That's a lot of useful information, Sandy. Thanks for putting this all together for us.

I never knew you could grow celery that way. I never get much when I plant seeds but this might get me enough of a start to plant out in the garden and actually have it produce something. Thanks so much. And I love you pictures. Winter or not, it is really a lovely homesite.

Celery really is tricky to grow decently, at least in my experience... the seeds need to be started early (I've started them in mid March to plant out around the end of May), the plants need a lot of water and need to be kept evenly moist, etc etc. I've been able to get nice big plants, but the individual stalks have tended to be pretty stringy (I think this is because I don't blanch them by covering for a while to keep the sun off), and often hollow (which I think is from uneven watering). I think the problem with growing the roots into plants with the idea of harvesting something that looks like "store-bought" celery might be that it's a biennial plant and would likely start going to seed at that point... I think my next attempt will be in self-watering containers, and I'm also just going to keep harvesting the outer stalks as they grow, like leaf lettuce.

I am growing 2 jars of alfalfa sprouts. One is for us, one for a disabled lady who lives in a cramped apartment where there is no place with a good window. I took her a jar of sprouts recently and told her I would grow more. She said she had forgotten how good they are! And after reading this article, I started some wheat. A few years ago I planted a pineapple. It never has bloomed but is a nice big plant. It lives in a pot in my greenhouse, and might bloom if I repotted it. Celery is next! And romaine. Thank you!

Seeds from oranges and other citrus, and pomegranates, too, make really quick and cute pots. My only problem is in deciding when to throw them away before they take over the house... We have a grapefruit tree that is nearly 10 years old and a family institution now because I passed it on to Mother Anna to throw out (I thought) but she won't let anyone touch it!

We do sometimes get attached to our plants....