't care about that.

Oh Lise, what a wonderful idea!!! I bet if I can find some plastic ones they'd look nice along that back fence of mine, alternated with watering cans! =) Thank you!!

Petronius, "So what if it looks funny? The plants don't care about that."... I'm sorry to say that my plants do care, they are very self-conscious and like to look their best. Heeheeheee, J/K. You're absolutely right, of course. The trick is to balance out the space ya give 'em for their roots and the space up top for their .. errr, ... upper bodies. :)

You're welcome, speediebean (love your nick). I try to find solid color or abstract designs that look good even when upside down, or the pots can end up looking a little strange, lol. I was going to take a photo of mine (I have four or five now), but my herbs look so bad I don't even want to show you! It's not the pots' fault though, I forgot about them on a windowsill that was out of view and now I have dried herbs, lol.
Never mind, you know what tissue box holders look like.

I cannot believe that celery is actually growing! Talk about a living salad bowl! Kudos to you!

gallon milk jugs from my local Starbuck's

Gymgirl, it's all MrsL's fault, I now *do* have nearly a whole salad started in my basement. My celery is doing very well, I started a green leaf lettuce (looked at the bottom of it and thought "Heeyyy!!") the other day, and as of today I took one look at the sprouting butt-end of a carrot and thought "Oh why the heck not!?" The celery has several new leaves (or, just a few all bunched close together, heehee), the lettuce has got new leaves on it now (after 3 days), so we'll just have to wait and see what the carrot does. Hopefully 3's a charm! AND IT'S ALL MRSL'S FAULT!!!! < =D
(Thank you MrsL!) =)

I had heard about the celery bit just last week and stumbled across this thread today. Sounds like kismet to me. I have limited garden space for veggies but I can sure do containers. And I just bought some organic 'Kaleidoscope Mix' carrot seeds yesterday with the intent of growing them in a pot (there's a little pot on the front of the Burpee seed packet). All of your wonderful posts have got me motivated to give the celery, potatoes and bok choy a try! Thanks!

*note to self: celery seems to do better around about 72 degrees?*

Had some probs with our heater the last few days, woke up this morning to find my celery dying off... only reasoning I can come up with is it being too cold for it after our heater having issues (was very cold in my house this morning, still haven't figured out what's goin on with it...thank god for space heaters!)

Will be buying more celery and doing it again though lol

Gymgirl... thats actually how I thought most people did it with the gallon milk jugs.... cut them just below the handles then use the top parts to rest over the plants to act as the plant's own mini greenhouses LOL! Ok, inquiring minds want to know LOL! What are you growing in all those milk jugs?! LOL!

I've been sitting here the last couple days cursing our weather LOL! I'm SOOO ready for spring! Not entirely sure what else I should/could start indoors NOW, that wouldn't be too early to start. I also have to plan for "transplanting" things atleast about 2 weeks later than usual this year, to give my hubby enough of a "grace period" to put together my raised garden bed we are planning to do this year. I'm HOPING he gets to it early enough in the season so whatever I DO start indoor seeding early, doesn't die off before he gets the raised bed completed and ready for transplants lol.

Oh, and.... in the words of my son.... "It's not my fault! I swear!" HAHAHAHA!

That's really cool about the lettuce! Woulda never thought to try that LOL! I'm a bit skeptical about how the regrowing carrot will turn out though, since arent carrots actually considered to be a "root" veggie anyway? You'll have to keep us posted on how it goes though!!!

LOL!!! NOOO I think for ONCE, I'll actually listen to him! LOL! Its not my fault! HAHA

Yep! I'll be picking up more celery this week I think... and, if the lettuce heads are on sale this week, I'll pick up one of those too LOL! What size pot did you start your lettuce in?

Gymgirl - You are the consummate recyler!

My garden room is full of styrofoam trays, yogurt, and margarine tubs - bet yours is, too. ^^_^^

I've got each baby in 1-gallon sized pots. The lettuce is in a wider one, but the celery and carrot are in slightly narrower and taller ones. What sized pots are yours (going to be) in? I'll look forward to keeping up on your new babies' progress.

Honeybee, my Mother in Law taught me a neato trick with egg cartons; She has always had a Haayy-ooooooge earring collection, so she stores them in egg cartons. First cut the top from the bottom. Depending on the size of your earrings, you can store one pair per "cup", or a grouping of same-style earrings in each cup. Eg: I've got like 15 pairs of little teeny roses, but all different colours, so I've got them separated my colour group, the pinks are in one cup, the reds in another, greens in yet another, etc. These stack nicely to make a mile-high tower of earring cartons. Then, the tops of the cartons are stacked separately, holding things like necklaces, bracelets, and pins. :)

I think the next celery I try, I'll put it in an 8 inch diameter pot that I had the potato in (cleaned it out, of course LOL!). If I get a head of lettuce to try out, I'll probably cut one of my old, cleaned out, gallon milk jugs to try that out in.

You know, I read somewhere a long time ago that you can use those egg cartons as seed starting pods. I haven't tried it personally though, and probably wont, just because I give all my egg cartons to my inlaws who have chickens, and they give us 1-2 dozen eggs in exchange LOL!

LOL Thinking about this made me search for this link for ya :) : http://www.ehow.com/how_2309226_plant-seedlings-egg-carton.html

Hey speedy... I'd LOVE to see some pics of your regrown lettuce :-)

Hiya! =) Okey dokey, tomorrow I'll get new shots of the lettuce *and* my celery for you. And a big THANK YOU for that really cool link, it gives me wonderful ideas! When I want a mass planting of something, I could use a cardboard egg carton (or 2), sow appropriate cups (depending on how dense I want my growth), and when it's warm enough, just plant the whole thing out there, carton and all! (that's why we get the cardboard one). Wheeeeeeeee, MrsL, you are a genius!! =)