Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK
Finally got to unload the 8,000 lbs. of storage potatoes that we harvested from our peri-urban plot. Did it with a few friends in about an hour, just before market on Sunday. Gail says there are still about 3,000- 4,000 lbs. to harvest, but the weather is holding here in Zone 3, so hopefully we can get the rest out. These potatoes we have in storage is like money in the bank.
The key storage temperature for long term storage of root vegetables is around 40 F. , or just above freezing. Â We use an above ground storage room in our heated garage. See photo below. We have an old compressor, probably dating from the 1960’s. Compressors won’t run in cool temperatures, so we heat the garage to allow for the compressor to run all winter. Basement storage can be good for short term storage, for a couple of months, but it is unreliable for long term winter storage.
Storage crops provide good cashflow in the winter when you can’t be growing, and if you want to do it seriously you should have above ground refrigerated storage capacity.
