How to Store Fresh Vegetables

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This kind of storage facility creates quite a stir of excitement in the mouse community, I might add, so you will have to mouse-proof your veggies. I suggest setting traps, remembering to devise some way to keep them away from probing fingers. While mixing mouse bait with food may sound tricky, I have successfully placed wax-impregnated brands of bait sticks inside cans or jars, and situated these containers in such a way that the poison and the food cannot mix.

Cold-frame Season Extender

We use a cold frame for starting plants outdoors in the spring, beginning about the first of April. Heated by sunshine in the daytime and covered with blankets during the night, this extra space can be used for March plantings of cool-tolerant cutting greens, such as lettuce or mustards, sown directly in the cold-frame soil.

In late August, when the cold frame is not otherwise in use, I transplant lettuce, endive and mustards directly into the soil so the plants have enough time to reach full size before cold weather begins. Lettuces vary widely in their cold tolerance; I’ve had best success with cold-hardy varieties such as ‘North Pole’ and ‘Winter Marvel.’ Covering the cold frame at night with blankets may extend the season a few weeks longer, and endive is so hardy that harvest is still possible long after the plants remain totally frozen. (For the latest on the best crops for winter gardening, see Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman; to order, go to www.MotherEarthNews.com.)

Storage around the House

Every house has places suitable for winter storage of vegetables that prefer moderate temperatures. In my Italian family, no kitchen would seem properly habitable if it didn’t have a long braid of garlic hanging on the wall not too far from the stove. Onions and winter squash also store well at room temperature, although I keep the bulk of the squash, onion and garlic crops in our cooler underground basement for longer keeping until the supplies dwindle upstairs. I keep boxes of sweet potatoes in the basement, too. Unlike potatoes, sweet potatoes do not have to be kept in the dark, so they could just as well be spread out on a shelf even if the basement has windows.

Basement storage can be tricky. House-stored crops prefer a cool, dry environment. Some cellars are too damp and, if not well insulated, may be too cold; those housing a furnace may be too warm. A totally earth-sheltered, unheated basement stays at a constant 55 degrees year-round; if dry, this is probably the best place in the house to arrange storage space. (For details on how to build a cold-storage room in your basement)

Experience will determine which of your favorite winter squash varieties keeps the longest. Some of the sweetest, such as ‘Sugar Loaf,’ also spoil the quickest (They’re well worth growing, though; just eat them first!), and ‘Valenciano’ holds my record so far for longest storage: more than two years! I also have succeeded in storing sweet potatoes in perfect condition more than a year and a half past harvest.

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