Although celery is a cool season crop it can be grown all year in Kihei. I've grown 8 varieties of heirloom celery and all have been somewhat tough and slightly bitter, even when grown during our coolest months. However, all of the varieties have been good for cooking or juicing with other garden veggies.
Dorado Gigante and Giant Red Reselection
I've yet to grow celery that looks like the celery at the market. I did experiment with newspaper and cardboard collars to force the stalks to grow upright but this method created too much heat and the center stalks rotted. Now, I let celery grow naturally and use it as a cut and come again type of plant.
4 months from seed and ready to cut
D'elne was the only variety of celery that I've grown that developed stalks that were as wide as a typical market celery. The others had stalks that were less than an inch wide near the base, even after the plants were growing as long as a year.
I plant celery in 5 gallon self-watering containers that are available at Wal-Mart. I fill them with an organic potting soil amended with green sand and an organic all-purpose fertilizer. The seeds usually take several weeks before they begin to germinate and the seedlings are very tiny at first. After the seedlings begin to grow, I thin them to just one plant per container.
Celery needs a lot of water once it gets growing. I usually fertilize the plants with a bi-weekly application of fish emulsion. In the cooler months it can be grown in full sun. However it can be grown in diffused light or partial shade during the hotter months. Celery isn't bothered by any destructive worms or larvae. None of the celery I've grown has bolted and gone to seed.
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