We can’t bear to toss out leftover seedlings once the rest of their seedling siblings are planted. These two bulbs of Brilliant celeriac were the result of plunking a couple of these extra seedlings in a spare bed.
The first time we grew celeriac, we ended up with hairy, root-bound masses. We’ve learned since not to hill the bulbs up, giving us cleaner bulb formation.
Visit the weekly harvest party at Daphne’s Dandelions…
Diary of a Tomato 
That is a very nice size!
Thanks — we’ve been tending to leave them too long in the ground, and these were just right!
I really ought to grow some celeriac. I grow lots of celery but not the root crop version. Those look like great results for “spares” tucked here and there!
We’ve heard it’s a challenge to grow regular, bunching celery, but have been able to grow cutting celery and celeriac. It’s nice to have celery root as an option to cook with in the years when our potatoes aren’t producing!
I want to try growing celeriac, maybe next year. How do you fix them for the table?
So are those two the hairy, root-bound ones? Or the ones that aren’t? :-) I’m with Maryhysong. How do you cook them?
Hi maryhysong & Lou — I use the younger, more tender stalks and leaves as a substitute for celery, but only when I’m desperate as they can be rather strong tasting, especially the older ones. Once the bulb is pared, it can be eaten either raw (grated or finely julienned for a salad), or cooked in any manner you would a potato — baked, roasted, boiled, fried or mashed. I hope to post more later this week. And, believe it or not, Lou, these are the less hairy ones!
They look great, I’ve only recently started using celeraic and I’m growing quite attatched to it – the next step is growing some I guess – I am a bit concerned about its water requirements though – does it need large amounts?
I’m glad you’re liking celeriac — I know it’s not for everyone, but I think it has a haunting flavor. It shows up at our farmers’ market, but we ended up growing it because it’s difficult to find, and discovered that it’s a great winter/storage crop. It needs cooler temps but I imagine if you can germinate and grow carrots, another vege that loves to be watered, you probably can grow celeriac!
I have never tried celeriac before. I would like to try it one of these days. I am the same way, I hate to get rid of seedlings. We ended up with extra pumpkin vines, because we got some growing in the compost and we couldn’t bear to not plant them. It ended up being a tangled mess, but they did produce a few pumpkins.
~Lynn
I have the problem of not being able to throw anything out that is compostable, which means a lot of seeds end up in our compost and all the resulting volunteers pop up in the garden…