How to store vegetables in the basement
Growing a bountiful harvest on your own vegetable garden is still half the job, but preserving it for the winter is a more complicated task, because it is sometimes not so easy because of the unstable climatic conditions in our country and the different structure of basements. However, gardeners and gardeners who struggle with nature all summer, do not give up, and we will help you by telling you how to preserve vegetables in the basement to enjoy all the cold fruits of your labor.
How to store vegetables in the basement
Rules for picking vegetables
Casts about the rules no trick to storing vegetation in the basement is without to help you keep your crops from rotting, drying out, and other problems. They relate to the fall rescue of plants nurtured in your plot, and the arrangement of the room for their long-term storage.
Before you learn the rules of remembering, understand the rules of picking vegetables
1. All fruits that you expect all winter should be removed from the beds in a timely manner, ie:
- After reaching the top of growth, in which the taste and nutritional qualities of a particular appellation are in the desired state (ripe);
- In dry and preferably sunny weather, so that they can dry out in natural conditions, which has a positive effect on further storage.
2. only those vegetables that are ::
- Have no long-term effects;
- Not affected by diseases and pests.
Let’s say right away that burst, half-decayed vegetables will not lie. It is better to eat them, if possible, yourself or in a compost pile.
How to use compost?
3. The room in which vegetables were in long-term storage during the winter, before it will be filled with fruit:
- For drying (e.g., in a basement successfully dried with a corrugated tube and a hot air gun);
- Disinfecting with non-toxic ingredients;
- Careful removal.
Only if you follow all of the above rules, which are listed in the article fruit storage secrets, are effective.
By following the collected rules, they will be inspiring all year round.
How to preserve the most popular vegetable plants in the basement
After preparing the basement and collecting vegetables according to all the rules, let’s start considering the possibilities, preserving the most popular vegetables that have been cared for in every garden plot in our country.
Memory of the Potato
Potatoes are the second bread of the Russian man. In one form or another it is present in the diet of each of us. It is this root vegetable that occupies most of the basement. With chernushka it is very unpretentious, which can not be said about storage.
So, provided that the cellar inside is too warm, the tubers:
- Lose density;
- Germinate;
- Become unfit for food.
While in the basement, potatoes must be ventilated on all sides.
Under conditions of excessive light in the tubers is the formation of solanine, a natural poison. Because of its high concentration, potatoes turn green and cannot be eaten.
Potatoes rot when there is high humidity in the basement.
As you can see, there are many dangers, and to avoid them you need the following
- A humidity of about 80%;
- Darkness (preferably complete darkness);
- Cooling temperature (no more than +2 – +3 °C).
In other words, vegetables need to be kept dark, cool, and dry. Such conditions can be provided by a cellar, which does not freeze in winter, in which these parameters are maintained by themselves. However, you should take care of its insulation, otherwise the potatoes will freeze and become unusable.
It is better not to keep potatoes in bulk, as it should be ventilated
The production of potatoes to put in the cellar is as follows.
1. By boru root crops should be ventilated for a few days (3-4) under a shelter so that they dry out. It is best to do this outside, but so that the vegetables do not get rain water and do not burn bright sunlight.
2. After drying, the crop of root crops is sorted, from the total mass is selected:
- diseased tubers;
- lazy vegetables, etc.
3. After sorting, vegetables are transferred to the veranda or, for example, in the shed, where they lie until the average daily temperature reaches about +5 degrees and only then transferred to the cellar.
Well, how to preserve delicious root vegetables. It is better to do it not by the mass method, but in any containers or crates with corrugated walls, through the air into the tubers.
How to buy the crates is the way to stack them.
There are nuances to be adhered to here:
- Boxes should be placed on decks that are 10 to 20 centimeters high.
- The maximum height of the boxes themselves is 20 centimeters.
To prevent the tubers from rotting, if they are poorly dried, it is useful to sprinkle layers of potatoes with dry wooden knives or bergash leaves, which are also pre-dried and shredded. Thus, they will not only collect excess liquid, but also kill harmful bacteria.
Storing carrots
To be able to store carrots in the basement without problems, you need to choose the right labeled variety and select the conditions for growth.
So if you plan to store carrots for the entire winter, it is better to choose late varieties and harvest correctly:
- After the carrots mature and before they overgrow;
- On a dry day;
- Harvest the harvested root crops under a canopy in dry, sunny weather.
Carrots should be thoroughly washed and sliced according to all the rules before harvesting
Before all the vegetables can be picked in a box, it is necessary to:
- Clean them of dirt;
- Cut off the tips at head level;
- Sort out damaged or diseased fruits and discard them.
The cheapest conditions for carrots are achieved under the following conditions:
- Humidity of 85%;
- A temperature of +1- +2 °C.
Like potatoes, red root crops are better placed in crates with holes in the side walls, only pour over this vegetable is best with sand, as it perfectly adsorbs moisture and like carrots retains it.
The number of containers should be average, if possible in each box it is better not to get more than 18 kilograms of vegetables.
For lovers of experimentation We offer another effective way to protect the fruit of carrots from spoilage. It is somewhat more complicated than the above-described storage in sand and crates, but is not inferior in terms of the result.
Thin pouring – the original and most effective way to preserve carrots
We are talking about storing carrots in a ton. To implement it, you need to take a large bucket of 10 liters and pour 5 liters of tonneau there. Then pour 4.5 liters of water over the dry mixture, stir it and let it infuse for 12 hours.
In the saturated mass again add water so that it fills the edges of the bucket, stir again and then leave for 24 hours. The result should be a mixture similar in texture to sour cream.
Harvested ton – six – sour cream from the carrots, previously placed in a box on a layer of polyethylene, poured out so that it is not visible. This is a completely natural and safe way to present carrots and enjoy them all winter.
Storing beets
Beets are a staple ingredient in Russian borscht and many salads. It is very useful for blood on the festive and everyday home table. To indulge yourself all winter long with this useful root vegetable, create the following storage conditions in the basement:
- air temperature of +2-3 ° C;
- humidity of 85%.
The cleaner the beets, the longer they will be stored.
However, before placing the vegetables in the basement, conduct standard procedures for picking, cleaning and sorting, as with carrots and potatoes.
Note: unlike other vegetables, turnips should not be peeled with a knife or secateurs, the fruit will bump into each other. If the skin of the beets will be damaged, the fruit will not wait for the salad.
After peeling, remove the tips and keep it 2 centimeters from the head. You should also dry the vegetables in the wind in a shady place for 2 days.
In the cellar, the burgundy root crop is stored in wooden crates, fully covered, in an amount not exceeding 20 kilograms. In conditions of high humidity, the vegetable is grown using:
Putting turnips in sand is a good idea.
Such storage will protect the vegetable from rotting, bacteria and other negative factors. However, it requires extra effort to clean the vegetable.
Lime pulp prices
Storing white cabbage
Before we tell you how to properly store cabbage, let’s figure out which varieties are best suited for long-term storage in the cellar.
Late maturing varieties are the best choice for long-term storage
Table 1. The best varieties of cabbage for storage
The cabbage is medium-strength, with a shelf life of about 7-8 months.
It is best to harvest white cabbage during the period when the air temperature outside reaches 0 – +5 ° C. The vegetables should be stored at a temperature of t-1 to +1 ° C. Humidity should be about 90%.
According to the standard scheme should be sorted heads. For storage you can take only narrow-headed heads, dry on the whole surface. If you see that there is damage on the outer leaves, it is better to abandon such a culture, as sick plants, even in removed form, can infect nearby fruits.
Cabbage can also be kept in the basement.
In the basement, cabbage is arranged as follows:
- On wooden shelves;
- stacked head to head;
- Root side up.
It will be useful to wrap the fruit with paper (which has no printing ink).
Note: The method of storage in clay used for carrots is rope over the stump.
Storing onions and garlic
Both vegetables are rich in phytoncides, which are beneficial to human health, especially the respiratory system. However, these same phytoncides are detrimental to all sorts of pests, so the onion and garlic harvests are usually plentiful.
It is convenient to store onions and garlic in braids
The best storage conditions for these vegetables are as follows:
- humidity of 75%;
- air temperature of +1-5 ° C.
Before storing in the basement, the harvested fruits should be dried in the sun for a week, having previously cut off the green part of the plant so that it still sticks out about 5 centimeters from the head.
Note: when braiding garlic or onions into braids, the greens do not need to be cut off, it is enough to dry them to a certain state.
Onions and garlic should not be stored in bulk. It is better to use one of the following methods:
- Cut off the green part of the onion and garlic, burn the tip of the stick and place it in a jar, and pour salt over the neck.
- Place the vegetables in lattice boxes and sprinkle each other with wood shavings.
- Wrap each fruit in cling film and store in the crate.
- Put the onions and garlic in a small cloth bag (you can use nylon tights) and hang them from the ceiling.
Don’t forget to cut off the green part of the vegetables.
As you can see, there are many ways to store this healthy vegetable, and they are all easy. Choose any!
Let’s recap
The cellar is a real pantry of the most useful vegetables, personally promoted by Russian gardeners. There is such a tradition in our country – to grow organic vegetables yourself and enjoy them all year round. To ensure that the fruits of your labor are not wasted, try to think in advance about the arrangement of the basement and buy or collect all the necessary materials for storage. Useful!
The best methods for winter storage of vegetables
This summer you managed to grow a good crop of vegetables on your dacha? Great, but that’s only half the battle. Now the important thing is to preserve it over the winter as long as possible. Here’s how to do it.
But before we get into storage techniques: How long can vegetables be stored and how good they taste depends not only on proper preparation, but also on growing conditions. Yes, yes, exactly cultivation: how well you’ve chosen the varieties, what techniques of agricultural technology used, whether you respected the timing of the harvest. In addition, not unimportant seems to be such a little thing as weather conditions.
The best ways of winter storage of vegetables
For details on how to grow different vegetable crops, you can always read the articles from the section on vegetables. I will only remind you that all vegetables for long-term storage should be timely (and preferably in dry weather) harvested. They must not have any defects, must not be damaged by pests and diseases.
The fact that you need to store crops in a thoroughly washed, dried and disinfected room, everyone knows. How to prepare the basement for winter, we told a little in the article Preparing the dacha for winter: 5 top tips. If something has been forgotten or some of the preparation to remember has not yet been done, reread the tips again and everything can be done, winter is just beginning to take its rights.
Finally, don’t forget that every vegetable has its own secret storage location. If left unattended, crops will spoil and dry out, rot and go moldy, their appearance and taste, not to mention their vitamins, will deteriorate. Let’s remember the best ways to store five of the most popular and common vegetables.
1. Potatoes
The most popular vegetable, which is almost always present in the daily diet of man, is the potato. It takes up most of the basement, basement or other storage because we can’t do without it. But to preserve potatoes for the whole winter, you need to work hard.
In a warm room, the tubers quickly become sluggish and germy. In the light, they turn green, which is an indicator of the formation of a dangerous toxic substance, solanine. Excessive moisture leads to rotting of tubers. How can this be avoided?
Potatoes usually take up most of the basement.
Given that the humidity is 80-90% and the temperature is about +2. +3 °C are optimal conditions for storing potatoes, and they should be stored in a dry, dark, cool room. A cellar or basement that does not freeze in winter would be ideal.
Before putting the potatoes away for storage, dry them well and hold them for a few days in an open, slightly dark, well stocked place. I dry potatoes under a canopy: I put tubers on the early shelter with a layer of about 20 cm and ventilate for three days.
After drying, I sort the potatoes, remove all diseased and damaged tubers and only then put them into storage. First, I put the potatoes in the shed, and when the average daily temperature drops to +3. +5 ° C, I move them to the basement.
The best way to store potatoes is not with a canopy, but in special containers or boxes, the walls of which have small holes for tubers. The height of such containers (crates) should not exceed 80 – 100 cm, they should not be installed on the floor, and on a special platform with a height of about 15 cm. They can be constructed from thick wooden poles. The distance from all cellar walls to the container should be at least 20 cm, otherwise air will simply not be able to get to the potato tubers in a sufficient amount. To prevent the tubers from rotting, they can be covered with a small layer of dry sawdust or chopped rovana leaves. The former are excellent at absorbing excess moisture, while the latter release fleeting substances that destroy pathogens.
And the seeds of the most delicious and lying potatoes can be chosen in our catalog, which contains the proposals of many large dacha owners. Choosing potato seeds.
2. Carrots
The height of carrot roots (as well as potatoes) depends on its growing conditions and variety. For long-term storage, you should choose medium- and late-growing carrots. Before you put them in storage, the carrots should be thoroughly cleaned of dirt, remove the tops from them and cut off on the head and two or two days to keep in the sun.
For long-term storage, choose medium- and late-growing carrots.
The cheapest conditions for storing carrots: temperature +1. +2 ° C and humidity of 85-90%. And store carrots, as well as potatoes, preferably in special wooden crates, with the same sawdust, rovan leaves or sand. The size of the container should be small, in each box fits no more than 15-18 kg of root crops.
There is another option for long-term storage of carrots, which is rightly considered the most effective, but at the same time quite onerous in tone. Take a 10-liter bucket half-filled with clay, pour 4.5 liters of water into it, mix well and leave it for 12 hours. Then add water to the top of the bucket, stir it thoroughly again and leave it for 24 hours. As a result of all manipulations the clay in the bucket should acquire a creamy consistency.
Once the clay boltushka will be ready, you need to take a small wooden box, cover it with plastic wrap and put there in several rows of carrots, cover them with clay. Clay preserves carrots, so the root crops can be easily preserved until the next harvest, without losing their taste and appearance.
You can choose medium and late varieties in our catalog, combining offers from major garden online stores. Choose carrot seeds.
3. Beets
The most favorable conditions for storing beets: the temperature is about +2. +3 °C and a humidity of 85-95%. Before storing the beets, they should be thoroughly cleaned of any remaining soil. Beets should not be cleaned with a knife or blow on each other. Sharp objects and blows can damage the skin of the root crop, and even if such damage is not immediately noticeable, the beets will not be able to store for a long time. Then you need to remove all the leaves – the very tips, leaving only small petioles (2-3 cm). Having cleaned the root-crops from the remnants of soil, dry them in the shade in the wind for two days.
Before putting the beets away for storage, they should be thoroughly cleaned of any remaining soil
It’s best to store beets in loosely covered wooden crates with a capacity of no more than 20 kilos. If your basement or basement is too humid, beets, like carrots and potatoes, should be interspersed with sawdust, salt or viburnum leaves. Beets keep well if watered with a mixture of sand and chalk or dry quicklime. To create an alkaline environment in the boxes, which will prevent the development of undesirable microflora. The only thing is that in this case the beets need to be washed more thoroughly than usual. To prepare the backfill, mix 200 g of ground chalk (dry lime) with 10 kg of sand.
You’ll find a wide range of turnip varieties and hybrids in our catalog, combining offers from many major horticultural online retailers. Check out the assortment of medium and late-smoked beets.
4. Cabbage
Thanks to the wide variety of white cabbage varieties, it can be used fresh almost year-round. True, not all varieties are suitable for long-term storage. For winter use, it is better to give preference to cabbage of medium-ripening varieties, with medium or late cracking. In addition, it is extremely important to respect the timing of the harvest.
By the way, not so long ago, British agronomists noticed that the best preservation of cabbage, harvested in the period when the air temperature is 0. +5 ° C. This is explained by the fact that it is in the cabbage at such temperatures, the process of respiration slows down. Optimal storage conditions for cabbage: temperature from t-1 to +1 ° C and relative humidity of 90-95%. For winter use, it is better to give preference to cabbage of medium-ripening, medium or late-ripening varieties.
Before putting cabbage in storage, they need to be sorted, and selected only dense and dry. Cabbage heads with mechanical damage and signs of disease are not suitable for storage in the cellar. They can spoil the whole harvest, even if they’ve been around healthy cabbage heads for just a few days.
Cabbage is stored on racks, stacked on its head, with its roots, or simply hung on its roots from the ceiling. You can store cabbage without the top green leaves and roots by wrapping the head with plain paper (only use newspapers for this – the leaves are imprinted with printing ink, which contains harmful substances).
There is another ancient way of storing cabbage: all the loose leaves are removed from the head of cabbage and well coated with clay, which is previously diluted to the consistency of sour cream. A rope is tied to the stem and, having made a loop, the cabbage is first suspended under a shed – for drying, and then in the basement – for long-term storage. They say that this storage method keeps cabbage heads fresh for a long time. Have you tried storing cabbage in the tone? Please let us know about your experience if anyone has tried this method in practice.
You can find cabbage and hybrids with later maturity dates in our catalog, which features products from major online garden stores. Choose charcoal seeds.
