In autumn, many hobby gardeners harvest fruit and vegetables from their garden. But not everything has to be processed immediately. If stored well, the harvest stays fresh for many weeks or even months and can save us a few purchases in the winter months. How can we store fruits and vegetables correctly? What alternatives are there for storage in the basement?
Some types of fruit and vegetables can be harvested in autumn. With proper storage, they usually stay fresh for weeks or even all winter. For this to succeed, the right conditions are important: temperature, humidity and light play a crucial role, as does the preparation of the harvest. And even if you don’t have a cellar, you can store most fruits and vegetables for a long time using the right techniques. We explain the most important tricks.
Store fruit properly in autumn
Pome fruits such as apples, pears and quinces that are to be stored should be harvested before they are ready to eat. These fruits are best stored in a cool, frost-free cellar with preferably 80 to 90 percent humidity. If the humidity is too low, the fruits can shrink and dry out.
Apples, pears and quinces all have a natural waxy layer on their skin that protects them from invading fungal spores. That’s why hobby gardeners should not rub or wash the fruit after harvesting and store it with the wax layer. The stems should also remain on the fruit. The harvest should also be stored on wood lined with newspaper without touching each other – this prevents possible diseases from being transmitted from one fruit to the other. Damaged and therefore vulnerable fruits should not be stored at all, but should be processed directly into juice, puree or jelly.
The following applies to apples, pears and quinces: The harvest should be stored separately from other types of fruit and vegetables, as these fruits emit the plant hormone ethylene, which causes other fruit and vegetables to ripen faster and therefore spoil more quickly. It also helps to ventilate the room where the fruit is stored weekly so that the ethylene evaporates.
Vegetables in the dark or buried in the sand
Hobby gardeners should also store potatoes in an airy, dark, cool place and with around 90 percent humidity. The tubers should be dried after harvest and not washed so that they are better protected from rot. Potatoes have a natural germination inhibition. Depending on the ambient temperature, this breaks down within five to nine weeks after harvest. The potatoes must then be stored at temperatures below five degrees to prevent premature germination.
For other root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, beetroot or celeriac, hobby gardeners should remove the leaves after harvesting and leave only the beginnings of the leaves – there is no need to wash them. Here too, only undamaged food without bruises should be stored. Root vegetables are best stored in layers in wooden boxes with moist sand at temperatures below ten degrees and at least 80 percent humidity.
If you want to keep cabbages, Chinese cabbage and endives fresh, wrap the heads with their bracts individually in wrapping paper and store them upright in wooden boxes. When hung in nets, pumpkin and zucchini do not get any pressure points.
Storing harvest without a cellar
Not every hobby gardener has a cellar that allows for such cool, dark storage conditions. However, this does not mean that they have to forego storage and use the harvest immediately. Garages, garden sheds and balconies are also suitable for storage as long as sunlight doesn’t heat them up too much. In the apartment itself, fruit and vegetables should also be protected from heat and light – for example in an unheated storage room and covered with paper.
If you don’t have a cellar but have a garden, you can alternatively keep vegetables fresh in a so-called earth pile: To do this, hobby gardeners dig a hollow about 50 centimeters deep in a place that is as dry as possible. To prevent voles from getting into the pile, the hole in the ground should then be lined with fine-mesh wire. The bottom is first covered with a ten centimeter layer of sand before the vegetables are placed on top. On top of that there is a layer of straw that is twice as high. A plastic fleece spread over the soil prevents rain from penetrating.