Storing veg whole - GYO wants your advice

[pigletwillie]

Craig, the Grow Your Own Editor is after any hint/tips/advice for storing veg whole (i.e. not turning it into chutneys but keeping it as is) for a special harvesting section to appear in the next issue of Grow Your Own.

As usual the best will be published in the next issue of Grow Your Own. This is a good advert for the Grapevine and you could have your advice and name in print.

[Birdie Wife]

I tried making plaits of onions for the first time last year, they are practical and decorative, my favourite combination! There are instructions available on the web, it was reasonably easy to get the hang of. Dry the onions in the sunshine to harden the skins first, so they keep better. Store in a cool, dry, airy place. It's easy to pull onions off the string as you need them. Garlic can be plaited in the same way but as garlic keeps so well anyway I usually just dry them in the sunshine, snip off the stalks and store in plastic mesh bags in the porch, handy to grab and bulb for the kitchen whenever I need it.

[SueA]

The only things I store really are onions & shallots & I've never mastered the plaiting so I just tend to hang them up in a string shopping bag in the kitchen from a hook on the wall so that they stay dry & I can just dip in when I need one.

[rustylady]

Plaits for onions and garlic, similar for chillies which dry really well, but instead of plaiting I use a darning needle to pierce the stems and string them together. Marrows and other winter squash store in the shed quite happily as long as they are mature and have plenty of air circulation. I know you can store carrots and beetroot in sand but I've never bothered, I don't have the space and they stand quite well in the ground round here.

[pigletwillie]

Carrots.
These are either left in the ground and dug up when required or, if frost is forecast, some are lifted and stored in plastic trays in damp sand (foilage removed).

Beetroot.
These are lifted before the last frosts and have their tops twisted off, before again, being stored in damp sand.

Swede / Parsnip.
These are left in the ground and are lifted as required.

Potatoes.
Lifted and left on the ground for an hour to toughen the skins, then stored in paper potato sacks.

Squash / Pumpkins.
These are cut before the first frosts and are left with a "carrying handle" of stem. They are stored on a wooden shelf in my workshop above 2 chest freezers which help to humidify the air without it being damp. We still have 1 crown prince in store.

Onions / Garlic.
These are dried out thoroughly and some are plaited for show but the majority are stored in blue plastic trays as scavanged from greengrocers.

[Snadger]

Once leeks have matured they can be used directly from where they are growing or to free up land for another crop they can be lifted with a lot of soil on there roots and 'healed in' in a clump allowing another crop to be planted where they were.
This year, because I hopefully will have a decent crop of maincrop spuds, and I have more land available, I intend to store them in a clamp. Make a slight depression in soil, cover with a thick layer of straw, pile tatties on top (after leaving on soil surface for a short while for skins to harden) , more straw on top, heap up soil on top of straw from trench dug around clamp, pat down soil to allow water to run off and into trench, and finally leave a small wisp of straw sticking out from top of clamp to allow tatties to 'breathe' As I need tatties I will pull back straw from top, take some tatties out for immediate requirements and seal clamp up again.
This year my carrots are being grown under an enviromesh covered frame in a raised bed. I intend leaving them in soil and using them as required. The enviromesh will help give an extra bit of protection.
Beetroot I store in old potting compost in strong cardboard boxes in the shed. If it throws up a few sprouts of leaves these will be eaten as a winter salad!
Onions will be plaited and kept in the LIGHT, likewise Shallots! An experiment I did last year proved to me that they keep better in the light than the dark! They'll probably be hung up in the greenhouse.
Parsnips will be left in the ground, as the flavour improves with a touch of frost, likewise Swedes.

[Paulottie]

I do find with carrots although they are rarely frozen in here, the slugs, millipedes, wireworm etc. will get into them if they are left in the row. I've built a clamp before similar to the spud one above... OK, but a lot of work;a lot of carrot fly; and I still had to schlep up to the lottie in winter to get them. The best method seems to be wooden wine boxes or dustbins with dry sand.

[waynebeddall]

list of veg storage

Carrots can be left in the ground in cool winter areas. The soil must be well drained. Leave the tops attached. Once harvested, the tops can be removed and the carrots stored in containers packed with dry sand covered up then another container stacked on top again. Keep in a cool place. A list is below on which veg can be stored for how long

1. cool and dry (50-60°F and 60% relative humidity)
2. cold and dry (32-40°F and 65% relative humidity)
3. cold and moist (32-40°F and 95% relative humidity)

Please see atached link for full storage

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...re/DG1424.html

[JennieAtkinson]

Thanks everyone for your tips on this subject. They've been passed to GYO, but keep posting on the thread if you have any more tips, as its always helpful to have this information.