The 2011 Pit

Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:50 am

I put a plastic mesh feed bag over the veggies then filled the soil back in.

All finished. I poked in a couple of sticks so I could find it in the snow if I decide I need some taters mid winter.

Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:58 am

What would all this be for? Im new so I don't Know whats going on?

Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:12 am

It is hard to store root crops through winter without them dehydrating or growing or both. If left where they grew through winter in cold country they will freeze. The pit is a storage technique. They are below the frost line so they don't freeze and they will be cool and moist. When they are dug up, they will be pretty much just like they were the day they were put in the pit.

Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:17 am

Oh Wow amazing, but wont they try to grow?

Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:37 am

jal_ut wrote:It is hard to store root crops through winter without them dehydrating or growing or both. If left where they grew through winter in cold country they will freeze. The pit is a storage technique. They are below the frost line so they don't freeze and they will be cool and moist. When they are dug up, they will be pretty much just like they were the day they were put in the pit.

I envy you for having that option James. If I were to do that, they'd simply turn to mush in less than a week due to ground water seeping in the pit. I put things in my downstairs fridge, but it's obviously not the same. Onions send out shoots, potatoes start to sprout and some things simply dry out.

Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:40 am

Thanks for posting, James, I always like to see the pit pics !

Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:12 am

Oh Wow amazing, but wont they try to grow?

They won't want to grow until about May when the ground gets warm.

If I were to do that, they'd simply turn to mush in less than a week due to ground water seeping in the pit.

Yep! This is not an option if you have ground water. I have a good bed of gravel underneath about 30 inches of silt and clay. It doesn't have any water in it to a depth of 12 feet. I had to dig a test hole before I could get a permit to build. It was more about draining the septic tank, but the test hole was dry. I don't know for sure how close the water is, but deeper than 12 feet.

I had a gopher find my pit one year and he made a mess. Of course they have to try each tater, can't just eat one.

On storing onions in this dry climate, I dry them then put them in a mesh bag and hang them down the basement. They will keep until spring. You may have too much humidity for that to work there?

Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:56 am

Thanks for sharing this. I'm impressed each year.
Now I have the urge to "dig up" you past posts about yout storage pit....

Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:08 pm

Yeah, my "pit" is in a snow-vulnerable location this year . . . I don't feel comfortable putting all these veggies in exactly the same location each winter. So the better, closer site will not be used.

The problem is that all the snow falling on the carport and half the attached garage will slide off. I will have to dig thru that to get to the pit from the carport. The alternative is to dig all the way around a 20' by 9' greenhouse :roll:

. That's not going to be much fun either.

I like to be a little closer to really cold, ground-freezing weather because I once had a mouse move in on the veggies. Cold weather must keep those pests closer to whatever home they've already made for themselves. However, the carrots and celery root were dug a little early and there seemed little choice in where & when to put them back in the ground.

Here is a link to James' post this spring. There is a link on that thread that will take you back to him filling the pit in the fall of 2010

.

Steve