How do i preserve the vegtables i grow?

noni111

Hi ,

Before i start growing my own vegtables im wondering if ye could help me.


I have a nice bit of land to start growing my own veg and have being reading up on it.

Alot of info on how and when to grow etc, but not alot on how to preserve the veg. Lets say for example that i plant alot of spuds & carrots. You plant the seeds and watch as they grow. Pick when ripe....

If i planted "alot" of the spuds & carrots (enough to keep me going till the following season), how will i keep them from going "off"?

I know if i wanted a bag of carrotts in the winter i go to my supermarket and buy them. But surely they have not just been "picked" ?

Is there a way of planting any veg that you can store and use when needed, and keep eating until its time 2 pick another crop of veg you planted 1year later?

Any advice or info appreciated:)

The Sweeper

First, plant in stages so you have a steady supply.

Let's say there's an eight week window of opportunity for planting a particular vegetable. If it's something you eat a lot of, plant three or four different rounds - plant week one, week three, week five and at the start of week eight. Your crop will come to maturity then in four rounds.

Look at different vegetable varieties. Lots of veg have varieties designed for early or late cropping so you could stretch the season even further using those.

Investigate a greenhouse or polytunnel to stretch your growing season even further.

In terms of maintaining freshness, remember the old 4 stone sacks of spuds you used to buy in Ireland? A thick-ply paper sack with no plastic window was used to store the spuds, and you put them somewhere cool. In the cold and dark, they never sprouted eyes.

Another very straightfoward method of storage in the modern age would be freezing. As the frozen vegetable providers know, the best way to freeze veg is within hours of it coming out of the ground. So don't uproot carrots and then leave them in the cupboard for three weeks and then try freezing them. A better approach would be dig, wipe clean, top and tail, wash, then cut into batons and freeze in bag sizes suitable for stir fries.

Get used to seasonal produce. People often talk about how they crave different foods at different times of the year - stew in winter, salad in summer. Well, those cravings are driven by tens of thousands of years of evolution in tandem with the seasons. As opposed to buying baby corn at the supermarket in January, enjoy your own brassicas or root vegetables an look forward to the warmer weather and the food that goes with it.

noni111

Thanks for your reply.

Very helpful.

tenandtracer

This book is great for tips on storing (and growing). You will pick it up cheap as well.