Preserving: Storing Root Crops for Winter Use

My floating garden is relatively small, consisting of four 3X10' beds raised above the lake surface on a cedar log foundation. I use Companion Planting and Intensive Cultivation (Rodale Press, 1989) and grow an amazing amount of vegetables in the limited space. But I still haven't figured out how much to plant, especially for root crops. I always end up with a row or two left at the end of fall.

A really helpful book on preserving crops is Stocking Up: How to Preserve the Foods You Grow, Naturally by the Editors of Organic Gardening and Farming. It's a great reference for harvesting, storing, drying, freezing and canning fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, and nuts, seeds and grains. It gave me directions for leave my root crops in the ground through the winter. Now that I have my carrots and beets out of the soil, I'm going to use their directions for storage (well, sort of).

First I pulled all of my remaining crop and discarded any damaged ones. I removed and composted all the carrots tops. But for the beets, I tore the tops off leaving about three inches of stem. To help prevent them from "bleeding" red beet juice, the book recommends not using a knife for this part of the process. Because the soils was so wet, I arranged the unwashed veggies on newspaper to dry a bit. After about thirty minutes I gave them a flip to dry the other side. Then finally, I rubbed off the excess dirt with a dry paper towel.

The next step was to arrange the cleaned (not washed) carrots and beets in plastic trays I purchased at the Dollar Store. The open sides allow air to circulate. This helps reduce mold or rot as time goes by. I started with a damp paper towel on the bottom covered by a folded sheet of dry newspaper. The damp towel helps increase atmospheric moisture which helps keep the root crops crisper while being stored out of the ground. After one layer of veggies I folded a sheet of newspaper and then added a second layer to each basket.

The final step was to cover the top layer of veggies with folded newspaper, a layer of moist paper towel and finally another folded newspaper. To store the baskets, I place them under the bed in my downstairs guest bedroom. It is the coolest room in my house.

This improvised "root cellar" lets me keep my carrots and beets for several more months of enjoyment in salads, soups, stews and simple pickled beets. -- Margy