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- Properly store vegetables over the winter
- Only store intact tubers!
- Root and tuber vegetables and carrots need a lot of sand
- Special case store onions over winter
Stored in a dark and cool environment, it keeps fresh vegetables throughout the winter
Properly store vegetables over the winter
Anyone who has been able to harvest abundant yields from their beds by the end of the gardening season has the advantage of being able to get healthy and inexpensive over the winter with their home-grown potatoes, carrots, onions and celeriac tubers. Appropriate storage allows crisp vitamin enjoyment well into the new year, without any loss of quality or taste.
It is relatively easy to stock potatoes if they are harvested late and take into account that they should be stored as dark as possible. Too much light not only causes premature germination of the tubers, but also leads to green spots on the shell and forms the typical of most nightshade plants toxin solanine.
Such places should then be cut out generously before cooking, otherwise the potatoes may have an unpleasantly bitter taste.
Only store intact tubers!
It is best to remove potatoes from the soil with a digger fork without damaging them. Afterwards, they should lie on the ground for a few hours before rubbing off the now dry earth. They are not washed off, because the still adhering soil residues are the best protection against later decay. Suitable for storage potato hordes made of wood, which can be easily assemble from some slats or boards even in the necessary size. It is important that there are enough slits on all sides to ensure constant air circulation. Then only a frost-free, airy place in the basement must be found, where it is possible never warmer than 5 ° C. Once a month to check a little more thoroughly and redeploy the tubers helps that no rot can spread.
Root and tuber vegetables and carrots need a lot of sand
These vegetables are better stored the later they are harvested. Again, it is important that they are fully mature and without external damage. If you estimate that the crop will not be depleted over the next eight to ten weeks, all you have to do is stow those vegetables in moist sand-filled wooden crates, which are then stored in a dry basement room. Temperatures between 3 and 5 ° C at an air humidity of 70 to 80 percent are optimal. However, the basements of newer houses are too warm for winter storage and due to their concrete walls usually too dry. An underground rent in the garden, dug around 50 cm deep, would be the better alternative for tubers and root crops in this case. Directly over the crop is laid around the 20 cm thick straw layer and the entire pit is still protected at the end with plastic fleece against extreme frost.
Special case store onions over winter
If the onions are well air dried for two to three weeks immediately after harvest, they will survive the winter without any problems. It is important that you cut the now withered leaves after digging about five to eight inches above the neck, which significantly reduces the risk of decay. The loose-fitting bowls should be removed again and again during checks. Onions have the longest shelf life when stored in cool clay pots, the opening of which is covered with a linen cloth.