Harvest and store

When to harvest? While some fruits can be harvested before maturity and continue to develop during storage, they should not be picked too long before their optimal stage. Harvesting should be done in good weather so that the vegetables are brought in dry. If the weather permits, don't hesitate to let your fruits and roots dry for a day (but be careful of nighttime humidity in autumn). Where should I store my harvest? In principle, nothing could be simpler: in the cellar and the attic, just like on any farm! That is, in a dry, ventilated place for bulbs, grains, and squash, and in another place with a stable temperature, a humid atmosphere, and darkness for root vegetables. Both places must be frost-free. But we often have converted attics and a garage rather than a cellar. So what should we do with our vegetables? For vegetables that like it dry? Simply at home. Vegetables are beautiful! A few braids of garlic, a basket of onions, pretty jars of dried beans or baskets of squash won't necessarily spoil your interior, quite the contrary. For everyone else The simplest: the silo While this arrangement costs nothing, it takes time to make, but also each time you go to use it. You will have to remove and replace the protective layers of straw and earth. The straw hut The difficulty then lies in finding small bales of straw, an increasingly rare "commodity"! The straw can be stored dry for the winter before being spread out, as mulch of course, during the following season. If this type of construction requires a little work, imagine the quality of the result: in half a day, a reasonably sized room with 50cm thick insulating walls is installed! The bravest can also plan this type of "fixed" construction outside: the bundles will then be taken into a wooden frame before being carefully coated in at least three times with natural lime mortar, for example. A converted room In a basement, a garage, a building, a garden shed or a modest lean-to, it is inexpensive and really practical to "over-insulate" a small room of 15m²? However, make sure to provide good ventilation. The washing machine drum Far from expensive investments, the vegetable garden is also an opportunity to show practicality and imagination to give a second life to objects that we thought were out of use. Buy washing machine drums for a pittance. With a little luck you can find some industrial ones, relatively large. Do not choose the ones that open by sliding, they get stuck with the earth. Fill the axle holes well with a small mesh and bury the drums. Cover them with a board and a plastic sheet: and voilà! Store the vegetables vertically, as they were before pulling. This way, you'll preserve carrots, beetroot, and celeriac until spring with very little loss of flavor.