Roots & tubers
Celeriac
Long season.
- Indoors
- 10 wk (Feb)
- Outside
- Transplant mid May
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground, rich soil
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Never dry; it holds a grudge about drought
- Harvest
- Oct to Nov, better after frost
Celeriac is the garden's longest appointment: sown indoors in February, transplanted in May, dug at the end of October. The knobbly root that patience buys is the best soup vegetable on the card.
Growing
Sow in February, a good ten weeks ahead, and accept that the seedlings look doomed for their first month; tiny and slow is the breed. Transplant once frost is past in mid May into rich soil a foot apart, and keep the bed moist without fail; one parched week in July is still legible in the root you dig in October. In late summer, strip the outer leaves and any side shoots so the crown grows smooth. Dig from October into November; light frost improves it, and a fridge drawer holds roots for months.
Varieties
Brilliant is the smooth modern standard; Prinz stays dense and stores well.
In the kitchen
Remoulade if it stays raw, and a silk-textured soup with nothing but potato and onion if it does not. Half celeriac in the mash quietly upgrades a roast dinner.