[cacran]

I am getting another shed(yipee!!!) I have two already, one for junk, one for sitting in and this one is going to be for storing my produce. Well that is the intention.
How should I go about this? I have  aquired a couple of wooden storage shelf units and wondered if there was a way I could store veg in old washing up bowls (square sort) as I have lots of those. I thought I could get some river sand and bry things like carrots, swede, potatoes, beetroot in it. what do you think??? If this is a no no will you give me some ideas, please??? :?:

[compostqueen]

what about a clamp out on the plot  

I stored spuds in my shed in hessian sacks but had to shift them as the mice were having a field day. They homed in on my drying borlotti beans as well. So I'm not storing any more food in my lotty shed.  I bring it all home

You can store beetroot and carrots in boxes of sand.  Probably same with parsnips too.  Don't know if it's just roots though

hopefully someone else will know

[cacran]

What exactly is a clamp? :?

[compostqueen]

there ya go

Storing Root Vegetable Crops in a Clamp
In the days when people had large families and often survived by what they grew it was common to store root crops such as potatoes, carrots, Swedes, beetroot and celeriac in clamps. Clamps are probably not the best method for storing the smaller amounts required by a small family or couple.

The first thing to ensure is that the crop will be kept out of standing water. Choose a dry spot in the plot and then dig a trench around the storage area. This will help drain any water and provides soil you will need later.

Next place a layer of straw, bracken or even shredded paper on the ground and then place a layer of your crop down. With carrots, you could try a circular pattern, thick end to the outside, then place another layer of your packing material or sand to level up. Carry on adding layers to form a cone shape. On the outside of the clamp, place six to eight inches of straw and make a little straw spike at the top. This will allow excess moisture to escape,

The soil you removed from your drainage trench can then be used to cover the clamp.

[cacran]

Oh thanks for that, My allotment is on old swamp land and gets very wet, so I think maybe it would not be the best place to have a clamp.

[sawnee]

Ive been given some large buckets (3ft highx18"Dia) with air tight screw lids
Could these be used to store my Beetroot or other veg over winter, I have heard you can keep beetroot overwinter in Peat in wooden boxes will my buckets work or will they 'sweat' ?

[tweeky]

Beegly.

Not sure about the sweating tbh, but dry peat works a treat for all sorts of things, including pelargoniums and geraniums. But usually in cardboard or orange boxes etc without lids.

[Trillium]

I'm switching to damp sand to store my carrots and parsnips this year. Have large plastic cartons (open) to store them in. Lidded, they'd sweat too much and rot. Can't do clamps here as our ground freezes too hard and deep, not to mention all the snow.

River sand is a bit iffy - you don't know if any pollutants were used up river or if factories use the river to dump waste in. You're better off buying some sand that's come from a gravel pit. The cost is small for peace of mind.

[DD.]

Parsnips & swede should sit happily in the ground over winter. Spuds, as already mentioned are best dug, dried & stored in sacks.

I also leave my carrots in the ground over winter, but it sounds like my plot is not as soggy as yours!

[Ian_P]

I tried this for the first time last year. I stored carrots, beetroot, parsnips and mooli. I still have mooli because no-one but me in the house will eat them.

I went to my local upmarket wine merchant and scrounged some wooden wine boxes, which I then fitted with MDF lids to keep the mice out.
Boxes stacked well in the shed so saved some space. Wine mercahnts throw them away, mine asks for a £1 donation to the local hospice fund and they ask you to tell them what you use them for because they are keeping a list of all the wacky uses.

I used general purpose compost which was cheap at that time of the year. I didn't water the compost, which might have helped the carrots.

The result was good. Nothing went off before we were able to eat it, a few of the carrots perhaps had started to become a bit wizened but were still very useable.

One advantage of compost over river sand is that this year I have been abl;e to use the compost because nothing in the storage took any nutrient from it because nothing was growing.