STORING VEGETABLES FOR WINTER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 25

STORING VEGETABLES FOR WINTER

In iSfew,. Zealand's equable V climate there: is no great difficulty in keeping root vegetables over the winter, but in districts where severe frosts'are to be expected protection .must be; provided. :.The main point is to 'keep the roots from shrivelling 'oi: heating. ShriVelJing will occur if they -become; too dry, while heating is ■caused by ; too close packing with great weightwhich may be caused where ;the roots are sack-eel up and stacked. \

Potatoes; may either be sacked up or jpux into boxes and placed' in a.shed or under some trees, but,there, must be sufficient protection to keep off all frost if,this method is adopted. They may be "pitted" if a large quantity has to be dealt with. They must be kept from the light, which causes them to iurri green. ; Pitting is done by diggifig. put a trench about six inches deep and as Wide and long as necessary to hold'the crop to be stored.

Tip the potatoes into the trench and pile up as high as possible, covering them with dry straw or other similar material. Cover the whole to within a few inches of the top with three or four inches of soil and allow to remain for two or three weeks, when the covering may be completed and. increased to a depth of six inches or so.

The soil should be beaten down with the back of the spade and made smooth so that rain will run off. The site for the pit should be cool and dry, and a trench should be dug all round it to carry away surface water.

Carrqts and parsnips may be stored in the same wajr, but in cold districts where secondary growth is not likely to occur, parsnips are improved if al-

lowed-to remain in the ground. Frosts •do notinjure them under such conditions. ;■

For small garden lots carrots and parsnips may safely be stored! in boxes, the roots being laid evenly in layers between layers of fine dry soil or sand. ■If merely bagged they are liable to shrivel badly.

Onions should be lifted as soon as the tops change colour, and be laid on the surface for a few days to dry, being turned over once or twice. As soon as they are quite dry outside they may be taken up and any soil adhering to them rubbed off. They may then be placed in string bags or made into ropes and hung up in a dry airy shed. Onions are very liable to heat if. placed in bags or boxes. They ■should be stored in such a way that air can circulate freely round them and to allow them to be inspected from time to time, so that any showing signs of decay may be removed.

Any which have been damaged in lifting, as we?l as those with thick necks, should be put aside for first use, as they will.not keep.

Beet may be stored in the same way as carrots and parsnips, but whereas the tops of the latter should be cut off, those of beets should not be cut, but merely twisted off, as when cut they bleed and the sap is lost.

Pumpkins and marrows should be cut off with the 'stalk attached and may be placed in any dry, airy place, where they will keep quite well if mature. Immature ones should be used first, as although they may keep for a few weeks they will most probably decay before long. Marrows do not usually keep so long as pumpkins.