As we head toward the end of fall and into winter it’s time to start using some of what we’ve stored from the garden. Bountiful fall harvests of things like onions, potatoes, carrots, and beets, whether we grew them ourselves or managed to snag some from the local farmers market or CSA, can absolutely be stored up for long-term use. In fact, many of us count on these harvests or market scores to feed our families throughout the winter.
But it can be very disheartening to go into your pantry or basement to pull out sweet potatoes for a big family holiday meal, only to find they’ve gone soft or moldy. Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to cover proper winter storage of fall harvested vegetables and we’ll talk about some of the fruits, too. There are plenty of things we can store with no special equipment or storage facility, just a cool dark area may be all you need. But understanding the difference between what your potatoes want, versus what your sweet potatoes want, can make all the difference in the world when it comes to how long you can enjoy those goodies before planting again in the spring. Let’s dig in!
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00:00:00
As we head toward the end of fall and into winter, it's time
00:00:02
to start using some of what we've stored from the garden.
00:00:05
Bountiful fall harvests of things like onions, potatoes,
00:00:08
carrots and beets, whether we grew them ourselves or managed
00:00:11
to snag some from the local farmers market or maybe we got
00:00:14
them in ACSA, can absolutely be stored up for long term use.
00:00:19
In fact, many of us count on these harvests or market scores
00:00:23
to feed our families throughout the winter.
00:00:25
But it can be very disheartening to go into your pantry or your
00:00:29
basement to pull out sweet potatoes for a big family
00:00:31
holiday meal, only to find that they've gone soft or moldy.
00:00:35
Or to pull the onions out and find half of it needs to be
00:00:39
peeled away because the outside is mush.
00:00:41
Or they've sprouted and the center is rotten.
00:00:44
Or even worse, to have fruit flies in your kitchen and you
00:00:48
cannot figure out for the life of you where they're coming from
00:00:52
until you open up the potatoes you stored and find a brown
00:00:55
puddle where your spuds used to be.
00:00:58
Today on Just Grow Something, we're going to cover proper
00:01:00
winter storage of fall harvested vegetables, and we'll talk about
00:01:04
some of those fruits too. There are plenty of things that
00:01:07
we can store with no special equipment or storage facility.
00:01:10
Just a cool dark area may be all you need, but understanding the
00:01:14
difference between what your potatoes want versus what your
00:01:18
sweet potatoes want can make all the difference in the world when
00:01:22
it comes to how long you can enjoy those goodies before
00:01:24
planting again in the spring. Let's dig in.
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Hey, I'm Karen, I started gardening in a small corner of
00:01:31
my suburban backyard and now 18 years later, I've got a degree
00:01:34
in horticulture and operate a 40 acre market farm.
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I believe there is power in food and that everyone should know
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how to grow at least a little bit of their own.
00:01:43
On this podcast, I share evidence based techniques to
00:01:45
help you plant, grow, harvest and store all your family's
00:01:48
favorites. Consider me your friend in the
00:01:51
garden. So grab your garden journal and
00:01:53
a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
00:02:05
So ugly holiday sweaters are in the merch shop.
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There are two designs and they are just ugly enough to qualify
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as an ugly sweater, but not so over the top that you can't wear
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them around town. Like unironically, they're
00:02:21
sweatshirts. Actually.
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There is a let it grow design and there is a garden elf
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design. They are available now to be
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shipped for all your ugly sweater parties.
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And of course, there are plenty of other designs and items in
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there to order for all the gardeners on your gift list this
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season, even if you're the only gardener on your gift list this
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season. Along that same vein, I am
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working on a gift guide with all the deals and discounts that you
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might find for gardening gear for holiday shopping this year.
00:02:51
I will send an e-mail when I've got that put together, hopefully
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by next week so those of you who like to get all your shopping
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done on Black Friday and Cyber Monday can take advantage of
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whatever I can find. But I will also continue to
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update that as we go through the season because I get industry
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emails all the time highlighting products and discounts.
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So why shouldn't you have those too?
00:03:13
If you're not on the e-mail list, head to just
00:03:16
growsomethingpodcast.com and there's a link at the bottom of
00:03:19
every page to get signed up. And I will also put a link to
00:03:21
that in the episode as show notes and one more note and an
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ask for you or from you. Before we start.
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A few of these episodes recently have gotten a little long
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pushing like the 45 minute to an hour mark where I usually try to
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stick to around 30 minutes. Sometimes there is a lot of
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information to share on a topic and I may tend to get a bit
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carried away. And this is where I need your
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input. Is it too much?
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Like do you prefer these episodes to be short and sweet
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and just the basics? Or do you like it when I deep
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dive into a topic? And if I do deep dive, would you
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prefer if it was split into two shorter episodes or leave it all
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as one? Even if it's an hour long?
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I want to know how you best consume this content and how
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it's most beneficial for you because I could talk about all
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of this stuff for like hours. OK, so if you're on Spotify, I
00:04:21
will do a poll in the episode notes, so look for that like in
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your player below. But everyone else you can feel
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free to respond to this morning's e-mail or DM me or
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leave a comment if you're on YouTube or however you can reach
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me. I'm making the plans for next
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season already and I would love some feedback from you to make
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this show work better for you. So storing fall harvests
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properly can extend the shelf life of our veggies and our
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fruits well into winter, giving you access to fresh produce long
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after the garden season ends. Each crop has specific
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requirements for temperature, humidity, and storage
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containers. And there are a bunch of
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different storage solutions that will work even without a
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traditional root cellar or a basement.
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So let's breakdown the best practices first for storing our
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veggies, and then we'll move into common fruits.
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And then we'll talk about alternative storage spaces if
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you don't have a basement or a root cellar or if you are
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dealing with small spaces. If we start with the vegetables,
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in general, vegetables are best stored in a cool, dark and well
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ventilated area. This slows down the respiration
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and decay. You should start by sorting and
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inspecting your harvest or whatever you've gotten from the
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farmers market very thoroughly before you decide to store it.
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We want to make sure that we are removing any damaged or bruised
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items that might spoil the one next to it.
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OK. And then we want to place them
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in as close to their ideal storage conditions as you can.
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So I'm going to give you those ideal storage conditions for
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each crop and then we can kind of talk about how we can modify
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our space to match that. The idea here when we're doing
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storage at home is to do the best we can, OK.
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So we'll start with the coldest conditions and then we will work
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our way to the warmest. The first is carrots and beets,
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and their ideal conditions are to be stored at temperatures
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between 32 and 40 Fahrenheit or zero and four Celsius with
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humidity at 90 to 95% and in either moist sand or sawdust or
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in perforated plastic bags. So the big thing with carrots
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and beets is if you are getting them from the farmers market or
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you're getting them directly from your garden, you want to
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make sure that you trim those greens down to about an inch
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above the root to prevent moisture loss.
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If you leave those tops on, they are just going to continue to
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pull the moisture out of those roots and they're going to start
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to shrivel and they're going to do this very, very quickly.
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So anytime you're bringing them in, even if you're not storing
00:07:06
them long term, even once you're you bring them in from the
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garden, you want to make sure you're taking those tops off.
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Then for long term storage, you want to place the roots in
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either boxes that are layered with slightly moist sand or
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sawdust or some sort of a container.
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You want to avoid soaking the sand or the sawdust.
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It should just be damp to the touch.
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It shouldn't be like dripping wet.
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OK, if you are going to store these in an area that actually
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has high humidity, like, you know, in a refrigerator drawer
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or something, then perforated plastic bags or mesh bags are
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going to work just fine. What we want is that high
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humidity. So that's the whole purpose
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behind the moist sand of the sawdust.
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It's going to keep the moisture and the humidity around those
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roots. But if you don't have a ton to
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store or if you have a separate refrigerator that is being used
00:07:57
for storing, then putting them into the refrigerator is fine.
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That's are the ideal conditions, specifically if you put them
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into a crisper drawer or if you put them into, like I said,
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those perforated plastic bags and put them in the fridge.
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If you have an unheated garage or a crawl space, that can work
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as like a root cellar alternative if the temperature
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stays above freezing. So you just want to put those
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containers up like on a high shelf or something and or in
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some sort of an insulated box to make sure that they don't freeze
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if you are living in a much colder area.
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The Next up is onions. The ideal condition for onions
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is just slightly warmer than these root vegetables and that
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would be between 32 and 45°F or we also want 60 to 70% humidity.
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So this means storing them, it may be in mesh bags or
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breathable baskets. That humidity level is decidedly
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different from our carrots and our beets, right?
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60 to 70%. This is still likely to be a
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higher humidity than most homes have.
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I mean, unless you live in a very, very humid area and in
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which case you probably also live in a very warm area.
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And if your house is staying warmer than 32 to 45°, then you
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know, in the house or in the kitchen is probably not the
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ideal place to store your onions.
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We do want to put them someplace where it is nice and cool.
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If you don't have a root cellar, we're talking a well ventilated
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garage space or a very, very cool pantry, a basement.
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These are all fine. One of the things to realize
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though is especially if you have grown these onions yourself, if
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you intend on storing them, they need to be cured before you put
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them in storage. So curing them in a a warm, dry,
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well ventilated area and something it is about 75 to 85°F
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for about two to three weeks is ideal.
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And you want to make sure those outer skins are nice and papery
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and they have tightened up around that onion and the necks
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are very, very dry. Then they're OK to put into
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storage. If you have gotten these onions
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from a farmer's market, ask the farmer if you can when you're
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buying them, whether or not they've been cured, but don't
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assume that they have been. So if you have these sitting
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around now, you may want to try to cure them before putting them
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away for any longer storage. OK.
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You also do not want to store them near potatoes.
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So onions and potatoes cause each other to spoil faster.
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OK ones giving off ethylene gas, the other is producing moisture.
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It's just not a good combination.
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So always make sure that you're storing them separately.
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If you are only have a few to store, you can hang your onions
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in a mesh bag and just put them on a hook in like a cool closet
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or put them in a wire basket in a very dark cupboard.
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You likely will go through them you know, faster than if you
00:10:45
have a very large number to store, but just know that if
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you're not keeping them at that nice cold temperature, 32 to 45,
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then they're not going to store for as long.
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Now you can store them in the refrigerator, but I do not
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recommend putting them in the crisper drawer because that
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actually increases the humidity a bit too much.
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But for short term, like extension of storage, So say you
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go to your storage where you've got your onions and maybe some
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of them are starting to sprout or some of them are starting to
00:11:14
get soft on the outside, but you're not quite ready to use
00:11:17
them all yet. You can grab those ones that
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seem like they're kind of going over and put them in the fridge
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and that's going to extend their life for several weeks.
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Next up is potatoes. These like their temperature to
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be slightly warmer than the onions.
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We're looking at 38 to 45°. So we don't want them close to
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that freezing temperature. Definitely higher humidity, like
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85 to 90% humidity. So keeping them in a burlap bag
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or a paper bag, cardboard boxes, this is going to kind of help to
00:11:49
keep that humidity in there. This is another one that you're
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going to want to cure. You want freshly harvested
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potatoes to be cured. You want to keep them in a dark
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area at about 50 to 60°F for about one to two weeks.
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This is going to help to thicken that skin.
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It's going to help to extend the storage life.
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Once they've been cured, then you can go ahead and stir them
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in a dark place away from the onions, please.
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And avoid plastic bags, OK? That plastic is going to trap
00:12:19
moisture in a way that we don't want.
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Yes, we want the humidity, but we also don't want it to
00:12:23
actually be wet. And if you have them in a
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plastic bag, you actually can see the condensation in the
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inside. That is just going to promote
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rot. I don't know why they sell
00:12:32
potatoes in plastic bags. You shouldn't store them in
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those. You want some sort of a
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breathable container. So again, a root cellar, a
00:12:40
basement corner, a cool garage, something that's not going to
00:12:43
get to freezing temperature. If you're just going to store
00:12:47
them in a closet because you only have a few, keep them in a
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paper bag or that's open on the end or a mesh bag to allow
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airflow. If you're going to put them in
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the fridge, again, put them in an open paper bag.
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And this is something that you would want to put in the CRISPR
00:13:03
drawer because it likes that humidity.
00:13:05
OK, The next one is winter squashes.
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So this is all of our winter squashes, acorn, butternut,
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spaghetti, kombucha, all of those 50 to 55°F.
00:13:15
So we are significantly warmer here now, 50 to 70% humidity.
00:13:20
And generally speaking, you want to store them in single layers
00:13:24
on shelves or in baskets or in wooden crates.
00:13:27
If you have to stack them because you have a bunch of
00:13:29
them, just try to be cognizant of the fact that where they are
00:13:33
sitting on top of each other, you may end up with these sort
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of, I don't want to call them pressure sores, but pressure
00:13:39
points where you might end up with some soft spots.
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OK, So if you can do them in a single layer, great.
00:13:45
If you have to stack them, then sort of stack them opposite of
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each other so there's less area surface area touching each
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other. This is another thing that
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should be cured before we store them.
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A lot of times we don't think about this with winter squashes,
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but it really does make a difference.
00:14:01
And curing winter squashes is done at a much higher
00:14:03
temperature. We're talking 8085°F for about
00:14:07
two weeks just to harden that skin up.
00:14:10
But that is absolutely going to extend the shelf life.
00:14:13
And do understand that there are some winter squashes that don't
00:14:19
store as well or as long as others.
00:14:22
So delicata squash, for instance, is considered a winter
00:14:26
squash, but that skin is not that thick.
00:14:29
In fact, it's edible. It was one of the reasons why
00:14:31
it's like one of the only winter squashes my husband will
00:14:33
actually eat and so it doesn't store for as long.
00:14:37
Acorn squash. Usually only a couple of months
00:14:40
before you start to see it start to get soft.
00:14:43
Spaghetti squash, A little bit longer than the acorn squash,
00:14:46
but maybe not quite as long. Butternut squash for sure.
00:14:48
Kombucha squash. All those other ones that have
00:14:50
the really thick hard rhymes. Those ones you can you can hang
00:14:53
on to for like 6 months. OK, again, a cool corner of a
00:14:57
kitchen, a basement, a pantry. If you don't have a root cellar,
00:15:00
if you don't have any additional space anywhere, you can put them
00:15:03
just on a shelf in your closet or in the pantry at room
00:15:06
temperature. If you can't achieve that 50 to
00:15:09
55, just try to find the coolest shelf in your house or the
00:15:13
coolest, you know, closet and do the best you can.
00:15:17
Finally, we have sweet potatoes. They like it the warmest.
00:15:19
So 55 to 60°F. These make these good candidates
00:15:23
to be stored in your kitchen. If your kitchen doesn't get
00:15:26
super hot humidity, 60 to 75%, that is ideal, but you know,
00:15:33
it's, it's not super necessary. If it's lower than that,
00:15:37
anything higher than that, then you might have some problems.
00:15:39
But most of us don't have 80% humidity in our kitchens during
00:15:42
the winter time. So, you know, if it's slightly
00:15:45
drier than that, that's OK. Storing them in wooden crates or
00:15:49
in cardboard boxes, preferably lined with newspaper.
00:15:52
They tend to store better that way.
00:15:54
Again, sweet potatoes need to be cured specifically before we
00:15:59
store them, but also just before we eat them.
00:16:02
Because remember that if you don't cure a sweet potato,
00:16:04
you're getting nothing but starch.
00:16:06
It's not turning those starches into that sweet sugar that we
00:16:08
like to to taste. So you want to cure them in a
00:16:11
warm area around 80°F for about two weeks before you store them.
00:16:17
Helps them develop that sort of thicker skin, also enhances
00:16:19
their sweetness. But once they are cured, we want
00:16:22
to avoid temperatures that are below 50°F.
00:16:26
Sweet potatoes are prone to chilling in your injuries, so
00:16:31
you will see them sort to start to develop these pock marks
00:16:35
along the outside. And those pock marks will
00:16:37
eventually mold and they just will not be any good at that
00:16:41
point or you'll be cutting bad spots off in order to be able to
00:16:44
use them. So this is probably the best
00:16:46
candidate for storing just in your kitchen, as long as your
00:16:50
kitchen isn't getting too hot. If you use these techniques and
00:16:54
you kind of pay attention to the temperature and humidity range,
00:16:58
do the best that you can to get it as close as possible to
00:17:01
those. This is going to extend the
00:17:03
shelf life of your fall harvest well into winter so that you
00:17:07
have a whole lot available to you out of your garden for
00:17:11
months after the growing season has ended.
00:17:14
Obviously, you're not going to be able to do this exactly for
00:17:18
each and every one of these vegetables.
00:17:19
If you do, power to you, because that's a whole lot of management
00:17:24
between them. But the closer you can get, the
00:17:27
better off you'll be and the longer you will be able to store
00:17:29
these veggies. OK, So what about fruits?
00:17:33
Right? Storing apples and pears and
00:17:36
other fruits for winter is one of my favorite things because I
00:17:40
am a big fruit eater. You know, yes, I love my
00:17:42
veggies. Yes, I eat my veggies, but I
00:17:44
crave fruits. But there are, again, specific
00:17:48
conditions for each fruit type. So let's go over some storage
00:17:51
guidelines for apples and pears and a few other fruit that are
00:17:54
commonly preserved for winter, especially for gardeners who may
00:17:57
not have access to a root cellar or a basement.
00:18:00
And the first one is apples. We always store apples through
00:18:04
the winter. They're ideal conditions between
00:18:06
32 and 40 Fahrenheit. So you know, right around that
00:18:09
freezing mark. But the humidity is 90 to 95%,
00:18:14
OK. So very, very high humidity.
00:18:16
To keep those apples stored well, you want to keep them in
00:18:20
cardboard boxes or some sort of a plastic bin with ventilation
00:18:23
or even a breathable bag. So something that's either got
00:18:26
some holes in it or even like a mesh bag of some sort or or
00:18:30
burlap. You want to make sure that when
00:18:32
you're putting apples into storage, they are firm.
00:18:35
They do not have any bruises, they don't have any blemishes
00:18:37
because a damaged apple is very quickly going to rot and it's
00:18:40
going to start to affect all of the apples around it.
00:18:43
OK, in terms of varieties, it matters which ones you decide to
00:18:49
store. You want to choose late season
00:18:52
firm variety. So Fuji, Honeycrisp, Granny
00:18:56
Smith, these are like my top three for storage.
00:18:59
You don't want to store the early season apples for extended
00:19:03
periods. They tend to spoil faster.
00:19:05
So no Jonathan's, no Red Delicious, Golden Delicious,
00:19:08
none of those guys. My favorite to store long term
00:19:12
is Fuji. They do great throughout the
00:19:14
entire winter in my storage area.
00:19:16
I will still be eating crisp Fuji apples in February and they
00:19:21
will taste like they had just come off the tree.
00:19:23
They are fantastic. OK, you can if you really want
00:19:26
to wrap them individually in newspaper and that's going to
00:19:30
kind of minimize the bruising and the pressure points.
00:19:32
But generally speaking, if I have some that have kind of been
00:19:35
puddled together for a while and they they seem like they're
00:19:38
getting a little bruised, I just use those for cooking instead of
00:19:40
fresh eating. I'm not super particular about
00:19:42
that. OK, again, with the temperature
00:19:45
like this, you're definitely trying to find, you know, a a
00:19:48
cool basement or or a garage if it doesn't freeze.
00:19:53
Apples also store really, really well in the refrigerator.
00:19:57
If you've only got a handful of them or again, if you have a
00:20:00
larger refrigerator that you're using to overwinter, things in,
00:20:03
a large amount of them can be stored.
00:20:06
You can either put them in perforated plastic bags or just
00:20:10
put them directly into CRISPR drawers to maintain that
00:20:13
humidity. The one thing we want to be
00:20:16
aware of is that we want to keep apples away from any other
00:20:20
strong smelling vegetables because they will absorb the
00:20:24
odors. So you don't want them to be
00:20:27
storing these in the same place really closely to like your
00:20:30
onions because the last thing you want is to be like eating an
00:20:32
apple and having it like smell like onion.
00:20:35
It's just there's something off putting about that.
00:20:37
OK. Conversely to this, apples
00:20:40
produce ethylene gas, so that is going to accelerate the ripening
00:20:45
of nearby fruits and vegetables. So you really do want to store
00:20:48
your apples kind of separate from anything else just to
00:20:51
extend its freshness, especially when we're talking about pears,
00:20:56
which is our next one. You don't want to store your
00:20:58
apples with your pears. Pears prefer their temperatures
00:21:01
very close to what apples like 30 to 35°F and again, 90 to 95%
00:21:06
humidity. So they love the same conditions
00:21:09
and they can also be stored in paper bags or small boxes or
00:21:13
whatever. But but the difference with
00:21:15
pears is that when pears are harvested, they are picked
00:21:19
before they are fully ripe. Or at least they should be.
00:21:22
Pears ripen off the tree. If you have a pear that has been
00:21:26
fully ripened on the tree, it is likely pretty much rotten by the
00:21:29
time you try to eat it. OK.
00:21:31
And so fully ripe pears will spoil very quickly in storage.
00:21:36
So when you harvest the pears or when you get them from your
00:21:42
farmers market, you're trying to get the least ripe pears that
00:21:47
you can for your long term storage.
00:21:49
So you can either put them in storage or you can put them in
00:21:52
the refrigerator or whatever and store them in that cold storage
00:21:56
on ripe. And then when you are ready to
00:21:59
eat them, you can move them to room temperature just a few days
00:22:02
before you want to eat them and that's going to allow them to
00:22:05
ripen fully. So if that's a problem, then
00:22:09
think about why maybe we don't want to store our apples with
00:22:13
our pears. It's that ethylene gas, right?
00:22:16
So ethylene gas that the apples produce actually accelerates
00:22:19
ripening right in in fruits that are nearby.
00:22:22
So if you store your apples with your pears, your pears are going
00:22:27
to ripen more quickly in storage than you want them to and you're
00:22:30
not going to get them for a long term storage.
00:22:32
OK. So make sure they're they are
00:22:33
separate from each other. And like apples, pears also emit
00:22:36
ethylene gas. So you don't want to store them
00:22:38
with other vegetables or fruits that you don't want to rapidly
00:22:41
ripen either. So it's like all these little
00:22:43
things have to have their own little area and an insulated
00:22:47
garage or a cool pantry can work if those temperatures stay
00:22:50
stable and they stay cold and they don't drop below freezing.
00:22:54
And in that instance, you might have to put one in the garage
00:22:57
and, and put one in the other cool pantry.
00:22:58
If you're, if you're storing both apples and pears, just keep
00:23:01
them away from each other. The next one that can be stored
00:23:05
is grapes. And the difference with grapes
00:23:07
is they have a very kind of small window of temperatures
00:23:11
that they prefer for long term storage. 30 to 32°F.
00:23:15
OK. So again, very similar to the
00:23:17
low end of what our apples and pears like and also 90 to 95%
00:23:21
humidity. All of our fruits really like
00:23:23
that humidity. With grapes, you want to store
00:23:26
them in shallow containers, just kind of loosely covered.
00:23:30
You absolutely want to handle them gently when you are trying
00:23:34
to prep them for storage and store them on the stem if
00:23:37
possible, because this can actually extend their shelf
00:23:40
life. We don't want them bruised, so
00:23:42
just avoid stacking them on top of each other.
00:23:45
If you can kind of judge them out into a single layer or just
00:23:48
put them in a very shallow container just to prevent them
00:23:50
from crushing each other, that is going to help.
00:23:53
And then you just want to cover it really lightly with a cloth
00:23:55
or a paper towel. This kind of allows some
00:23:58
airflow, which is going to prevent mold.
00:24:00
Again, that humidity 90 to 95%, that might, that might attract
00:24:05
some mold. If you have a refrigerator for
00:24:08
storage, I absolutely recommend that you, if you're going to
00:24:11
store grapes, that's the best place to put it.
00:24:14
A crisper drawer again or a shallow bowl with some really
00:24:17
good ventilation in it, just put into the refrigerator.
00:24:19
If you keep your refrigerator very, very cold, we do ours.
00:24:23
Ours is generally right at that 32° mark, but I do know that
00:24:28
some people don't keep their refrigerators that cold.
00:24:31
Some of you are closer to like a 40°F, in which case you probably
00:24:35
are not going to be storing grapes for an extended period of
00:24:37
time. You can freeze them if you're
00:24:41
choosing to use them just for jams or jellies or something or
00:24:44
juice, but if you want them for fresh eating, then they need to
00:24:48
be at about that 32 ish degree mark in order to be able to use
00:24:52
them. So maybe not something that is
00:24:54
an option for everybody, but if you've got the the ability to do
00:24:57
it, I absolutely recommend it. Again, I'm all about the fresh
00:25:00
fruit. And then finally, winter citrus.
00:25:03
So oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, these things that
00:25:06
are harvested sort of in the winter time.
00:25:09
The ideal storage temperature for these guys is between 40 and
00:25:12
50° Fahrenheit, 85 to 90% humidity, typically in mesh bags
00:25:18
of some sort or in kind of a ventilated crate.
00:25:22
Once again, citrus fruits should be stored on their own.
00:25:25
That high acidity and that moisture can lead to mold if
00:25:29
it's kept with other produce. And this is another one that you
00:25:32
really should store in a single layer in a ventilated container
00:25:37
or very loosely in mesh bags. We don't want them jammed
00:25:41
together because you're going to end up with bruising and flat
00:25:43
spots and that sort of thing. This temperature, the 40 to 50°
00:25:47
storage temperature, makes it a little bit easier to find a good
00:25:51
place in your house to store these.
00:25:53
So if you don't have a root cellar, a cool pantry, a closet,
00:25:57
they generally are going to last longer than some of your other
00:26:00
fruits at a closer to room temperature environment.
00:26:04
If you don't have that, then you know, in a refrigerator is fine.
00:26:08
The crisper drawer is good because you're going to help
00:26:10
with that humidity unless you have a an older refrigerator
00:26:14
that has a bottom freezer and that tends to 'cause that
00:26:19
crisper drawer to get colder than the rest of the
00:26:23
refrigerator like in mine. I mean, The thing is like 15-16
00:26:27
years years old I think. And sometimes I will put lettuce
00:26:31
in my crisper drawer and when I bring it back out, I have frozen
00:26:33
lettuce because for some reason the temperature has decided to
00:26:36
change even though nothing else has.
00:26:38
And it's just because it's an old refrigerator.
00:26:40
So you know what you're working with, right?
00:26:43
If your crisper drawer tends to stay colder, than maybe not put
00:26:46
your citrus in there. So we can absolutely preserve
00:26:54
things for weeks or even months depending on how we do it.
00:26:57
If you don't have a root cellar or an area that is designed to
00:27:03
store some of these things, some of your options include a garage
00:27:06
or a crawl space. Even assuming that your crawl
00:27:09
space is accessible and it's clean, you know you're not
00:27:13
dealing with rodents. We don't want that.
00:27:14
But if you are in a cooler climate, a garage or a crawl
00:27:17
space can actually act as sort of a pseudo cellar during the
00:27:21
winter. Lay it with straw.
00:27:22
You can use blankets if you need to protect things and then use
00:27:25
bins to be able to to store things.
00:27:28
If you don't have a basement or you don't have a garage that's
00:27:32
available, you can also use balcony storage boxes or deck
00:27:37
storage boxes, right. So if you live in an apartment
00:27:41
and you want to do some some of this type of storage or if you
00:27:44
just don't have any place suitable a storage box that you
00:27:47
would normally use for like storing your couch cushions,
00:27:51
your store furniture cushions. These can provide extra storage
00:27:54
space for your hardier stuff like your carrots and your
00:27:57
beets. Depending on how cold it is
00:27:59
outside. If you need to, you can insulate
00:28:01
the box with straw or blankets and keep it outside all winter
00:28:04
if you are in a cold area. If you're in an area like mine
00:28:08
where right now the temperatures can fluctuate dramatically, you
00:28:13
would need to wait until your temperatures tend to stay closer
00:28:17
to ideal, but it's something to consider if you don't have
00:28:22
another space. Another thing to consider would
00:28:24
be using an insulated cooler. These can maintain a stable
00:28:27
temperature and they will work for like the root vegetables and
00:28:30
things like potatoes. So if you have a garage that
00:28:33
maybe doesn't stay quite as cool as you want it or it gets too
00:28:37
cool, either one, if you use a cooler, then they will help
00:28:43
insulate the the temperatures a little bit and kind of alleviate
00:28:47
some of that fluctuation back and forth.
00:28:49
And then finally a mini fridge, if you can dedicate a little
00:28:54
dorm sized refrigerator somewhere in your house that's
00:28:57
just to your vegetables or just to your fruits that you want to
00:28:59
maintain for a long term. You can adjust the temperature
00:29:04
and the humidity in that little mini fridge and it becomes a
00:29:07
great little storage area for some additional like long term
00:29:11
storage of your produce. So get creative and maybe the
00:29:16
next time you come across a really good deal at the farmers
00:29:19
market or you have a bounty that you are pulling out of your
00:29:22
garden, you will be able to figure out how to store it more
00:29:26
long term so you can keep eating on those fruits and veggies for
00:29:29
the entire winter. Until next time, my gardening
00:29:33
friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden and we'll talk
00:29:35
again soon. Thanks for listening to another
00:29:37
episode of the Just Grow Something podcast.
00:29:40
For more information about today's topic and to find all
00:29:42
the ways you can get in touch with me or support the show, go
00:29:45
to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com. Until next time, my gardening
00:29:49
friends, keep learning and keep growing.