|
Post by rap on Feb 12, 2009 13:13:17 GMT 8
I would like to store more of my home produced vegetables potatoes/carrots/cabbage etc for longer periods. I store some of them in an old working fridge witch is quite good for some of them but not enough room for all of them.How do other people store their surplus and how long do they keep any ideas welcome.
|
|
|
Post by mikemurphy on Feb 12, 2009 21:06:35 GMT 8
Root vegetables and potatoes can be stored by laying down some straw on the ground, pile the vegies in a pyramid, cover with more straw, dig a ditch round the straw and heap the soil on top of the mound, making sure some straw sticks through for ventilation. Pat the earth hard with the back of a spade. It's an old-fashioned method called clamping. Alternative is a dark, dry, cool shed. Don't wash the vegies first or they'll rot. One method is stack the vegies in layers with straw between the layers and sacking over the top. Another is in wooden boxes or dustbins with a layer of sand on the bottom and then in layers with sand between the layers. Don't use a shed with machinery or cars in it. Petrol smell spoils the vegies. For things like cabbage you need to blanch it first, then freeze it. A good self-sufficiency book will help. Try The Australian and New Zealand Complete Self Sufficiency Handbook by Sally Gordon.
|
|
|
Post by rap on Feb 13, 2009 20:20:24 GMT 8
Thanks Mike I do have a few good books on gardening and self-sufficiency clamping and packing in boxes of sand etc.But i would like to know has anyone tried these methods and do they work in this hot climate.I do have Sally Gordons book " The good life" bought in UK years ago similar information to Aus/Nz self-sufficiency.But she lives in UK gardening and the climate there are very different to WA.I do think there are a few gardening authors who read a lot of gardening books but don't do any gardening themselves.
|
|
|
Post by lakelands on Feb 25, 2009 6:13:39 GMT 8
Hi rap. If you have a big freezer most vegies can be blanched and frozen
|
|
|
Post by Duck Diva on Feb 25, 2009 6:40:35 GMT 8
My mum bought a new electric vacola set recently to replace her original one. It is great and you can bottle anything. Mum does great veges (beetroot my fav) and fruits. A friends of ours, her mum bottles salmon in the season. It is done in brine. Tastes better than the canned stuff.
|
|
|
Post by beck on Feb 25, 2009 12:40:26 GMT 8
mmmm making me hungry guys and girls i love to make home made jam mmmmm on scones with cream ( sorry rap got off track )
|
|
fancy
New Member
Posts: 48
|
Post by fancy on Mar 8, 2009 18:58:04 GMT 8
I have been researching a little on permaculture lately and I read somewhere that if you put your vegies etc in a hole or pit and cover with sand that it helps to pro-long their life. Maybe do a search on the net, there would be a lot out there on this subject I think.
|
|