[hightide]

I am not having a good year, this storing thing is not easy!
 
Have just lost my onions - previous post - so I checked on the beetroot I had stored and found they have all sprouted some time earlier and are now all soft and useless. This is the first time I have stored beetroot and the advice I followed was to cover in damp sand in layers after twisting off the leaves. I did lift them on a good day and left them until the earth had dried and stored them the same day. What did I do wrong?
 

[Jamie Butterworth]

Where were you storing them, it might not be something youve done, weve just had a lot of very cold weather a lots sooner than usual, could be that ::S

[griff]

you need dry sharp sand not moist, better luck next time

[Paul Plots]

Being slow to get storing my veg, where and whenever I can I simply leave everything where it is on the plot. Guess I am lucky as it's reasonably mild here.

I pulled the last few beetroot a week ago and they were fine despite the short bout of snow and the temperatures have been below 0.

Presently I have two rows of Autumn King carrots and they are coping well with their tails in the ground.

[Trillium]

One trick you can try (no guarantees) is as needed, soak the beetroot completely in a bucket of water overnight. Very often the root will absorb enough water to firm up again and then be used immediately. You cannot store them in water, but at least it minimizes waste of beetroots going soft.

[Paul Plots]

One trick you can try (no guarantees) is as needed, soak the beetroot completely in a bucket of water overnight. Very often the root will absorb enough water to firm up again and then be used immediately. You cannot store them in water, but at least it minimizes waste of beetroots going soft.

I've done this with carrots - good tip to pass on Trillium 

[hightide]

Thank you people

Dry sand it is and I will definitely try the soaking thing

Merry crimbo

[Aidy]

You can freeze some. we always freeze a row of beets for soup, we make gallons of borscht in the winter. Cook it and peel, leave to cool then freeze. The other way is to pickle it. Last year I clamped my Chioggia but had to protect it from the frost, the problem I find is the longer it is clamped, the less tasty it becomes.