Getting ready for the winter months

[Tee Gee]

I have started to put away some of my crop harvests for the winter as you can see here;

Apples (1st Layer)



Apples & Pears (2nd layer)



Potatoes bagged and under the bench



MY Onion, Shallot & Garlic rack



Some of my 'hotter' chillies'



A general look inside;

[Tee Gee]

[Susiebelle]

Wow :o that's what you call a harvest!

I thought apples had to be stored in newspaper in the dark? that's what I have been busy doing with mine - bit of a 'faff' if not necessary, do you heat your g.house or is it just frost free?

Anyway am I allowed to say well done to such an experienced guy - it doesn't sound quite right some how - I'm just really jealous!

[beanie3]

Firstly....WOW!

Secondly....i was gonna ask a very similar question.  I notice you have your apples, pears, onions and potatoes in your greenhouse....explain?  I always thought the spuds had to be stored in a dark cold place...do you heat your greenhouse when the weather is really cold to keep the frost at bay? do anything turn funny because of the light?  The reason i have so many questions is because i got my spuds in the brick shed - but i am nervous about keeping them in there as that is where we store our wood to burn and this year the wood is full of woodworm and flys..........

[Tee Gee]

I notice you have your apples, pears, onions and potatoes in your greenhouse....explain? 

Its frost free and it beats having them in the house particularly when you consider I don't need the space till around next Feb/March when a lot of that stuff will be consumed by then.

I always thought the spuds had to be stored in a dark cold place

They are in the dark! They are in multi-ply paper bags under the bench and the days are getting shorter so 'longer in the dark'

...do you heat your greenhouse when the weather is really cold to keep the frost at bay?

The thermostat is set to kick in at about 35° - 40°F (3°-4°C) to keep it 'frost free'

do anything turn funny because of the light? 

As I said the days are getting shorter,stuff is dying back and going into hibernation so 'light' is not a problem.

i got my spuds in the brick shed - woodworm and flys..........

Should be OK providing it is 'frost free and reasonably dry!

The insect life shouldn't be a problem as they are indigenous to wood and relative warmth, not potatoes!

I thought apples had to be stored in newspaper in the dark? that's what I have been busy doing with mine - bit of a 'faff' if not necessary,

The dark I think is something handed down from the Victorian garden where their fruit was laid out in dark sheds. Not because the fruit needed 'dark' it would most probably be down to the fact that their were no lights in the building.

The newspaper idea is a big No! No! for me for a number of reasons.

Think of this; you take a crisp new newspaper into the greenhouse today to wrap your fruit tomorrow and what happens? The paper goes limp and damp as it draws moisture from the atmosphere!

So imagine what might happen if you wrap all your fruit........its in permanently damp conditions! which is not conducive to good fruit keeping.

They want plenty of air around them to keep the fruit skin relatively dry.

I think this idea has evolved more to keep the fruit from touching which can sometimes lead to the tranferrance of deasease (botrytis)

Then how do you inspect them ?.........do you unwrap and re-wrap them every day when you inspect them

No! so why wrap them up.

In days of yore the gardening apprentice would enter the food store with his oil lamp so he could see, scan his eyes over the fruit withour touching it, thus reducing the chances of bruising it, which is highly likely if you are wrapping /unwrapping all the time.

The only fruit that would be touched would be rotting fruit or possibly any that was suspect..........in other words.removing the rotting apple from the barrel!

do you heat your g.house or is it just frost free?

Both!

From now to February it will be on a frost free setting.

When my new seasons seedlings appear it will be set a few degrees higher i.e. around 45°-50°F  (4°-10°C)

Anyway am I allowed to say well done to such an experienced guy

Yes you can thank you very much!

- it doesn't sound quite right some how

Fair comment I am reknowned for doing the 'unusual' its how I gain my experience!

This is my first year of putting my fruit in the greenhouse but it is because I have invested in a better more controlable heating/ventilation system.

In the past when I have stored stuff in the house I find that it can get too warm and the temperatures can be more variable.

In the greenhouse the temperature variance will only be about 5° over the day, whereas the variance in the house can be around 20° (70°-50°)

So it will be interesting to see what happens.




Doing these experiments is one of my great pleasures these days. I no longer get excited when something develops like it said on the packet..........thats what it was supposed to do! So no big deal.

I get my pleasure from saving say a few seeds from different plants or taking cuttings and being successful. Or;

Overcoming problems that the 'experts'don't write about, or when the 'eurocrats' have taken a product I once used off the market leaving me to resolve the pending problems.

For instance this year I had one of my best poto crops ever despite my crop being affected by weedkiller residues, this pleased me!

Similarly the peat free composts and the peat substitutes that are coming on the market that are not fit for purpose  >:( I find that if I can have some success using these then I get a bit of satisfaction.

Next year I am going back to methods I used 30-40 years ago and mixing my own composts.

To hell with paying out ever increasing amounts of money for what at the end of the day is just cr*p

So as you see I am easily satified  ::) 8) ;D and I hope I have answered all your queries! Tg

[grawrc]

great stuff as ever TG!! May I ask where you source your apple crates? I have such a good crop this year I've run out of boxes to store them in.

[saddad]

I have an apple store (slatted shelves in a tower) that I keep in the outside shed (brick and tile) and find that wrapping in paper helps as it stops any rots spreading to neighbouring fruit. Perhaps I should check more often  :-X
I can see that it would be a non-starter in a moister environment like a greenhouse with soil borders.

[beanie3]

Yes, full and frank answers. Thanks.

[Duke Ellington]

Yes, full and frank answers. Thanks.

Yes Tee Gee is a computer generated allotment cyber expert!! He doesn't really exist ~ he is a robot! ;D :P

Tee Gee knows I love him!!  :-*

Duke :)

[beanie3]

well the robot certainly seems to talk the talk well - so that is good enough for me.  Hey be careful in the wet weather don't want no rust lol : )

[Tee Gee]

May I ask where you source your apple crates?

:-X :-X They are bread trays that I have had for teens of years.

Can't recall where I got them? Probably a result of 'fly tipping' or 'vandalism'

[BarriedaleNick]

Blimey I go through the year thinking that I am reasonably good at this growing malarky and then seeing pics like that I realise I still have it all to learn.  ;D  ;D

[GrannieAnnie]

What beautiful fruits, TeeGee. And thank you for dispelling the newspaper wrapped fruit. I always wondered why my wrapped tomatoes didn't seem to last very long but figured the expert knew what they were talking about.
What DO you do with your green tomatoes??

[Tee Gee]

What DO you do with your green tomatoes??

Similar to my fruit except;................ I put these in the 'dark'

So a drawer,cuboard or under the bed will do so long as the temperature is not too warm and it  is fairly consistant i.e. no great fluctuations.

Check them regularly and remove any that go off.

I don't use the 'banana' system I like them to go red at a nice steady pace!

It won't be the first time I have eaten my own tomatoes on Xmas day using this method!

[Gillysdad]

I keep an eye on all your postings Tee Gee, I like the common sense approach. No more buying of compost for me either. I wrote to one supplier and asked if they could find the chap who was adding shredded kitchen cupboards to the mix.....and stop him doing it. >:( >:( Needless to say they didn't respond. ;)

[Susiebelle]

Many thanks Tee Gee for all that, now how many books would I have to read to gleen that much knowledge - on a need to know basis  'hits the spot'

Checking apples yesterday and yes what a 'faff' unwrapping and wrapping and quite surprising how many had started to go off.

Some one suggested storing fennel in damp peat so am trying it this year, will report back!