The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: sabrina on June 06, 2009, 07:15:45 pm
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Anyone got a good way of keeping potatoes over the winter. I got a bit carried away and planted loads which will help clear out our ground but i am not sure the best way of storing them. :-\
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tatties usually store well - though not so much the early varieties
get yourself some hessian sacks or paper bags and simply put the spuds in there, keep them in a cool dark dry place (not somewhere where they might freeze though)
every so often you should open up the bag and check there are no rotting ones in there
I had tatties that kept right through to March/April
Don't wash the muck off them before you bag them
next year, keep out some of the smaller ones and chit them for growing next year - free seed spuds too :-)
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We honestly leave ours in the ground and dig up what we need, cover the plot with black fleece during hard frost until spring. All the serious folk will go NOOOO, but as we don't have rodent proof storage space it is the best option. We usually do have pretty good tatties all through the winter, the odd rotten one but at least the rot hasn't spread to all the others in the bag...Plenty of free seed potatoes this way too ---:&>
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I don't see a problem with leaving them in the ground either - just need to watch for frosts, so a nice fleece is needed.
lots of folk build clamps to store spuds, carrots, parsnips and such like -so it's the same idea really.
but it's not really surprising you have lots of rogue spuds on the go :-)