Late summer and all through fall are the times many gardeners are harvesting crops they want to keep for the long-term to use throughout the winter. How do we harvest and store these vegetables to be sure they retain their flavor, texture, and nutrient value? Today we'll discuss basic cold storage of the most popular types of fall garden crop: no refrigeration, no freezing, no canning, no dehydrating. Just what you can rig up in your basement, a closet, a garage or, if you’re lucky, a root cellar. Each category of crop has its own preference for long-term storage conditions and it’s well worth making sure you have these areas figured out and set up ahead of time so you can keep the bounty going for as long as you can. Let's dig in!
References and Resources:
Ep. 42 - Just Grow Carrots Ep. 48 - We Got the Beet! Ep. 94 - Growing Sweet Potatoes Ep. 52 - Cabbage Ep. 34 - Garden Talk Tuesday: Winter Squash Ep. 133 - Growing Onions Just Grow Something Website
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This is positively farming media.
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So right now we are heading into late summer.
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We're going to start with early fall and now is a really good
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time for us to be thinking about how we are going to store some
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of that late summer fall bounty. We're talking basic cold storage
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here. No refrigeration, No freezing,
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No canning, No dehydrating. Anything other than maybe what
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you can rig up in your basement, a closet, a garage, or if you're
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lucky, a root seller. So on today's episode of Just
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Grow Something, we're going to talk about the different storage
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techniques for probably the five most common categories of late
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summer and fall vegetable garden crops, root crops like carrots
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and turnips, grassicas like cabbage, sweet potatoes, winter
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squashes, and pumpkins and onions.
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Each category of crop has its own preference for longterm
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storage conditions, and it's well worth making sure that you
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have these areas figured out and set up ahead of time so that you
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can keep the bounty going for as long as you can.
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I am often eating winter squashes harvested in late
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summer. At the same time, I'm planting
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them in the next spring. And you'll find that these
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storage areas are also perfectly suited for other harvests coming
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out of the garden throughout the summer season, as well as taking
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advantage of deals that you might find in the late summer or
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fall at the farmers market or at your grocer.
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Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen and I started
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gardening 18 years ago in a small corner of my suburban
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backyard when we moved to A5 acre homestead.
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I expanded that garden to half an acre and I found such joy and
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purpose in feeding my family and friends.
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This newfound love for digging in the dirt and providing for
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others prompted my husband and I to grow our small homestead into
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a 40 acre market farm. When I went back to school to
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get my degree in horticulture, I discovered there is so much
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power in food and I want to share everything I've learned
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with as many people as possible. On this podcast, we explore crop
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information, soil health, pests and diseases, plant nutrition,
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our own nutrition and so much more in the world of food and
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gardening. So grab your garden journal and
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a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
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So when we're talking about storage of our garden crops, I
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think we have to talk about first the importance of proper
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harvesting and then how that storage is impacting the taste,
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the quality and the nutritional value of what is coming out of
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our garden. Because proper techniques in
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both the harvesting and the storage are going to directly
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impact that quality and that nutritional value.
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I mean, first of all, if we're harvesting them at their peak
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ripeness, that is going to ensure that they are retaining
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their best taste, their best texture and their flavor.
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But it's also preserving that nutritional content that we're
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worried about. We've talked before that, you
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know, if we're getting things that are being shipped in from
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who knows where, then those vegetables are obviously losing
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their nutritional value. The longer they've been away
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from the plant and the less likely that they have been held
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at the optimal temperature and in the optimal conditions, then
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the more likely it is that they have lost some of that
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nutrition. So if we're harvesting things
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fresh out of our garden, as soon as it is picked, that nutrient
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content begins to degrade. And so our proper harvesting and
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storage techniques are going to help to minimize that nutrient.
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And it's going to maintain a lot of those essential vitamins and
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the minerals and the phytonutrients that we really
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want to take advantage of with our own homegrown produce.
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And then of course, if we're not harvesting them properly or
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we're not storing them properly, we may be damaging them, may we
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be bruising them and that's going to accelerate that
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spoilage and it's going to lead to a shorter shelf life once we
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do put it into storage. So our proper handling of them
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prior to storage is going to make a difference.
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And now with some of these vegetables too, especially root
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crops, they are going to undergo biochemical changes after
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harvest that affect their taste and their texture.
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So curing some of these is going to be very important for
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enhancing that taste and texture.
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And then the proper storage of all of them is going to help
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them retain that flavor and some of them will actually develop a
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better flavor overtime and just to maintain their desired
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texture and that sort of thing. And of course all of this you
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know just lends itself to cost savings too.
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I mean if even even one part of the reason why we're doing our
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own gardening is to save us some money in the grocery store, then
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these storage techniques are going to extend that shelf life.
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We get to enjoy our harvest for a more extended period and that
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of course means that we have to buy less of it in the grocery
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store. So the first thing we can talk
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about is those root crops like carrots and beets and turnips
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specifically, These are really popular things to grow in the
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fall. And the storage techniques that
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we'll talk about and the harvesting techniques too,
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obviously are good for both spring and fall.
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So just because you're harvesting maybe your crop in
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the spring instead of the fall doesn't mean that you can't use
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these same techniques. I just tend to grow a larger
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amount of these crops in the fall and you know, the spring
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ones I'm using for fresh eating throughout the summertime maybe.
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But then in the fall I'm really growing the ones that I want to
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keep over the winter time because we have a tendency to
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eat more of those root vegetables during the cooler
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times of the year. That's just our preference.
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But you know, keep in mind this is all anytime you're growing
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these crops, these are good storage techniques.
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But when it comes to harvesting like carrots and beets and
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turnips, their optimal harvest time is definitely going to be
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based on the variety that you are growing and then your
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desired size and flavor. These can all be harvested at
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different stages of development and we can choose the timing
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that best suits our preferences. But in general, for longterm
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storage, we want them to have reached full maturity before we
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harvest them. How do we figure that out?
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Well, I mean the size, right? That's an essential indicator of
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whether or not it's ready for harvest.
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We're talking, you know, carrots.
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You can usually tell you just sort of dust some of the soil
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back from the top of the carrot and feel the root.
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It's going to have a firm and solid texture.
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You really don't want to harvest the baby carrots that are still
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soft and kind of spongy specifically for storage, right?
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You want them to be more mature. The same thing goes for beets
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and for turnips. There are salad sized turnips
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that you might harvest smaller. Those are really not intended
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for long term storage. We're talking more of the
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full-sized turn up ones. Same thing with the beets.
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If you're not sure then the seed packet is going to provide sort
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of an estimated days to maturity for that specific variety that
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you're growing. So use this as a guideline for
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when to start checking, just like anything else to see
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whether or not that harvest is going to be ready.
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But just remember, of course it's an estimate and you know
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your weather and your growing conditions is going to influence
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that, but it gives you a good time for when you should start
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checking OK. And then also keep in mind that
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if you leave root vegetables in the ground for too long after
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maturity, depending on your soil temperatures and your air
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temperatures, this can actually lead them to be oversized and be
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sort of woody. So you want to be regularly
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checking the roots as they approach maturity and then
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harvesting them at the right time to make sure that you're
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getting the best flavor and the best quality before you put them
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in storage. There's a little bit of a caveat
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to this depending on where you live.
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So if you are in an area that doesn't see as harsh of winters,
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you can actually get away with leaving some of these root crops
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in the ground. If they have gotten to their
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maturity sort of right at the time when you start to get your
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first frost or when your daylight hours start to drop and
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they're not really continuing to grow, they sort of sit in stasis
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essentially and they can stay in the ground in that condition.
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This is a way of storing these. Honestly.
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I will do this with carrots especially because after they
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get hit with a first frost or two, it concentrates those
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sugars. It makes them taste sweeter.
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Winter grown carrots are just unbelievably sweet and if you
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can protect them in the soil then they can be stored right in
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place again. Harvest them when they've
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reached their mature size. Check their size.
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Loosen that soil around them to gently get them out of the
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ground. Lift them carefully so that you
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are not breaking or bruising them.
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You do not want to store crops that have been broken or damaged
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in any sort of way. Those are the ones that you're
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going to use first. You are not going to store
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those. OK, so it's sort of like when
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we're talking about seed saving, you want to save the best and
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eat the rest. Same thing when it comes to your
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storage, store the best and eat the rest.
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Eat the, eat the, you know, the damaged ones first.
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With anyone of these root crops, you want to take those leafy
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tops off of the roots, leaving maybe about an inch of the stem
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attached. If you leave the tops on your
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carrots or your beets or your turnips, this is going to draw
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moisture from the roots and it's going to cause them to go limp
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fairly quickly. This goes to anytime during the
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year when you are trimming them to maybe throw them into a
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refrigerator for storage. You also want to make sure that
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you're trimming the tops. Now make use of those tops, but
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don't put them in storage with the tops on.
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You also want to go ahead and just gently brush off any excess
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dirt and stuff from the roots, but you do not want to wash
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them. Anytime you get any of these
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crops wet prior to putting them in storage, you're actually
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going to encourage mold growth during storage and we obviously
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don't want our goodies to go gross on us.
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Again, you know, when you're dusting all that, that debris
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off, make sure that you are checking to see whether or not
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there's any bruising, make sure there's no signs of disease.
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You don't want any of that stuff going into longer longterm
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storage. Anything that you have that is
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damaged can actually start to spoil the crops that are around
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it too. So you only want your best
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estimates to be going into longterm storage.
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And then, if possible, you might want to sort them by size,
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because the larger ones are going to tend to store better or
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for longer than the smaller ones, so you can eat the smaller
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ones 1st and leave the larger roots for later on in the
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offseason. So for these particular root
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crops, the the carrots and the beets and the turnips, they
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prefer storage temperatures in the range of 32 to 38 degrees
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Fahrenheit or zero to 3 Celsius, with a relative humidity of 90
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to 100%. So we're talking cold and humid.
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This is different than where you store, say, your onions, which
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we'll talk about here in a little bit.
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They like cold and dry conditions.
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Irish potatoes, they like it warmer.
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They like it closer to 40 degrees but in similar humidity.
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So you know, if you have an area where the humidity level is
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appropriate, then you can store your carrots and your turnips
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and your beets in an area that is close to where you normally
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store your potatoes. But make sure that it is colder
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for these crops than it would be for for your potatoes.
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If you have access to a root seller, of course, this is an
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ideal storage location. They're generally cool, dark,
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they're generally humid, and so that mimics the environment that
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we're looking at. A basement can double as a root
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seller if you have an area that is suitable and can get to those
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temperatures. I recommend having a
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thermometer. Also getting a hygrometer, which
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is something that will test the humidity level in your area or
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in your storage area. You are likely going to want a
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few of these. They're fairly inexpensive, but
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all of these things that we're talking about like different
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conditions, so you want to do your best to sort of mimic that
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in one corner and then maybe something different in another
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corner. Another good way to mimic this
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is to store these roots in boxes or crates that are filled with
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slightly damp sand or sawdust. So you whatever medium you
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choose the sand of the sawdust, you want to place a layer of
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that in the bottom of your box or your crate, and then add a
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layer of the roots. And then just continue
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alternating until your container is full.
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And then put that container in a cool place that is going to
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maintain that humidity that we want.
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And it's also going to make it to where you don't have to
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increase the humidity in your entire basement in order to be
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able to store these things. So damp sand or sawdust is a
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really good option for these types of root vegetables.
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And then like we talked about, you can actually store them in
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place in your garden bed if your temperatures are amenable to
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this. Now if you live in an area where
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your your winters tend to be a little bit warm, this may not
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work because it you know the ground may be too saturated or
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it just may be too too warm to do this.
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But give it a shot. In our area it works really,
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really well. I leave them in the soil until
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after the first couple of frost and then I mulch it really
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heavily and then I leave that mulch in place and harvest as
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needed. If you get snow cover fairly
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frequently where you are, the snow cover is actually also
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going to help to insulate that area, and you can just reach
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down and dig out what you want to use as you need it.
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I tend to finish pulling them all and putting them into cold
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storage before the ground freezes completely solid.
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If it seems like we're going to have an unusually cold winter,
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or if you live somewhere where you know your ground freezes
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solid for weeks or months on end, then you want to get those
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dug before that actually happens.
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But it's a really good way to sort of save on storage space
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until the last possible minute and you can just harvest them
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right out and and use them that way rather than having to dig
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them all at once and put them away.
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So it's a it's a really good option no matter what you do.
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You want to periodically make sure that you are checking on
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these for signs of spoilage. Anyone of them that starts to
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get soft or they start to show, you know, signs of mold or
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rotting, you want to pull those immediately, use what you can
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and pitch the rest into the compost pile because you don't
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want them affecting the other root crops.
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OK, so basically what we're talking here, storage
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requirement wise, temperatures in the range of 32 to 38
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Fahrenheit, 0 to 3 Celsius, relative humidity of 90 to 100%,
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very, very cold and humid conditions.
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The next thing we want to talk about is sweet potatoes.
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These are going to be different as far as how we treat them
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before we put them into storage and then what type of storage
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that we use. The difference with sweet
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potatoes is that we want to cure these before we get them into
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storage. So harvesting them is one thing.
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They're usually ready to be harvested when their foliage
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starts to kind of yellow and die back.
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This typically is late summer or early fall, depending on where
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you live, usually 90 to 120 days after planting.
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Our typical timeline is usually plant the first week in June and
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then harvest sometime in September.
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And this of course is going to depend on what the weather was
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like during the growing season. You also again here want to
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avoid damaging these as you are digging them out.
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So using a fork, a spayed fork or something to kind of loosen
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that soil around the plants and then carefully getting the
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tubers out of the ground. You don't want to use excessive
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force. They actually can break fairly
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easily as you're trying to pull them out.
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So handle them gently during harvesting.
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You don't want to bruise them, you don't want to cut them.
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Of course, again, that's going to lead to rot during storage.
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Now the crucial step here is the curing.
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This is going to help your sweet potatoes to develop that sweet
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potato flavor that you want. It's going to improve the
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texture and it's also going to improve the storage quality.
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It's not difficult, but you kind of have to have the right spot
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to do it. So you're looking for, again, a
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warm and humid environment. When we just talked cold and
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humid, now we want warm and humid something that's around 80
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to 85 degrees Fahrenheit or 27 to 29 Celsius.
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And you want your humidity again around that 85 to 90% mark.
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You want to lay your sweet potatoes in a single layer.
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You don't want them touching each other.
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You want some air to circulate. You don't want the moisture to
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build up with all that humidity and then keep it relatively dark
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because we don't want a bunch of exposure to light that can
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actually cause them to develop a sort of bitter taste and you let
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them sit there for about 7 to 10 days.
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In our area, it's easy for me to do this just sort of on my back
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porch. I can either put them on racks
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or I can just lay them out on a tarp on my back porch and then
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cover them with another tarp. This helps to trap the humidity
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underneath, but of course the edges of the tarp aren't like
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locked down, so there's still some air flow under there, and
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then I just check them periodically.
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I'll pull the tarp back, roll them back and forth, make sure
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that nobody's touching each other, make sure there's no
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moisture buildup under there, and then cover them back up
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again and they sit there for about 10 days, maybe 2 weeks.
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This is again, it's it's increasing that sort of sugar
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content in there. If you have ever tried to eat a
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sweet potato right out of the ground, it really does taste
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just like a regular Irish potato.
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There isn't actually probably less flavor than an Irish
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potato, so this is a really important step not only for how
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they taste, but also for for how you store them.
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And I will link to the sweet potato episode in the show notes
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too, so you can listen to more detailed information about that.
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But the curing is an important part of getting them ready for
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storage. So once they're stored, I'm
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sorry. Once they're cured, then we can
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store them. You can move on to storing them
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for the long term. Again, select the best.
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You only want the healthy, undamaged sweet potatoes.
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Your temperature and humidity now is going to switch from that
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warm temperature when you were curing it down to a cool
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temperature. You still want about the same
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humidity level that 85 to 90%, but we want a temperature of
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about 55 to 60 Fahrenheit or 13 to 16 Celsius in a dark, well
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ventilated area. So again, a root cellar, but
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maybe the warmer end of the root cellar that's closer to the
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door, a basement. A cool closet can work well for
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these. You just want to make sure
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there's proper air circulation. Again, we don't want that
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moisture buildup, so crates or boxes, mesh bags are really good
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for this. Do not store them in the
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refrigerator, please. That cold temperature is
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actually going to negatively affect that flavor and the
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texture of them. You definitely want them to be
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warmer, so even if you can't get to that humidity of 85 to 90%,
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you do not want them in the same area where you've got your beets
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and your carrots and your turnips, which is closer to that
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refrigerator temperature of 32 to 40, right?
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A box is fine, you're just going to want to make sure that you
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are periodically checking them again for signs of decay or for
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spoilage. Anything that's got soft spots
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or mold or any type of rot, you're going to want to pitch.
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Just remember that the sweet potatoes are more sensitive to
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temperature and humidity compared to the other root crops
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or even just regular potatoes, so the proper curing and the
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storage are going to be really important here to preserve
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their. Quality for an extended period
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of time. So another category of very
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popular crops for the fall garden or for late summer are
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things like cabbage, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi.
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You know, harvesting them and storing them for winter just
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includes a few key steps just to make sure that they stay fresh
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and usable for an extended period of time.
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Usually cabbage are ready for harvest when those heads feel
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firm and they have reached whatever size you want them to
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be. Late summer to early fall, very
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common time for for harvesting cabbages.
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Brussels sprouts usually ready for harvest.
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When the sprouts are firm, they're green, usually about one
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to two inches in diameter. You want to start harvesting
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them from the bottom of the stock and then upward as they
00:20:53
mature. Cole Robbie can be harvested
00:20:56
almost at anytime once they start to form those bulbs.
00:20:59
But again, the more mature they are and the more solid they are,
00:21:03
the longer and better they are going to store on each one of
00:21:06
these. You just want to check the
00:21:07
little heads to make sure that they are firm, they are the size
00:21:11
that you want them to be. They should be solid, they
00:21:13
should be compact. Make sure that you are using a
00:21:16
sharp knife or a garden pruner when you are cutting these guys
00:21:19
out of the garden. And when you're doing cabbage,
00:21:22
you can leave a few of those outer leaves attached to the
00:21:25
stem with Brussels sprouts you want.
00:21:29
If you want to cut them off the stock, you want to leave a short
00:21:31
stem attached to each one of the sprouts.
00:21:34
You can also just harvest the whole stock and store them that
00:21:39
way. For longterm storage of any of
00:21:41
these guys, you can also leave the outer leaves some of the
00:21:45
stem or even pull the entire plant and leave the roots
00:21:50
intact. Now this is for very longterm
00:21:53
storage if you have a place where you don't mind getting it
00:21:56
messy because obviously you know the roots and stuff are going to
00:22:00
are going to cause a little bit of a mess.
00:22:03
But it is a really good way to do some some longterm storage
00:22:08
with with very little loss of quality if you have the space to
00:22:12
do it. All of these are good candidates
00:22:15
for longterm storage if the conditions are right.
00:22:19
You just want to make sure that you are removing any of the
00:22:21
damaged or loose outer leaves from the cabbage heads or the
00:22:24
individual sprouts themselves. Once again, do not wash these
00:22:29
before storage. The moisture can encourage rot,
00:22:31
so just dust off any excess dirt or anything that's there before
00:22:35
you put them into the storage. This is also going to help you
00:22:38
to inspect them to make sure you don't have any diseases or
00:22:41
damage. Now the ideal storage condition
00:22:44
for cabbage Again a root cellar. We want cold and humid, so 32 to
00:22:49
40 Fahrenheit, 0 to 4 Celsius, and a humidity level of 90 to
00:22:54
95%. Does this sound familiar?
00:22:57
Yes, this is just about the same conditions As for our carrots
00:23:02
and our turnips and our beets. So if you are growing all of
00:23:05
these types of crops, then you can use the same storage
00:23:10
location for all of them, obviously in separate
00:23:13
containers. But they all like the same type
00:23:16
of cold and humid storage conditions.
00:23:20
For the cabbage heads, you can put them in crates or boxes or
00:23:23
bins. You can also wrap each head in
00:23:25
newspaper, or you can put them in a mesh bag to help them sort
00:23:29
of maintain that humidity a little bit and just to prevent
00:23:32
direct contact between the heads.
00:23:34
You can do the same thing with the individual little Brussels
00:23:38
sprouts, Just kind of put them into boxes with open lids on
00:23:42
them and cover them with newspaper.
00:23:45
You can again leave them directly on the stock, kohlrabi.
00:23:48
The same thing. You want to cut off the loose
00:23:52
greens that are on the top and just store them as their
00:23:55
individual heads. Just make sure there is some
00:23:58
space between all these. You want to allow for some air
00:24:00
circulation. You don't want to stack them,
00:24:02
like too tightly on top of each other or too closely, because we
00:24:05
don't want that moisture buildup.
00:24:07
And once again, just like all of these, you want to periodically
00:24:10
check and make sure that you're looking for signs of spoilage,
00:24:13
or for rot, or for disease. If you need some extra help with
00:24:17
that humidity, again, the Brussels and the Korabi can both
00:24:21
be stored in that moist sawdust or sand the same way that we do
00:24:25
with those other root crops. So, you know, filling them with
00:24:29
a layer of that storage medium and then adding a layer of the
00:24:33
Brussels or a layer of the kohlrabi and then doing another
00:24:36
layer of your storage medium alternating until that container
00:24:40
is full is going to help maintain that moisture.
00:24:42
This doesn't work real well with with cabbage.
00:24:45
Obviously you're going to get the sand in the nooks and
00:24:47
crannies and a little bit more difficult to store, but that's
00:24:50
when you can just wrap them up in those in those newspapers.
00:24:53
Next up, we're talking winter squash and pumpkins.
00:24:57
You know, storing these guys for winter doesn't take a whole lot
00:25:02
in order to make sure that they stay fresh.
00:25:05
Harvesting them at the right time obviously is is going to be
00:25:08
one of the keys here. You want those skins to have
00:25:11
fully hardened, so make sure that you did.
00:25:14
They cannot be easily punctured with a fingernail.
00:25:16
Those stems should be dry and still very firmly attached.
00:25:20
Occasionally those stems are going to pop off when you're
00:25:22
putting them into storage, so those are going to be the ones
00:25:24
that you want to use first. These are candidates for being
00:25:29
cured. It's not as intensive of a
00:25:32
process as say, the sweet potatoes.
00:25:34
You really just want to put them in a sort of a warm, dry area
00:25:38
with good ventilation. A sunny porch or a well
00:25:40
ventilated room is good for this, and you want them to sit
00:25:43
there for about 10 to 14 days. This is going to help the skin
00:25:46
to toughen up, and it also does improve the flavor and help
00:25:50
increase the storage life. This is why I like to use winter
00:25:53
squashes and my edible pumpkins as decoration.
00:25:58
In fact, I'm not sure if this is the reason why we use them as
00:26:01
decoration, but just sitting them out around your house, as
00:26:06
long as they're not piled too tightly on top of each other and
00:26:09
there's good ventilation, well, this is a great way to just let
00:26:11
them sit and cure before we decide to use them.
00:26:14
So winter squashes, really colorful acorn squashes,
00:26:18
carnival squashes, all of our pumpkins, that sort of thing.
00:26:21
Sit them around your house, use them on your table tops, etc as
00:26:24
your fall decorations, and then once you're done, then move them
00:26:27
into the cold storage. This is a great way to cure
00:26:29
them, so not only is it good for their flavor, but it's good for
00:26:32
their storage life. After you've got them cured,
00:26:36
then you want to go ahead and wipe off any dirty debris.
00:26:39
Now obviously if you're using them as decorations, you're
00:26:41
probably going to want to clean them a little bit more than what
00:26:44
you would if they were going directly into storage.
00:26:47
So just don't use, you know, excess amounts of water or
00:26:51
anything when you're wiping them clean to to display them.
00:26:54
Then again, you this is a good time to check them for any signs
00:26:57
of damage or cuts or bruises. Any of the damaged ones are the
00:27:00
ones that you want to use first. And then when it comes to the
00:27:03
storage location, pumpkins and winter squashes like cool but
00:27:08
dry areas. OK, so we've been talking about
00:27:11
humid areas thus far. Now we're talking about dry
00:27:14
areas. The ideal temperature for these
00:27:17
guys is right around that 50 to 55 degree or 10 to 13 degrees
00:27:21
Celsius temperature range. But they like low humidity.
00:27:25
We do not want them in damp or humid conditions because that is
00:27:28
going to lead to mold growth and they are not going to store as
00:27:32
long. You also probably should keep
00:27:35
the different varieties of winter squashes and pumpkins
00:27:38
sort of separated during storage.
00:27:41
I mean, I don't mean that you have to have them in different
00:27:42
places in your house, but just kind of keep them grouped
00:27:45
together because some varieties do not store as well as others.
00:27:50
And so if one starts to deteriorate, you don't want it
00:27:52
to infect the entire batch. Acorn squash specifically are
00:27:56
not really good candidates for longterm storage.
00:28:00
I mean, they're good for a couple of months, but you know,
00:28:02
I've noticed that they tend to go soft faster than things like
00:28:08
butternut or pumpkins. So not only do I tend to use
00:28:12
those sooner rather than later, but I also keep them sort of in
00:28:16
their own area. And then, you know, the
00:28:18
butternuts and the other ones can are right next to each
00:28:21
other. So just keep that in mind.
00:28:22
Also keep in mind too that if you use an elevated surface like
00:28:26
a wooden pallet for like your bigger ones, or if you have
00:28:29
crates or shelves or something that will keep them sort of
00:28:32
lifted up and allow the air to circulate around them, That's
00:28:36
better for them. And it's also better to avoid
00:28:38
stacking them. Because if they're stacked on
00:28:40
top of each other too much, you can get pressure points on the
00:28:43
bottoms or in the areas where they're touching each other and
00:28:46
that can actually cause them to develop soft spots or rot as
00:28:49
well. So one more reason to always be
00:28:52
checking regularly to make sure that that you're checking for
00:28:57
signs of decay or mold or anything while they are in
00:28:59
storage. And then finally, probably one
00:29:02
of the most popular fall crops to store, or crops in general to
00:29:07
store is onions. And curing and storing your
00:29:12
onions properly is absolutely essential to make sure that they
00:29:16
not only keep their flavor, but they are still usable for an
00:29:19
extended period of time. And I'm talking about onion
00:29:21
varieties here that are more suitable for longterm storage.
00:29:25
Those sweeter onions that have the higher sugar content are
00:29:29
only going to hold for a few months in storage before you
00:29:34
begin to see them getting soft or moldy or even sprouting.
00:29:38
The more pungent onions tend to last longer in storage, at least
00:29:43
six months, sometimes up to a year without loss of quality.
00:29:47
I will link to the Onion episode in the show notes so you can
00:29:51
find out a little bit more about that.
00:29:53
You can cure sweet onions to hold them, but they need to be
00:29:56
checked pretty frequently and I grow two different types of
00:30:00
onions for this reason. The sweet ones are more for
00:30:03
fresh use throughout the summer and then in the fall my more
00:30:06
pungent ones are cured specifically to be used for
00:30:10
storage and to be used throughout the winter and then
00:30:12
into the spring. So you know, once your onions,
00:30:15
you know the tops start to turn yellow and they fall over
00:30:18
naturally, that's a good indication that they are ready
00:30:21
to harvest. They should be mature, they
00:30:23
should have a firm texture. I tend to not have to worry too
00:30:27
much about rushing to get those later onions out of the garden
00:30:31
because we are typically pretty dry at that time of the year.
00:30:34
So I kind of harvest them at my leisure and start curing them as
00:30:39
they get pulled out. If you were in an area that sees
00:30:41
a lot of moisture, though, you do want to pull them at the
00:30:44
right time. You want them out of the ground
00:30:46
and get them laid out to dry as quickly as possible.
00:30:49
If you're dry, you can leave them in the garden on top of the
00:30:53
soil to just kind of dry out in the sun.
00:30:57
We tend to put them on racks so they're just shelving units.
00:31:01
Again, open wire shelves so that it's well ventilated and keep
00:31:06
them out there in a warm area for a day or two just to allow
00:31:11
those outer layers to dry 1st and then we move them into a
00:31:15
more warm, dry area that is more protected.
00:31:19
So a garage. You can use a shed or an attic,
00:31:22
even a covered porch just to avoid direct sunlight.
00:31:25
You don't want to sun scald them, but I usually will put
00:31:28
them underneath a row of trees and where there's a breeze and
00:31:32
so they can sit out there without any chance of of being
00:31:37
rained on. If there is a possibility of
00:31:39
rain, they get moved inside for sure.
00:31:41
You do not want them getting wet.
00:31:42
You can hang them too if you have, you know, bundle them up
00:31:45
by their tops, you can hang them up, you can lay them out on
00:31:49
racks. Just make sure there is air
00:31:50
circulation right. Your onions, especially for
00:31:54
storage, need to cure for about two to three weeks.
00:31:59
You're going to see the outer layers of these onions start to
00:32:02
dry. The necks are going to tighten.
00:32:04
This is also helping to develop those flavors, so do not skip
00:32:09
this step if you plan on holding your onions for longer than a
00:32:13
couple of months. If you want to use them right
00:32:15
away, that's fine. It's not necessary, but
00:32:17
absolutely for storage, you want them to cure.
00:32:19
So 14 to 21 days approximately until you see those outer layers
00:32:24
are really dry and those necks are tightened up after they're
00:32:28
curing. After they're done, then go
00:32:31
ahead and brush off any of that remaining soil.
00:32:33
And then you want to trim the tops to about one inch above the
00:32:36
bulb. Do not trim them until they have
00:32:40
completely dried. If you trim them prior to them
00:32:43
being dried, all you're doing is attracting bacteria and fungi to
00:32:48
that area because it's still going to have moisture in it and
00:32:50
so that's going to promote rot earlier rather than later.
00:32:54
So wait until they're completely dry before you before you trim
00:32:57
them off, and then again go through them as you're cleaning
00:33:01
them off and make sure there's no signs of damage or disease.
00:33:04
Only store the ones that don't have any soft spots that that
00:33:09
haven't been cut in the process of of being harvested or
00:33:12
whatever. Use the ugly ones 1st and then
00:33:15
we're going to store the best, right?
00:33:17
For onions, we're talking cool and dry with low humidity, So 32
00:33:24
to 40 Fahrenheit, 0 to 4 Celsius with low humidity.
00:33:29
Once again, a basement, a root cellar.
00:33:31
These are great options, but you want a low humidity.
00:33:34
You want the dry area of your basement.
00:33:37
So mesh bags. You can hang them in pantyhose,
00:33:40
you can put them in shallow crates.
00:33:43
Don't use plastic bags. They're going to trap the
00:33:45
moisture. They're going to deterge mold
00:33:47
growth. Don't use plastic totes or
00:33:49
anything that you're going to put a lid on.
00:33:51
So wooden crates are great. You just want to make sure that
00:33:54
there is enough air circulation around the onions.
00:33:58
You don't want them crowded because again, that's going to
00:34:01
lead to moisture buildup and spoilage.
00:34:03
So if you can keep them, you know, relatively shallowly
00:34:07
stacked, so you know just one or two layers of them, and then
00:34:11
again, check on them. Look for signs of softening, any
00:34:13
sprouting, any mold, any ones that's you know.
00:34:16
So any signs of that? Grab those, use them first, and
00:34:20
then if you're storing different varieties, you may want to keep
00:34:23
them separate, especially if they have very distinct flavor
00:34:25
profiles, because they can transfer their flavors back and
00:34:28
forth if they are stored next to each other.
00:34:31
Just like onions want to flavor everything that they're stored
00:34:34
near. So you might just want to store
00:34:37
your onions in general in an area completely by themselves to
00:34:41
make it to where your other stuff doesn't always taste like
00:34:43
onion. That's a lot of information, I
00:34:49
know. So let's let we let's break them
00:34:52
into categories, right? So key storage sort of
00:34:56
temperatures and conditions for for we want cool and dry for
00:35:02
pumpkins and squash, right. We want cold and dry for onions.
00:35:07
So cool being that 50 degree mark, 50 to 55 Fahrenheit and
00:35:13
you know, virtually no humidity. Cold being, you know that 32 to
00:35:19
40 degree Fahrenheit temperature range and dry.
00:35:23
So cool and dry for pumpkins and squash, cold and dry for onions.
00:35:29
Then we go into cool and humid. This is where we're talking
00:35:33
about our sweet potatoes. So again, that 50 to 55 degree
00:35:37
Fahrenheit, you know range and humidity, right?
00:35:40
90% humidity for the sweet potatoes.
00:35:43
Cold and humid is everything else.
00:35:46
Our cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, carrots, beets and
00:35:49
turnips. So your storage areas are going
00:35:52
to depend on what it is that you are growing and what it is that
00:35:56
you want to grow or you what you what you want to store long
00:36:01
term. So it is worth it to kind of sit
00:36:04
down and figure out what you've got growing out there, what's
00:36:07
going to be coming in, what do you want to keep throughout the
00:36:09
winter time? And then figure out what the
00:36:12
conditions are that they like cool and dry, cold and dry, cool
00:36:18
and humid or cold and humid. And then figure out the areas of
00:36:22
your house that are most suitable to those conditions.
00:36:26
Until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating
00:36:28
that dream garden and we will talk again soon.
00:36:30
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