General tips
Various places can be used around the home can be used to store extra garden produce for autumn or winter months. These include; ground pits or containers, unheated cellars or basements and cool porches or rooms. Knowing which vegetables store best, and their requirements, will ensure the longest storage life.
Tomatoes can be stored for up to two months, celery and leeks up to three months. With proper storage beetroot can last up to four months, and up to five months for pumpkins and squash. Longest lasting in storage are carrots and potatoes for up to six months, and onions up to seven months.
Some general tips to ensure longest storage life include:
- Harvest when fruit is dry, not too soon after rain as moist fruit rots easily.
- Always handle fruit gently when harvesting to avoid bruising.
- Harvest early in the morning to avoid “hot” vegetables, or allow them time to cool before storing.
- Only harvest healthy fruit. Do not harvest those that have diseases or soft spots.
- Keep apples in a separate storage place / box to other fruit and vegetables – they give off ethylene gas which can cause carrots to become bitter and vegetables to sprout.
- Potatoes can also cause apples to have a ‘musty’ flavor
- Keep cabbages, turnips, kale, leeks and similar outside in storage as they can give an odor to other fruit and vegetables and also can make your home smell if stored indoors.
- Storing upright and close together in sand or soil can help increase their longevity. They also need to stay very moist, 90 percent humidity, for longest storage.
- Root vegetables are best stored in a basement, dig them when the soil is dry and store in layers of moist sand in plastic bag with 5 mm holes. Best kept below 5 degrees. Warmer temperatures can cause them to become woody and make them sprout.
- Pumpkins and most winter squash should be harvested when mature, before frost. You can tell if they are mature as the skin will be hard and difficult to scratch with a fingernail.
- As potato sprouts appear remove them. This can indicate that they are being stored at too high a temperature.
- Onions grown from sets, or with thick necks may be hard to keep.
- Cure harvested onions and garlic for two to three weeks spread on newspapers, and out of sunlight. Skins should be papery and roots dried before storage.
- Always remember to store your produce as soon as possible after pickup to keep it at its freshest and finest.
- Basil should always be stored dry to prevent the leaves from turning black
- Brussels sprouts keep longer if they are left attached to the stalk,
- Cabbage is cleverly self-packaged. Just stick dry, unwashed cabbage in the refrigerator, preferably in the vegetable bin. Do not wrap it in cling wrap.
- Keep cucumbers tucked far away from tomatoes, apples, and citrus fruits which give off ethylene gas that accelerates cucumber deterioration.
- To ripen an avocado place it next to some bananas.
- Egg plants prefer to be kept at 10 degrees centigrade which is warmer than most refrigerators. Wrap them in a towel and place in the warmest part of your fridge to help preserve them.
- If your melon seems a bit short of ripe, keep it at room temperature for a few days or until there is a sweet smell coming from the stem end. Once the melon ripens, then store it in the refrigerator.
- Handle watermelons carefully. When harvested at their peak ripeness, they can crack or split easily if bumped or roughly handled. Refrigerate watermelons right away.
- Cut melon should be covered in plastic wrap, and chunks or slices should be kept in an air-tight container. Eat melons within a week.
- Keep unwashed potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place such as a loosely closed paper bag in a cupboard. They will keep for two weeks at room temperature, longer if you can provide their ideal temperature of 4.5 – 10 degrees.
- Moisture causes potatoes to spoil, light turns them green, and proximity to onions causes them to sprout.
- Don’t put potatoes in the refrigerator, as low temperatures convert the starch to sugars.
- Because of their high water content, turnips and radishes deteriorate quickly. Store them dry and unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.
- To store lettuce that you have already washed and dried, roll the leaves loosely in a kitchen towel, put the towel in a plastic bag, and place the package in the vegetable crisper.
- Sweetcorn is best eaten now! But if you must put off eating corn, leave the husks on and refrigerate the ear in a plastic bag for as little time as possible.
Refrigerators can be used for storage. If two refrigerators are available, one can be kept at a cold temperature 0 – 4.5 degrees centigrade and the other at a cool temperature 7.5 to 10 degrees. If there is only one fridge the temperature in the centre storage section is usually the optimum temperature.
Basements are also very good storage places. Temperatures in most heated basements are usually around 15 degrees centigrade or warmer in the summer. You can use outdoor air, dirt floors or wetted sacks to vary the temperature and the humidity that the vegetables need. Unheated basements if well ventilated can also be good storage places for some vegetables.
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