Celery, Hollow Pipe of Malines
Light-green leaf cutting celery great for soups. Grows to 18.” Stems are also usable, but much smaller than those of stalk celery. This vigorous biennial leaf makes a great addition to the herb garden and contributes wonderful celery flavor without the stringy, fibrous stems. A Belgian heirloom from Malines (the French name for the town of Mechelen), sourced originally from Belle Epoch Seed Company, Belgium.
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Leaf Celery variants may include Amsterdam Celery, Parcel, Par-Cel, Smallage, Wild Celery, Cutting Celery, and our Hollow Pipe of Malines Celery. Some of these are names given to leaf celery types and some are names of varieties and cultivars. Widely used in Greece, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.There are also many types of Asian leaf celery that have long thin stalks. More traditional and common in Europe this is the original celery. Eaten by the ancient greeks and the romans it long predates the modern stalk celery. Heat and cold tolerant. Does not need the fertility, extra care or excess water that stalk celery demands. Easy to grow and productive all summer, fall and winter. Cutting the stalks above the roots as if it were parsley allows for the plant to regenerate quickly for "cut and come again" harvests. We have had plants survive 10°F where all of the stalk celery and celeriac has died.
How to Grow:
Seed can be slow to germinate taking 12-18 days and depending on temperatures can be somewhat erratic. Soaking the seeds overnight before sowing.Some growers recommend warm days and cool nights for best germination. Therefore starting seed in the house or using heat mats may not be optimum. We use 128 cell trays with standard vegetable start soil mix. Sow 2-4 seeds per cell covering lightly with 1/4" or less soil, being careful when watering the first time not to wash away the seeds. Make sure the soil mix doesn't dry out during germination. Transplant into well dug fertile soil at 12" centers. If there area few plants per cell you may thin to the most vigorous one. Make sure to water heavily for the first week to establish the young plants. Keep weeded and water moderately throughout the season.
How to Use:
Perfect for use in cooking where celery is called for. it has a much better and bolder flavor that is great in soups. Use 3-4 stalks in a bouquet garni or chop finely and add directly to whatever you are cooking. Very good added chopped into noodle and potato salad in place of celery stalks.
Extra Benefits:
When flowering the following spring cutting celery is an excellent crop for beneficial insects. The umbels of tiny flowers attract and feeds lacewings, syrphid flies and those small beneficial wasps. These predatory insects forage on pollen in the mourning and often go for pests like aphids and thrips in the afternoon. The larva of beneficial insects such as hover flies and ladybugs are insectivores and can be very helpful.
Long story short, Leaf celery and parsley should be in every garden for food and for beneficials.
1/4 g packet ≈ 1000 seeds. $3.00