How Do You Harvest Celery so It Grows Back?

Homegrown celery is not your grocery store celery, okay? The ribs you harvest at home are going to be way more delicious, way crunchier. You can even harvest the celery leaves, which are filled with nutrients and taste a bit like parsley.

Let's get into when and how to harvest your celery.

When Can You Harvest Celery?

A celery plant needs quite a long time to grow to maturity in the garden during nice, cool weather. That's why most gardeners start their celery seeds indoors. You can hit day 70 of growing celery—when small leafy greens would be finishing up and larger ones would be ready to harvest—and still barely have a large enough celery seedling to transplant.

From the day you plant your seeds, you're looking at a good 130 to 140 days before your celery plant is large enough to give you harvests. That means if you planted celery in the spring, you can harvest in the late summer or early fall. If you live in a warmer climate and planted celery in the fall, you can take a late winter harvest.

After about 4 months of growing, your celery plant still won't be full grown. But it'll likely have some stalks that are at least 6 inches tall and therefore ready to cut. These stalks are considered immature, but you may find that you actually prefer the flavor at this stage. The longer your plant grows, the tougher the stalks will become.

Celery stalks are tastiest when you harvest while your daytime temps are still nice and cool. Once you're nearing your warm season, your plants will become a little bitter tasting.

Do You Cut or Pull Celery?

A couple years back, I posted a video of me pulling a glorious, mature celery plant out of a raised bed. I wanted to get a picture of the roots for my second book Leaves, Roots & Fruit, but I ended up angering people on the internet. "What are you doing? Leave that so it'll regrow!" "That's not how you do it!" and "Yikes. Very sad 😢"

In this case, though, the internet was right. Pulling up your celery plant roots and all is not the best way to harvest your celery plant. Unless, that is, your plant has already been in the garden for 2 years and is finishing up its life cycle (celery is a biennial).

So do what I say and not what I did, and cut your celery stalks to get the best production from your garden. Here's how to cut your celery.

What's the Best Way to Harvest Celery?

Treat your celery like a cut-and-come-again plant. In other words, think of it as a bigger parsley or cilantro plant. That means only harvest a couple stalks at a time as needed, and leave the rest of the plant to keep growing and producing for you.

Harvest celery one stalk at a time by using a sharp, serrated knife or a clean hori hori. Cut the stalk down at the bottom, using your other hand to hold the stalk away from the others. Focus on the older, outer stalks so the center of the plant can push up new growth.

Take the celery stalks you've harvested into the kitchen and give them a good rinse. Toss them into your salad or soup bowl. Now you don't have a bunch of celery stalks sitting in the produce drawer of your fridge waiting to be used up (and slowly losing all their nutrients)!

Here you can see a plant I've been harvesting from over the past couple of weeks.

Can You Harvest the Entire Celery Plant?

You can, of course, harvest the entire plant at once, kind of like you would a head of romaine or cabbage. When you harvest this way, your plant won't regrow in the garden, but you can actually grow some new stalks from the base (more on that in a bit).

To harvest an entire celery plant, wait until it's grown at least 3 inches wide. Brush the soil away from the base of the plant to expose the crown (the place where all the stems overlap). Use a sharp knife or hori hori to cut the plant at the base, right at or even a little below the soil level. Basically, you want to separate the crown from the roots, just like that nice head of celery you buy from the grocery store.

While you're cutting, hold the top of the plant with your other hand to keep it upright. Shake off the dirt and bring it inside.

You can actually regrow your celery by cutting off all the stalks but leaving about 3 inches left at the base. Place the crown in a jar of water. You might be able to regrow a celery plant that's hardy enough to plant back outside this way. Just know that the stalks your celery plant sends up won't be quite as tasty or crunchy as the originals. At the very least, you can probably get a couple new stalks, lots of celery leaves, and even celery seeds.

What's the Best Way to Store Celery from the Garden?

Before storing your celery, cut or pull the outer leaves off the top of your harvest. Celery leaves don't last as long as the stalks (they have about the same shelf life as cilantro), so this will help your harvest last as long as possible. Toss these leaves into your salad or use them as a parsley substitute in your next dish.

If you only need to store a celery stalk or two, cut them up into smaller pieces, place them in a jar or small container, fill it with water, and add a lid. Replace the water every couple of days, and your celery should last for up to 2 weeks this way. This storage method keeps your stalks nice and crisp.

To store an entire head of celery, wrap the head in a damp paper towel, place it in a plastic bag, and store it, top unsealed, in the crisper drawer of your fridge. Your harvest should last for up to 2 weeks like this.

To store celery longer term, cut the stalks into small pieces and blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute, followed by an ice bath. Allow them to cool and dry off, then put them in a freezer-safe bag. Label the bag and put it in the freezer. Your celery should be good to go for up to 18 months. Frozen celery is great for tossing into soups, casseroles, pot pies, and pot roast.

What's the Best Way to Use up Your Celery?

Smaller, more tender stalks are best for eating raw, while older, tougher stalks are better cooked.

You might just find that garden-fresh celery is so flavorful and crunchy you want to eat it raw in salads, where it can really shine (without the need for much dressing). My family also loves tossing celery into cucumber juice and kale juice to add extra nutrients.

For a quick and easy side dish, sauté your celery with some garlic, olive oil, and rice vinegar—so good!

It's Celery Harvest Time!

Waiting almost half a year to harvest your celery will give you a new appreciation for all those celery stalks you've snacked on throughout your life. And trying homegrown celery will give you a new awareness of just how delicious celery can be—no peanut butter or ranch dressing needed!