Raybo, Celery should be mounded up with loose dirt at least 6 inches on the stalks to blanch the stems. Celery is mildly poisonous and blanching helps reduce the level of toxins. The leaves make excellent flavoring for soups and stews. Celery is a cool season crop best grown either in late fall or early spring. It can handle short periods of sub freezing temps down to 22 degrees, but this seriously slows down growth. Do NOT grow celery in the heat of the summer, it will not be happy. Knowing your climate, you could probably grow it successfully from either December or January seed start. It is best started in cell trays with 2 or 3 seed per cell. The above tip about taking 12 weeks from seed to transplant is pretty close. I've managed to transplant at 8 weeks but the plants are small. My suggestion would be to fill an earthtainer 1/2 full of a very rich soil mix and set the plants to grow. When the plants are nearly full size, fill the earthtainer up with peat moss to induce blanching. DarJones

I'm sorry digdirt2 but you are the one who is wrong. Maybe you should thoroughly read the link you tagged to back up you claiming others were wrong in their canning methods. If you will, you will find that the link states..."For hot packed foods, you can bring the water (this in reference to the water in the canner BEFORE pressurizing or processing begins) to 180 degrees F. ahead of time, but be careful not to boil the water or heat it long enough for the depth to decrease. For raw packed foods, the water should only be brought to 140 degrees F." Furthermore, after stating that it gives no indication that the processing time is increases for 'raw packed foods' over 'hot packed foods' only according to what the food is. Again, you're statement, "If cold foods go in then they are room temperature or at best 120-130 degrees. In that case a much longer period of time is spent bringing the food up to 240 degrees and a longer processing time is required." is not accurate. Nowhere does it indicate that foods need to be at 240 degrees before you begin the pressure cycle, only that it be at the proper pressure for your altitude, and processing times are done by 'what' the food is, not 'how cold or hot' it was when packed. Your link states....4. Turn the heat setting to its highest position. Heat until the water boils and steam flows freely in a funnel-shape from the open vent pipe or petcock. While maintaining the high heat setting, let the steam flow (exhaust) continuously for 10 minutes. 5. After this venting, or exhausting, of the canner, place the counterweight or weighted gauge on the vent pipe, or close the petcock. The canner will pressurize during the next 3 to 10 minutes. As you can see from this, if you do this ALL foods will be up to at least boiling temperatures, no matter the temperature they were when packed. The length of time from there to the correct pressure again, depends on the pressure and your altitude. Finally, your statement, "It is true that the time measurement begins when the canner is at pressure but that time is only valid IF the food was hot when it went in or if raw packing is allowed and the processing time increased accordingly." totally contradicts your whole point in trying to say that temperature matters when the food is packed. Your link indicates that foods CAN be hot or cold/raw packed and that processing times are changed accordingly, which, I believe, is exactly what dulcimerlady2 (and others) were saying. I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert on this subject, but rather just trying to clarify misconceptions others have posted. Doing your own research on what you'd like to do is best. Go to trusted sources to glean information rather than going by someone else's opinion. The internet is full of information, as we can all see, but not everyone or everything on it is a trusted source of truth. Good luck to those trying to figure out if celery can be canned. That's what I'm trying to figure out myself.

Good advice on going out at night. I did that just now and it looks like I found the culprit. I am not sure what exactly it is though. Here is a link to the photos: http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/johnmiki/IMG_0720.jpg http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/johnmiki/IMG_0724.jpg Pics are a bit blurry but it is the best I could do. It is a small critter, about 1/3 inch long. Body is wider at one end and then narrows. At least I know what it looks like, now I just need a name. Thanks for your help so far. John

foodonastump, I'd interpret it as you did. The only thing slightly unclear is whether the two stalks should be from the leftover, which I'd presume it is, or full-sized stalks/ribs, so I might add an extra one, but frankly it wouldn't make much difference. If you like a lot of celery, which I do, the more the merrier. To some, celery can be overpowering so some might use less. Recipes are guidelines many times and need to be adjusted to tastes. What I find frustrating about using cup or weight measurements is few, if any will give an idea of how much. How many cups are in a stalk of celery? It's like recipes that say to use kernels from 2 ears of corn. That varies a lot and if you want to sub frozen or something it's difficult. If they'd say x cups, about __-__ cobs, it'd help, same with celery or for that matter anything else. Often when I'm adding to a recipe, coleslaw for instance, I look at it and see if it looks like it needs more, so I don't measure it. I look at the ratio. Sort of the same in a stew or soup. Cooking isn't always precise. I might have come across sounding insulating before and apologize if I did. I appreciate that it can be confusing and didn't intend to suggest everyone should know the intent. I was just saying that usually it's pretty clear to me, even with the same name, given the experience I have with the terminology. It's never caused me any issues. Like I said, words can be confusing! I was looking at a number of recipes, on videos, and all that I've seen using a stalk measure in a recipe mean the rib or portion rather than the "bush".