Stored correctly in the root cellar, winter squash will last most of the winter.
The last group of vegetables for the root cellar includes winter squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes. These vegetables prefer storage temperatures of 45 to 55 degrees F. with low to medium relative humidity.
Tomatoes and peppers will keep in storage for only a few weeks at most, while sweet potatoes will keep for about three months. Pumpkins and winter squash can last four to six months when stored at their optimal temperatures.
Sweet and hot peppers will keep for about three weeks if stored in plastic bags at 40 to 45 degrees F. Try using some of the “green bags” vegetable storage bags, (www.greenbags.com) which disperse ethylene gas and help vegetables stay fresher, longer. (See www.moxiegardener.com/2008/08/gardeners-need-green-bags.) Peppers greatly benefit from storage in “green bags” because they are extremely sensitive to ethylene gas. For this reason do not store peppers near apples, pears or tomatoes, all of whom emit quantities of ethylene gas.
Tomatoes should be stored above 45 degrees F. or flavor will suffer. The warmer the temperature at which they are stored, the faster they will ripen. Lay out tomatoes in a single layer in large, flat containers or on newspaper-lined shelves. You can also individually wrap tomatoes in newspaper or tissue paper.
Sort and separate your tomatoes by color and degree of ripeness. Each group will ripen in their own time. I’ve done this in baskets on my kitchen counter in a cold, drafty kitchen. The tomatoes were picked in mid-October and the last of them ripened around Thanksgiving.
Another way to store and ripen green or partially green tomatoes is to pull the entire plant up, roots and all. Shake as much dirt from the roots as you can. Hang the plant, with the tomatoes still on it, by its roots in a warm part of your root cellar or basement. The tomatoes will ripen over a period of days or weeks, depending on how ripe they were to begin with.
Tomatoes ripened using any of these methods will not be as good as “summer” ripened tomatoes, but they will be better tasting than the cardboard excuses for tomatoes at the supermarket.
Cure pumpkins and winter squash at 70 to 75 degrees F. in a dry place for a week to ten days before storing. They prefer slightly dry conditions at temperatures of 45 to 50 degrees F. Spread out in a single layer without touching.
Sweet potatoes should be cured at a temperature of 80 to 85 degrees F. for at least a week. Store in bins in an area with low to medium humidity levels at temperatures between 50 and 60 degrees F. Temperatures outside this range will adversely affect the quality of sweet potatoes.
All of these vegetables need to be stored at the warmer temperatures of 45 to 55 degrees F. and with the exception of peppers, at lower relative humidity than other root cellar vegetables. Store peppers in a plastic bag to increase humidity.
If the temperature in your root cellar is too cold for squash and sweet potatoes, an unheated spare room or shelves in an unfinished basement can be the perfect storage area for them. Last winter I stored my squash in a corner of a former porch that has been remodeled and incorporated into the living room. It juts out from the rest of the house with drafty windows on three sides. The winter squash lasted into early March stored on a shelf a few inches off the floor.
The warmer temperatures these vegetables require for successful long-term storage can be found throughout your house and property, not necessarily in the root cellar. Stored at temperatures and humidity levels favorable to them, produce can last much longer than we’ve experienced using a refrigerator. The key is to seek out areas that have storage conditions our winter produce benefit from the most.
In the final installment of Root Cellar Storage, we wll discuss storing fruits in the root cellar.
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