What is a 'cool dry frost-free place' in Suburbia?

14 years ago

I'd like to try storing onions and other vegetables during the winter months, but I always come across instructions such as "cool dry place" or "frost-free shed."

Nothing like that exists here in my suburban house. There are no basements in this part of the country (karst geology). All parts of my house are in the low 70s all year round. The garage temperature ranges from zero to 100 degrees F, depending on the month.

Second question: Storage may be out of the question for where I live now, but I hope to build another house in about 10 years. Should I plan for some type of root cellar?

Thanks

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Comments (11)

jonas302
14 years ago
I have heard of using a crawl space
or just finding the coldest closet in the house
dgkritch
14 years ago
Try the garage, or an extra fridge, or coldest room (anything you can close off and not heat?).
Also think about WHEN you're storing things. Most onions are growing, not being stored during the hottest months, so maybe a tub full of sawdust in the garage would work between say October and May?!?!?
I am fighting a similiar battle. No root cellar, no basement.
If all else fails, chop onions and freeze, or dehydrate them. They won't be the same as fresh, but you'll have onions for many things. Same for most other produce. Canning, drying and freezing are used for many reasons, one of which is that lack of cold storage space!!!
At least is is for me!

Deanna
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Sherry, Well, I think you can plant them and have limited success. Onions have to be in the ground and achieve a certain amount of growth before bulbing is induced. Since bulbing is induced by a combination of daylength and temperature, it is going to happen when the daylength-temperature combo is achieved, whether the onions have been in the ground for one week, one month, or whatever. So, that is why we have to plant onions so very early--to get maximum growth before initiation of the bulbing process begins. Most onions needs to be in the ground a minimum of 90 to 100 days before bulb initiation starts in order to size up fully, and some need 100 to 120 days. Short day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength (hours of sunlight) reaches about 10-12 hours in combination with the right temperature. Intermediate day-length onions need 12-14 hours days to bulb up. Long day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength is 14-16 hours and the temperature is right, which is why the long daylength onions are not grown in our part of the county. (Our daylength here maxes out around 14 hours.) So, if the onions go into the ground late, they will grow and they still will bulb up once bulb initiation occurs. They'll just be smaller when bulb initiation occurs, thus, they will be smaller at maturity than onions that were planted earlier. One reason that short day-length and intermediate day-length onions planted in the southern third of the country get bigger than those EXACT same varieties grown in the upper 2/3s of the country is that our weather allows us to plant the onions up to 5 months prior to bulb initiation, and the northern states' colder weather does not allow them to plant until approx. 75 days before bulb initiation. So, if you plant late this year, you'll get onions that are "northern-sized" instead of "southern-sized", but you'll still get onions! If you don't mind knowing you'll get smaller onions, go ahead and go for it. It would be a good learning experience if you've never grown onions before. Some commonly-sold short day-length onions are TX 1015Y (aka Texas Sweet or Texas Supersweet), Yellow Granex, White Bermuda, Southern Belle Red and Contessa. Some commonly-sold intermediate day-length onions are Candy, Stockton Sweet Red and Superstar. Some commonly sold long day-length onions (and these should NOT be sold in our region) include Borrettana Cippolini, Red Torpedo Tropea, Ailsa Craig (there's also a tomato by this name), Copra, Big Daddy, Red Burgermaster, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Yellow Sweet Spanish and Ringmaster. I've already planted my main crop of onions, but I do continue planting onions in various spots around the garden as companion plants, and I will, probably through mid-to-late April. Of course, I don't care if those companion-planted onions bulb up or not. Sometimes I leave the companion plant onions in the ground until the following year, and let them bloom in the spring. Their tiny flowers attract a TON of tiny pollinators and beneficial insects, and are quite attractive as well. Dawn
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zabby17
14 years ago
A root cellar would be so nice, wouldn't it? Why not plan one in your new home. But in the 21st century, it needn't be a cellar. All you need is a separate, insulated area that can be a different temperature from the rest of the house; it could be heated/cooled with the same system, whatever that is, but have its own thermostat. And it should be small, so you don't waste heating/cooling energy on empty space.

We were given a wine fridge as a wedding gift. Not being big wine drinkers, esp. white wines, we mostly use it as a sort of cellar --- we keep it at its warmest (about 55 degrees) and put big bags of dry goods, or potatoes, in it in the summer.

For winter, what about making a small spot in the garage warmer? I start my tomato seedlings in our semi-heated mudroom; in March, when they start, it can be still down to freezing out there. I made a kind of greenhouse by hanging an old shower curtain in front of the seedling shelves, and I strung some Christmas lights along the shelves (the old incandescent kind, not the cool LED kind!). THese produce a small amount of warming, enough to keep this curtained area 10 to 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding area. I was thinking that for cellar-type storage, an insulated cupboard in the garage with a wee bit of warmth added like that wd prob. do.

Good luck!

Z
annie1992
14 years ago
Farm boy, definitely plan a root cellar for your new house.

Zabby, when elery and I build at the farm we hope to heat and cool with a geothermal system, adding that to the root cellar is a grand idea, thank you!

Here in Michigan my basement is too warm in the winter and my garage is too cold. the small and old root cellar on the farm is not on the piece of farm that I bought, so I'll be planning a root cellar. And an outdoor wood fired bread oven!

Annie
farm_boy
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the input. Definitely a root cellar (and also attached greenhouse or sun room) will be in the blueprints for my next house.
jonas302
14 years ago
Farm boy I had a thought for your current house I think I would put and old fridge or freezer in the garage in the winter I would put in a seperate thermostat probly from Grainer or something hooked to a light bulb for heat to keep it above freezing in the fall you could plug the fridge in if its to warm out
gardengalrn
14 years ago
I do have cooler areas here in my house during the winter months but really haven't seen that my onions store very well. I just hate discovering a rotting onion in with the others when I know the work it took to get it harvested. I chop and freeze a good portion of my onions and the convenience is wonderful. I fill snack baggies then layer them in good gallon freezer bags. It helps out on the smell of the onions and they keep fantastic. Just tonight I pulled out my last bag from over a year ago to toss in ham/bean soup and it saved time when I was in a hurry. Just a thought, I think I would put onions in the freezer even if I had a root storage system. Lori
annie1992
14 years ago
Lori, maybe I just grow really strong onions but they always stink up the freezer, even if I double or triple bag them.

I kind of considered getting a food saver and seeing if sealing them up and then putting them in a gallon bag for extra protection would help.

Annie
gardengalrn
14 years ago
Annie, I notice an odor for a few days but it seems to go away. I definitely want a food saver for this growing season. I didn't put up anything this year and my supplies are dwindling. Lori
dgkritch
14 years ago
Lori, maybe I just grow really strong onions but they always stink up the freezer, even if I double or triple bag them.

You say that like it's a BAD thing, Annie! LOL
I love the smell of onions. Mine seem to be less strong too after a month or so. Until then, I just try to appreciate that I have them! :-)

Deanna
annie1992
14 years ago
Deanna, I like onions too, but I don't want my pumpkin muffins and my homemade bread crumbs and my frozen breakfast burritos and all of those blasted ducks to smell like onion, LOL.

Annie

What is a 'cool dry frost-free place' in Suburbia?

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What is a 'cool dry frost-free place' in Suburbia?

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