The temperature in a root cellar is always a compromise. It’s never equal in all parts of the cellar. Most vegetables never get the perfect temperature.
The temperature near the ceiling of many root cellars can sometimes be 10° F. or so higher than near the floor. This variance creates temperature zones in the root cellar. Your vegetables will keep better if you understand the temperature zones of your root cellar and store crops accordingly.
The temperature in a root cellar is always a compromise. It’s never equal in all parts of the cellar. Most vegetables never get the perfect temperature.
There’s another temperature zone around the halfway point of the root cellar’s height. It is slightly warmer than at ground level but it is still cold. Here I put my pumpkins and winter squash, which don’t like the very coldest storage.
Up top is the cool area. I hang my onions, shallots, and garlic there more for the air circulation than for the temperature.
Some specific root cellar know-how
Keep 1/2 inch of tops on your beets, but do not cut the tails. Larger beets keep longer, so at harvest you may want to sort for size. Store in plastic bags, tied at top, with a few air holes punched in sides. Or pack in boxes of moist peat moss or sawdust.
Cabbages
Bring into the root cellar at the latest possible time. Wrap each head in 10 or 12 sheets of newspaper and tie up with a rubber band. Use as quickly as possible. If cabbage goes by, it will send a strong odor throughout the house.
Cut tops off in garden. Don’t wash carrots until you use them. Store in plastic bags with several holes punched in them, or pack in boxes of moist peat moss or sawdust.
Garlic
Like onions, must be dried and cured before storing. Braid or hang in small mesh bags to increase air circulation.
Thick-Skinned Onions or Shallots
Sort for size and hang onions in mesh bags in top zone of the root cellar. They need air circulation. Check onions and shallots regularly; if some soften or start to sprout, use them.
Bermuda and sweet Spanish Onions
To keep these as long as possible, don’t crowd them. Put in small mesh bags or nylon stockings where they’ll have air all around them. Use quickly.
Parsnip
Dig just before the ground freezes or after several hard frosts in fall. Trim the tops and store like carrots or beets. Good idea to leave some stored in ground over winter and to dig them in spring before growth resumes.
Potatoes
Best to have storage crop mature as late in the year as possible when the root cellar is cool. Total darkness and good air circulation around them is important. Don’t pile too deeply or directly on floor.
Use the big pumpkins for jack o’ lanterns and store the smaller pie pumpkins. Use them quickly. Cook and freeze them if you want longer storage.
Rutabaga and Turnips
They keep best in plastic bags like carrots and beets, or in boxes of moist sawdust or peat moss.
Winter Squashes
Do not pile too deeply—squash have to breathe. If stems are broken off or squash show bruises, put them on top and use early—these will not keep as long as the others. They’re easy to cook and freeze, too.
Tomatoes Green
Put green tomatoes that are mature in size and have started to turn color on a rack or counter. Cover them all with a sheet or two of newspaper. If your root cellar is crowded, use an old dresser drawer and put it in cool place where you can check it often.
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