Your KITCHEN GARDEN

I was brought up on celery being served as blanched stalks in a water-filled jar, but when cooked, celery enriches almost any kind of soup or stew, as well as being a fine vegetable in its own right, the heads braised whole. Celery can be stringy, but these strings along the stalk are the pathways that carry the nutrients to and from the leaves. This means that so-called stringless varieties are likely to be less robust and smaller.

I sow my celery seed in a seed tray as thinly as possible and then transplant the seedlings into plugs. I then grow them on in a coldframe until they are about 10-15cm high, harden them off and plant them out in a grid. I do not water them, feed them or do anything beyond forking in 2.5cm or so of compost before planting out.

I tend to grow selfblanching – as opposed to trench – varieties. I think the reason for my success is the box hedging around my vegetable beds, which provides the perfect shelter against pests such as carrot fly, as well as cold and excess light. It would be easy for a gardener to erect a temporary barrier or fence of fleece that would do the same job.