Storing Pumpkins and Potatoes

~ By Julie ~

I store pumpkins so they do not touch each other and keep them in a cool, dry area in the shed that will allow the fruit to mature until the vine withers. Fully matured fruit harden by being in the sun so long, giving them tough, rot-resistant skins. Pumpkins do not ripen further once cut and there is a risk of them being tasteless if harvested too early.

When I harvest them, I cut off as long a piece of stalk as possible because the pumpkins will quickly deteriorate if the handle drops off. We have the pumpkin vine growing over a lot of our big backyard and it keeps the weeds at bay too.

I have found an old way of storing potatoes by placing sprigs of dried lavender, sage and rosemary, which suppresses sprouting and stops bacteria that can lead to storage rot, in each Hessian bag then stored in our shed because it is dark. It doesn't matter how much of these Herbs you use as long as you have the 3 of them together. I don't tie the bags tight but keep them loosened a bit so that air can still get in.

I also keep vegetables I'm going to store in their own skins so they last longer.

There is also an age-old cool-climate method of storing most root crops, especially potatoes, called clamping that I haven't done but want to try. The soil temperature in warmer climates won't be sufficiently cool enough for this.

Clamping involves finding a meter or so of well-drained ground, laying out a thick bed of dry, clean straw, and then stacking unwashed potatoes into a cone shape on the straw.

Allow the potatoes to 'sweat' (transpire) for half a day then cover the pile with another thick layer of straw. Enclosing the pile with chicken wire will prevent rats and mice eating your produce. Dig a trench around the pile, using the soil to thickly cover it. Tamp it down well with the back of a spade to create a firm barrier. The cone shape helps shed rainwater.

         

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