Good Keepers

A New Hampshire family can eat well and healthfully all winter from a big summer vegetable garden without the fuss and cost of canning or freezing, simply by planting (or purchasing) storage varieties that will keep all winter. Old-timers termed this food-storing strategy “common storage.”

Humble and homely, the underground crops: carrots, beets, rutabagas, parsnips, potatoes, garlic and onions provide the foundation of the stored-food winter diet. Late-season red and green cabbages, kale, and Brussels sprouts offer up salads and cooked vegetable dishes. And the majestic winter squashes, mashable, roastable, stuffable, and suitable for a variety of tasty deserts, shape and round out the vegetable menu.

Most New Hampshire households no longer plant food gardens, but more of us could. And a lot more Granite Staters could pre-order a specified amount of storage crops next spring from a local grower, or join a community-supported agricultural venture (CSA) that offers winter storage crops in bulk.

Whether you grow, buy or trade for your winter vegetables, store only those varieties our grandmothers called “good keepers,” the ones that mature late and contain less water than their summer cousins.

Some tips for common storage:

Brussels sprouts and kale: Late-season varieties store well right in the garden all winter long. Mark the rows or beds with a pole so you can dig ‘em out of a deep snow. Harvest as needed.

Cabbage: Cabbage keeps best under conditions of high humidity with a temperature between 32-40 degrees F. Store only perfect, insect-free, unblemished heads whose leaves show no signs of disease. Keep the cabbages directly off the ground, on pallets or shelves. An old-fashioned root cellar with a dirt floor works best for cabbage and root crops, but inventive gardeners have used insulated bulkheads or outside storage boxes, dug pits in the ground, or built earth berms for the purpose. Humidify the environment with boxes of wet sand, old sawdust, or soil in the storage space.
    
Carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas and parsnips: Dig root vegetables after the first frost, but before the ground freezes. Dig carefully to avoid damage, selecting only well-formed, mature, disease-free roots for storage. Cut back the foliage to within an inch of the root. Store in a cool (34-40 degrees F.), location in wooden boxes or plastic crates (I use cheap plastic laundry baskets), in single layers sandwiched between layers of fresh, damp fall leaves. Sprinkle the boxes occasionally with water to create the moist environment needed to prevent the roots from drying out.

Garlic and onions: You should have harvested garlic bulbs in late July and air-dried them out of direct sunlight for two or three weeks. Cut off the dry tops an inch from the bulbs and store the bulbs in mesh bags in a cool (below 40 degrees, but above freezing), dry place.

Harvest storage onions when the tops fall over as the “neck” region of the onion plant begins to dry out. Leave the harvested bulbs in the garden a day or two, covered by their tops to prevent sunscald. Then set the onions in a cool, well-ventilated location, preferably on screens, to dry. When the tops have dried, cut them to within an inch of the bulb and store the onions in a mesh bag (old pantyhose work well, too) in a cool, dry location. Reserve “scullions”—onions whose necks don’t seal—for immediate use.

Potatoes: Harvest when soil and air temperatures cool down, taking care not to damage tubers. Cure the potatoes in darkness at 45-60 degrees for a couple of weeks, then store in a cool, damp place at 34-40 degrees, in darkness. Discard any potatoes with green skins. Potatoes stored at higher temperatures or in the same room with apples may sprout early. Remove and discard any sprouts that do form.

Winter squash (including spaghetti squash): Cut squash from the vine with at least an inch of stem when green stems turn tan and woody and the rinds have lost their gloss. As long as the weather remains above freezing, leave harvested squash outdoors a few days to cure; the cut end of the stem will heal and the rind will harden.

Store only perfect, unblemished squash on a pallet or a few layers of old newspaper in a spot with a uniform temperature of 50-60 degrees F. and moderate humidity—under the bed in an unheated guest or utility room, or in a dry, unheated cellar or closet. Check squash often and discard any fruit with soft or moldy spots.

By Peg Boyles Writer, UNH Cooperative Extension

10/25/06

For more information call the UNH Cooperative Extension's Family, Home & Garden Center's Info-line (toll free) at 1-877-398-4769 or send us an email. Volunteers are available to answer your questions Monday through Friday 9:00am to 2:00 p.m.