Topic: Storing carrots in sand over winter

[AdeTheSpade]

Anyone any experience of storing carrots this way please?  I don't know whether you have to get the right type of sand (ie horticultural or whatever), and the best containers to use.  I'm very hopeful of a good crop this year for a change, and don't find freezing them all that successful.

Thanks for any tips,

AdeTheSpade

[small]

I tried this last year in sharp sand in a large bucket.  The carrots either went black or developed hundreds of tiny root hairs and tasted horrible. So that's how not to do it.....I'm going to try again this year using cheap compost instead.

[manicscousers]

we use kiddies toy boxes with lids (from b&m, I think), filled with potting compost, done it this way for years, plus we do celeriac, parsnips, swede,beetroot, really worked last year, saved struggling through the snow and trying to dig up stuff out of rock hard soil  ;D

[telboy]

I know it's unPC but I have had great success storing in peat. The peat needs to be slightly damp.
I used tea chests & layered the carrots without touching root to root. Lasted throughout the winter if stored in a cool dry area.

[AdeTheSpade]

we use kiddies toy boxes with lids (from b&m, I think), filled with potting compost, done it this way for years, plus we do celeriac, parsnips, swede,beetroot, really worked last year, saved struggling through the snow and trying to dig up stuff out of rock hard soil  ;D

Thank you manicscousers, that sounds a good way of doing it - when you say potting compost, are we talking used compost, or do you go out and buy some new compost?

I know it's unPC but I have had great success storing in peat. The peat needs to be slightly damp.
I used tea chests & layered the carrots without touching root to root. Lasted throughout the winter if stored in a cool dry area.

And thank you telboy, that also sounds a good way - but where do you get peat - can you buy it?

[manicscousers]

I just buy the cheap stuff, then add it to the plot in spring after the veg is gone  ;D

[kypfer]

When I was a lad, dad would buy a sack of carrots from a local grower and we'd stack them in sand against a south-facing wall - layer of sand on the ground, layer of carrots, lying down but not touching, more sand, more carrots etc., building up a triangular/pyramid-type heap against the wall, then cover the lot with sacking (probably the sack the carrots came in), I suspect more to stop the sand from blowing away or washing off the carrots in the rain than for any type of insulation. I don't know how critical the south-facing wall was, even if a wall was necessary at all, but that's the way we used to do it and it worked. The sand would have almost certainly have come from the coastal dunes (very non-pc these days), so was basically wind-blown beach sand (no salt), just to give an idea of the grade of sand used.

[lilyjean]

we use kiddies toy boxes with lids (from b&m, I think), filled with potting compost, done it this way for years, plus we do celeriac, parsnips, swede,beetroot, really worked last year, saved struggling through the snow and trying to dig up stuff out of rock hard soil  ;D

Wow! what a helpful piece of information. I began to wander how to store carrots and began to do loads of research. The favourite seemed to be sand but I'm rather drawn to your suggestion. Thank you for a useful tip!  :)

[Columbus]

we use kiddies toy boxes with lids

Hi all,  :)

Yep, I do basically the same with all root crops, I use a mix of rat proof containers and any damp filler I can find like spent potting compost or soil. I have a mix of metal bins and plastic buckets and tubs. I store these in my potting shed on the allotment which is cooler than the brick shed at home. Things keep safely till the potting shed warms up in the spring but then they go off quickly.

My crop storage is now so successful that I only shop bought veg once in the last year. (That was the hungry gap)

Col

[manicscousers]

we also get new shoots from the veggies coming up in spring, we use the beetroot and carrot leaves for salad  :)

[shirlton]

 We have used sharp sand until now but may try some in compost just to see how it goes. Tones just seen this post and said "We have 4 bags of sand down the shed"