Mo,

That's so cool. I am happy for you. I am sure you can make it work as a multipurpose cool storage spot/storm shelter. I love the idea of setting it lower to keep it cooler. I wish we'd done that.

At the time ours was put in, which I think was in 2000, my garden was less than 1000 square feet, and at least half of that was flowers, so I never foresaw the day that I'd need a root cellar.

Dawn

The only thing above ground is the door, and I think we will put some of that foamboard stuff on it and that will help. I also plan to plant something on top of it to help shade it. It will not be in the shade otherwise. Maybe some tall groundcover or some type of evergreen shrubbery. Any suggestions on that?
mo

Mo, that's great! Build an arbor over it and grow grapes. It will expedite getting the wine into the cellar!

I like Seedmama's suggestion if you don't mind doing the upkeep on the grapes. They'd need regular pruning and might need occasional spraying to prevent some of our common grape problems like anthracnose.

If you want to shade it with something that is somewhat easier to maintain, we have ours covered by several "Madame Galens" trumper creeper vines. In the summer they are just a big mound of green with orange flowers. I do have to trim the vines back from the door about every other week so that the door can be opened quickly in the event a tornado threatens, but that only takes a minute. After the trumpet creeper loses its foliage in fall, I cut it all back to the ground and heap mulch on top of the ground to keep winter weeds from sprouting there. I love the big green mound of foliage in summer. People don't even realize there is a tornado shelter under there until you show them the door. If you have the kind of soil where trumpet creeper runs wild, you might want to go with a less aggressive vine like American Cross Vine. In our soil, and because we mow regularly in the area near the tornado shelter, the trumpet creeper hasn't gone wild and tried to put out runners or shoots and take over the whole yard. I think it is likely that the regular droughts keep it under control too. I have it growing in very dense red clay and I don't water it or fertilize it. It grows like gangbusters. I am afraid if I did water it or feed it, the vine would swallow up the house, garage, garden shed and greenhouse, all of which are nearby.

I've also seen some people really landscape on at least three sides of their in-ground tornado shelters, putting in rock gardens, cactus gardens, perennial beds or annual beds filled with flowers.

I think you should do whatever you feel will fit in with your landscape and will be low-maintenance. If you don't like the way it looks after it is done, you can just wait for the next drought to burn up everything and then you can try something else. That's how I garden here. If something survives, it stays. These days, plant survival is a lot harder than it used to be just a decade or so back.

Dawn

Well- I am not opposed to grapes, but I have tried them before without success. Younger son gave me a brochure and suggested I put in a vineyard, which I ignored as I do many of his suggestions. He is an idea man. Has many ideas that I need to do. Or His dad. Or others. LOL When we filled dirt back in, we did not use the nasty clay that came out, we had bought a load of topsoil that is nice, so we put sand down first, and then the good topsoil. I was thinking more along the lines of some type of evergreen something. My grandma who lived in town would prob. put a "spreader" on it. Since it is where I would see it much of the time, I would rather it not be bare in the winter. I don't really want anything real tall, maybe something along the lines of knee high to no more than waist high. I like a vine, but don't think I might want one right there. I like low maintenance while I am trying to take care of other stuff that is high maintenance. I have some Icee Blue Junipers back on the waterfall and they have done well, but I think I want something a little taller.
mo

Is it going to be in full sun from sunup to sundown?

Yes. Full sun.
mo