I love simple, amazing, and self-sustainable ideas–and I know you do, too–so I want to share this one with you in case you missed it over here.
It’s delectably ingenuis, and impossibly simple. Buy a bunch of celery from the grocery store and cut off the bottom.
I was so excited, I bought two.
You can plant them right away, or set them in a saucer or bowl of warm water overnight until you’re ready.
Make a hole in your garden soil (you can even use a patio pot), fill the hole with water, set the celery bottom in the damp ground and bury it about an inch deep.
AND THEN IT MAKES MORE CELERY.
That’s it.
Seriously.
No planting tiny celery seeds and nursing tiny plants, waiting and waiting. Just plant a celery bottom and it will GROW MORE CELERY.
I’ll report back in a few weeks and let you know how my celery bottoms are doing. Meanwhile, plant your own!
See Sheryl-Runningtrails’ photos and tutorial here. You can also find Sheryl at her blog, Providence Acres. Thanks for the fabulous idea, Sheryl!
If I plant a banana, will I grow more bananas? How far can I take this concept? What if I plant a puppy? Wait, I don’t want any more puppies…. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, DON’T PLANT THAT PUPPY!!!
Ulrike says:
I’ve never done that with celery (I’m not a celery fan), but it does work with PINEAPPLE! Cut the top off, and plant it. When it fruits, repeat the process, but don’t throw out the mother plant quite yet. It will grow a “pup” of its own, and then you’ll have TWO pineapples plants. Mine live outside during the summer, but come indoors and live in front of a south-facing window during our sub-zero Iowa winters.
On July 6, 2010 at 2:03 am
CindyP says:
Pineapple, too????? in Iowa? Well, then, it should work here in Michigan!
Love these ideas!
And no, I wouldn’t try to plant the puppy…..your life would never be the same! 😉
On July 6, 2010 at 8:43 am
Laurel says:
Amazing. Amazing!
I can’t wait to try this!
On July 6, 2010 at 9:39 am
KentuckyFarmGirl says:
I was just coming in here to mention the pineapple thing! We can’t always get it to work but we’ve grown a couple of pineapples from the tops cut off and put in soil in a pot on our patio. I can’t wait to try the celery.
On July 6, 2010 at 10:16 am
monica says:
I planted some over the weekend–I replanted it from seed several times and it just isn’t doing much. To make it a so that I can use the whole batch of celery at once, I cut the root into quarters. I never use the whole thing of celery at once and most of the time what gets put back into the fridge has to get composted because it doesn’t get used. It hasn’t sprouted yet, but I can see the dirt getting pushed away a bit.
ps I don’t think Clover can get preggers this way either–she is going to have to do that the old fashioned way LOL :bugeyed:
On July 6, 2010 at 10:48 am
Laura says:
I planted my celery the day you posted it, and it is (as you said it would) growing already. Very cool.
On July 6, 2010 at 11:04 am
LisaAJB says:
I was at my godmother’s over the holiday weekend, and we were wondering if this would work the romaine lettuce? Anyone know?
On July 6, 2010 at 11:32 am
Miss Becky says:
wow, funny you should ask about Romaine lettuce. I just planted my cut off bottom and am trying it because I planted my celery bottom last week and it is growing already. I’ll keep you posted!
On July 6, 2010 at 11:36 am
Runningtrails says:
ROFL!! Suzenne, you have such a great sense of humour!!!
I now have a GIANT puppy, same breed as your previous giant puppy, Coco, only male. His name is Buck and he’s 5 mos old.
I assume you are referring to the new little puppy as Coco isn’t really a puppy anymore, is she?
Awww, but he’s so cute!!
On July 6, 2010 at 11:42 am
Runningtrails says:
I mispelled your name in the last post. I KNOW HOW TO SPELL IT, honest. It was just a typo, really… (sorry)
I hope the celery thing works out for you! You can always try a banana. They are so cheap to buy, but I wouldn’t hold my breath 🙂
On July 6, 2010 at 11:44 am
Claudia says:
Green onion bottoms work as well, so I image any vegetable with roots would sprout. How thrifty is that! I can’t wait to try the celery!
On July 6, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Diane@Peaceful Acres says:
Oh yes, saw this on another blog….planted mine and it was coming up when that stupid rat dug it up and ate it AGAIN! These stupid rats are doing a number on my garden. Yes, barn rats. Stupid rats. :devil2:
On July 6, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Shirley Corwin says:
Wow, never heard of doing that before. I can’t wait to try. If it wasn’t so unbearably hot out today ,I go right now to the grocery store and get some celery!!
On July 6, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Cate says:
I tried this Monday. Planted it, watered it, came back Tuesday morning and some ornery critter dug it up.
On July 6, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Megs says:
Fantastic! I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing!
On July 6, 2010 at 8:50 pm
ATL Cook says:
I adopted 2 wild kittens last October–fed them all winter. Not a squirrel in my garden. I will try the celery because we have a long growing season. Okra, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes are flourishing. I just bought a bunch of celery and will cut off the bottom ASAP and plant it.
On July 7, 2010 at 12:34 am
Sandi says:
I definitely have to try this one! I always end up with no celery when I want it or limp, floppy celery in the fridge because I forgot to use it up. I’d love to be able to just cut what I want and keep it growing. I’m certain the kids would be fascinated by this as well.
On July 7, 2010 at 11:24 pm
JenniferCote says:
I can’t wait to try all of this! We use a lot of produce at The New Deli. We compost buckets and buckets of the veggie scraps, but I’ll just set the celery and green onion bits aside now. (And pineapple, when we get it.)
I have seen Romaine pop up in the compost pile, when I haven’t bothered to bury/turn it much. So I guess the Romaine works too!
On July 7, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Ruthmarie says:
Um, after reading about planting celery butt ends, I looked up how to grow celery in the first place. They don’t like high heat … the word ‘bitter’ popped into the description of their persnickety dislike of temperature. I’ve already bought two celery bunches but still have the first cut butt sitting in water in the cool kitchen. Am going to have to be very selective in where I plant it … under shade would be better than not for our persistently hot CA summers. Still, what can you lose? Will be curious if it actually grows full stalks …
On July 8, 2010 at 3:42 am
Miss Becky says:
ok here’s the deal. the romaine end I planted is doing great. Beautiful. the celery end I planted a few days before that ~ well, it’s dead. it rotted. but I’ll be trying it again.
On July 8, 2010 at 5:15 pm
mary says:
Never tried planting the celery ends…but have dipped them in a mixture of pink. white and red paint and painted roses…lol…Mary
On July 9, 2010 at 2:33 pm
IowaCowgirl says:
Suzanne, I think you should send this idea to the Spendid Table people at NPR:
https://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/user/form_display.php?isPIJ=Y&form_code=3528c2521fdb
On July 14, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Jeannie says:
Do you plant the whole thing an inch deep, or does the dirt come up to an inch on the celery bottom? Sorry…this gardening thing is still a mystery to me….but I’m trying!
On August 30, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
Jeannie, I’m no expert but I just planted it an inch deep!
On August 31, 2010 at 6:58 am
prayingpup says:
As soon as I read this – I planted my celery. Guess what? It grew, and grew, and grew and now I’ve brought it in to my sun room, to keep growing – I’m so excited! I also planted the green onion ends and have onions!
On November 3, 2010 at 11:14 am
Whaledancer says:
Progress report: I planted my celery bottom a couple of days after this post came out, and it’s doing beautifully. It’s about 6″ tall so far. We did have a few days of record-breaking heat, so it might turn out bitter, but I’ll let you know when I harvest it. Maybe I’ll even figure out how to take a picture and upload it.
On November 16, 2010 at 5:02 pm
A. Ferguson says:
Carrots work too. Not pretty but grow. I plant about the top half inch or a little more.
On January 1, 2011 at 12:51 am
brookdale says:
I used to start carrot tops when my kids were small (a long time ago!) They would grow in water in a saucer for quite a while and were really pretty. Never did set them outside, do they really make more carrots in dirt?
On January 2, 2011 at 10:22 pm
brookdale says:
I tried this a couple days ago. I have tiny little celery leaves growing up from the center already!
Hope it gets big enough to pick before winter…
On August 6, 2013 at 10:34 pm