Allotment - the Where, When, Why and How - Blanching Vegetables

Celery

Many people don't grow celery because the idea of blanching makes them nervous, but there's no reason to fear it! In fact, unblanched celery has a deeper green colour and a stronger flavour than blanched celery, and it's higher in nutrition, however, if you prefer the taste of blanched celery, try one of the self-blanching varieties.

The easiest way to blanch celery, is cut off the tops and bottoms of two litre milk cartons and use them as 'sleeves'. Set the cartons over the plants at least a week, preferably ten days or even longer before you want to harvest. The colour of the stalks will lighten, and their flavour will become milder. There's no need to blanch the top leaves, of course, just the stalks.

Other methods for blanching celery include:

Boarding - Some people place boards right alongside each side of the row to blanch celery.

Soiling or earthing up - this simply means bringing soil or mulch up around the plant to block out the sun, although this method may let dirt fall into the interior of the stalks, making them hard to clean. Plants should be dry before they are blanched with soil or else they're prone to rot.

Potatoes

For potatoes earthing up is often essential - as it helps control weeds, prevents the tubers turning green and gives some protection against tuber blight. Begin the process when the plants are around six inches tall, leaving a couple of inches of foliage showing. Earth them up again just before the foliage meets across the rows.

An alternative method of blanching potatoes is to mulch the plants with a thick layer of hay, straw, leaf-mould or grass mowings. This will have the added benefit of conserving moisture.

Celery allotment photograph by EverJean used under a creative commons attribution licence