SaltyCajun.com - REplanting romaine and celery from the store

We saw something on te internet about planting the root end of romaine and celery and it growing. We saved the romaine stalks and put them in a saucer with water and plant food on the window sill. They sprouted and started growing green in the middle so we planted them. We have done this several times but all they to is grow a little then die, any one ever do this with any luck?? We root lots of things and constantly have "volunteers" sprouting out of our compost pile so we thought this would work but not so far.