[Illustration: Some fruits and vegetables can be stored outdoors in a partially buried galvanized garbage can or wooden barrel.]
waterproof cover straw drainage ditch garbage can or wooden barrel
Root crops such as beets, carrots, celeriac, kohlrabi, rutabagas, turnips, and winter radishes should not be put in storage until late fall. Root crops keep best between 32° and 40° F. They require high humidity to prevent shriveling. Continued storage at 45° causes them to sprout new tops and become woody.
Large and overmature root crops may become tough and stringy in storage. Small and immature root crops probably will shrivel.
Dig root crops when the soil is dry and the temperature consistently low. Prepare them immediately for storage. Cut the plant tops about a half inch above the crown. Beets will bleed unless 2 to 3 inches of the top is left. You may wash the roots if you let them dry again before storing. Do not expose them to drying winds, and be sure they are cool when put in storage.
Prevent bitterness in carrots by storing them away from fruits such as apples, which give off volatile gases while ripening.
Turnips and rutabagas give off odors, so don’t store them in your basement. Find a separate spot, or store them with other root crops and vegetables in an outdoor cellar or pit. Turnips may be left in the garden longer than most other crops. They withstand hard frosts, but are damaged by alternate freezing and thawing. All other root crops can be stored together in your basement storage room.
[Illustration: VEGETABLE-FRUIT STORAGE GUIDE]
80-85 cure pumpkins, squash 55-60 pumpkins, squash 45-50 acorn squash 32 onions
80-85 cure sweet potatoes 70 mature green tomatoes—to ripen 55-60 tomatoes at mature green stage—to store sweet potatoes 45-48 potatoes for highest quality 38-40 potatoes—to prevent sprouting 32-40 beets, celeriac, kohlrabi, turnips, carrots, rutabaga 30-32 apples, pears
Root crops keep their crispness longer when bedded in layers of moist sand, peat, or sphagnum moss. However, perforated polyethylene bags and box liners are easier to use than bedding. Root crops can be stored in crates or boxes in moist air, but they gradually lose moisture and quality unless polyethylene liners are used. Carrots and beets may be stored in 10-gallon crocks or any container that will prevent excessive shriveling.