Vegetables taste best when they come from your own garden. With proper storage, you can increase shelf life.
If you grow vegetables in your garden, you can harvest bounty in the fall. Then the pantry is usually enormously full and contains so much that you have something to eat for a long time. But only if you store the vegetables properly. You should pay attention to this, because you can extend the storage time by quite a bit. After all, who wants to only eat vegetables for two weeks after the harvest?
Preparing for storage
You should harvest your vegetables at the latest when severe night frosts are announced. Be careful not to damage the vegetables as damaged vegetables do not keep for long. Then you should tap off the soil a little bit and remove the leaves from root and tuber vegetables. But always leave short leaves. You must never wash the vegetables
and only store vegetables that are not rotten or damaged.» A little tip: Don't just throw away the greens of carrots, kohlrabi, celery and beetroot. If you, neighbors or friends, have rodents at home, then the rodents will find food.
Where to store vegetables?
Vegetables should be stored in a cool place. Best in rooms with high humidity, because the vegetables lose water during storage. The humidity in winter storage should be at least 80 percent. The ideal temperature should also not be above 10 degrees. That's why the basement is perfect for winter storage. You can also store the vegetables in heaps of earth or earth chambers. More on that in a moment.
On the other hand, it is best to store onions and garlic in the attic because these vegetables need low humidity. Simply plait the dried leaves into pigtails and hang them on a string or clothesline.
How are vegetables properly stored?
❍ Option 1:
Vegetables can be stored in many different ways. For example, you can store root and tuber vegetables in wooden boxes with moist sand. On the other hand, you shouldBetter wrap cabbages in wrapping paper and store in wooden boxes. Likewise, you can store potatoes in wooden crates.
❍ Option 2:
If you don't have a basement, you can also store the vegetables in heaps of earth. How to do it:
- Dig a hole about 50 centimeters deep in the garden.
- Line the hole with fine gauge wire to protect against voles.
- Then cover the wire with a high layer of sand.
- Layer the vegetables (tubers, root vegetables, potatoes) in layers.
- You should cover the vegetables at ground level with straw.
- Spread a plastic fleece over the soil pile.
On sunny winter days, sometimes lift the fleece so that the inside doesn't get too hot.
❍ Option 3:
Do you have a stainless metal or plastic container that you can spare? Then simply repurpose this as an earth chamber. How to do it:
- Drill holes just below the rim of the container and in the bottom for ventilation.
- You can then bury the container into the ground - but only to just below the upper holes.
- Then fill in the vegetables in layers and close with a lid.
- Finish cover with pine branches to insulate the container from the cold.
It is important with all variants that you never store the vegetables together with apples and other fruit, because fruit gives off the ripening gas ethylene, which in turn ensures that vegetables ripen faster and therefore become inedible faster.