Storing onions

[Millymollymandy]

My onions must have been out of the ground for about 6 months now and they are starting to sprout. It's only visible when you cut them open but I have to remove this bit. Luckily I'm down to my last 8 or so ordinary onions and a couple of bags of red ones left, so I suppose I grew the right amount!

How long do you manage to keep your onions for? I was hoping they'd store for longer so I could grow more this year. It's nice having decent onions.

The problem seems to be in summer it is hard to find a cool place to store them, though now isn't a problem as I've plenty of unheated places like the cellar and potting shed.

[Wombat]

Yeah M3, finding a cool place is the problem! I grow enough for about 3 - 4 months generally, but the heat of our summer can make 'em go soft & sprouty.

Nev

[Andy Hamilton]

I did a page on storing veg a while back

http://selfsufficientish.com/clamp.htm

should help you out.

[hedgewitch]

That is a great page Andy - I just wish I had enough produce to store

[diver]

some of my onions are sprouting too, and much worse a whole bag of them went rotten and black...did I store them before they were really dry?

[Millymollymandy]

Maybe one went off and affected the others. I guess it is a good idea to check through them all (and your spuds) now and again. I never did though!

Would onions really store OK in a clamp? I thought they were for root veg. I've got carrots and parsnips in a huge container in sand. Trouble is the sand keeps drying out. Then again, the English way says use damp sand, and the French way says dry sand! I actually think they are storing better in the ground in the veg patch but I wanted to put some in sand in case the ones in the ground didn't survive the winter, and I have some in the freezer too, just in case!

[gunners71uk]

i saw the storage page ie camp etc, but i like to know what things you can freeze and what blanching process for what vegetables and can you freeze onions etc.and what about storing carrots in compost or sand sorry im new to this and a bit thick

[Andy Hamilton]

Here is a page that should help you

http://www.gardenguides.com/TipsandTech ... eezing.htm

Can't say that I have ever stored carrots but I think that you can put them in box, laying next to each other but not touching and pour sand over them. Layering them up. Then close the box so that no light gets onto them. - Anyone done this? Can't remember if I saw that or read it.

[diver]

I have just checked my spuds and I found a few that had gone off and I reckon that's what happened with the onions. I have frozen onions.....just put them through the food processor to chop them first and have used them in cooking quite a lot.....soups and sauces particularly... and they are fine...my carrots, parsnips etc are frozen as I wasn't sure how to make a clamp

[gunners71uk]

cheers thanks for the link and info.

[ina]

It's a matter of what variety you grow, too: I've just been through my seed catalogue and put a tick against a) early varieties for eating in summer, and then b) late varieties with "very good storing qualities". I didn't have that many onions anyway, but they started to go off after only a few weeks. Mind you , I hadn't taken too much trouble about storing them dry etc...

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Can't say that I have ever stored carrots but I think that you can put them in box, laying next to each other but not touching and pour sand over them. Layering them up. Then close the box so that no light gets onto them. - Anyone done this? Can't remember if I saw that or read it.

This is what I am doing but they are in a giant plastic tub. I've no idea if it is working because I don't want to dig them all out of the sand to see! That's why I am keeping all options open by having some in the freezer and some still in the ground. It's all an experiement. So far still in the ground is OK despite some rotten cold below freezing temps.

I used to blanch my parsnips for the freezer but I don't bother anymore as I don't find any difference whatsoever.