Planting guide

When to plant celery

Crisp stalks for the patient grower; needs steady water and rich soil. In Melbourne it goes in Sep–Jan.

Start as: Seedling or Seed started indoors
Ready in: 9–20 wks
Spacing: 25 cm
Depth: 0.3 cm
Sun: Half a day (3–6 hours)
Water: Plenty
Effort: Hands-on
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means celery can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Perth	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Canberra	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Cairns	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Toowoomba	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Rockhampton	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Coffs Harbour	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Alice Springs	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mildura	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
London	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
New York City	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Chicago	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Austin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Toronto	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●
Mumbai	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●
Paris	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Berlin	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant celery

Start seed indoors 8 weeks ahead; it needs light to germinate.
Plant into rich, moist soil.
Water daily and feed fortnightly.
Cut whole plants when stalks are thick.

Celery varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Tall Utah Classicheavy-cropper · 14–19 wksCrisp, green, reliable stalks
Red Stem Adventurouscolourful · 16–20 wksReddish-purple stalks with strong flavour
Golden Boy Adventurousheirloom · 14–19 wksPale self-blanching stalks; sweet and mild
Stringless Classicmild · 14–19 wksTender, less stringy stalks
Tender Crisp Classicmild · 14–19 wksCrisp, sweet-tasting stalks
Chinese Leaf Celery Adventurousheat-tolerant · 9–13 wksLeafy cutting celery with intense flavour

Where to buy seeds

Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on The Diggers Club Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Leek, Bean, Cabbage

Celery by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lettuce · Spinach · Silverbeet · Kale · Rocket · Bok Choy

Not sure celery is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now