Celery in Pennsylvania?

As a kid I grew up eating celery with peanut butter on it practically on a daily basis. Celery was inexpensive, Skippy Peanut Butter  stuck to it, and I could make it. 

A while back someone was talking about pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables, and they mentioned that celery was the worst as far as pesticides. I did some research on the internet, and it does seem that celery is one of the worst as far as that goes. It does say that you're still better off to eat it even if it does have a bit of pesticide left over on it, but this is something I'd rather not think about. 

One website, foodsafetynews.com put celery in its dirty dozen, based upon pesticide residue. Another site whatsonmyfood.org listed 64 pesticide residues that can be found on celery, according to the USDA Pesticide Data Program. It also gives the percentage of the time that each one is found on the celery samples.

Well anyway, I always thought that you needed to be in the Salinas or Central Valley or some other warm-weather California paradise to grow celery. I thought you had to have a near-Mediterranean climate zone, and nice sandy soil for celery to be a worthwhile endeavor, but I proved myself wrong this year.

I planted some celery in one of our gardens this spring. Thinking that this was probably going to be a waste of time, I relegated the celery to a kind of neglected corner of the garden. A place that gets about 1/2 day shade, nestled between the red raspberries and the rhubarb. I didn't expect it to do very well..

Another factor was our soil. We are literally on the first mountain of the Appalachians, or Alleghenies as we call them in Pennsylvania in our area. We are in what is called the Chestnut Ridge, though all of the chestnut trees are gone due to a blight that killed the American Chestnuts years ago. However, because we are right on the edge of the Pittsburgh Plateau and the Allegheny Mountains, I really think our soil is more of the Pittsburgh Plateau type, which is more clay and silt than the sandstone soil of the Alleghenies, which I considered another strike against the celery giving a good show.

In spite of a bit of neglect the celery surprised me. It seemed to do nothing for the first part of the spring, but near the end of summer it got big and began to look a bit like the celery of the grocery store. It turned out to be great tasting, showed no signs of any insect or any other damage, and I really did almost nothing with it except weed it a few times when it was about to be overtaken.

We picked it a day or two ago, because we had a frost warning, and I ate about 5 stalks loaded with peanut butter, and my family joined me in my celery feast. Though the peanut butter was Smucker's Natural, it tasted like it did when I was a kid, though it tasted a bit stronger, if that is possible with celery.

I didn't get the best photos for this, I should have laid a bunch out on the table so you could see the size. Some of the bunches were about grocery store size, others were a bit smaller. The sunnier side of the row did better. Like I said I didn't do my picture taking quick enough because while I was busy eating it my wife chopped up the rest and bagged it for the freezer and winter soups. So this picture will have to suffice.

The bottom line on the celery is that it is going to get a better spot in the garden next year. I liked my Pennsylvania celery.