What's in store?

The hard work is over and the crops are gathered – but don’t let careless storage ruin your harvests, says Bob

WHEN we first start harvesting we’re mostly eating it all straight away, but now as autumn comes we start storing far more. Although space is often at a premium, it’s best not to store a lot of different crops together. Not only do many require different conditions to keep well, but some will also taint others (onions and garlic especially so, and pears and apples cross-spoil) while others (tomatoes and early ripening apples) reduce the keeping ability of others.

Ideally, we would have separate (temperature and humidity controlled) stores for each crop. In practice, though, many need to share a room, garage or shed. Still, at least we can keep them apart – maybe by using bags or by placing some in repurposed furniture. A chest of drawers is good for, say, apples or squash, while a bookcase works for tomatoes or pears (these need to be watched daily), and plastic dustbins or dead chest freezers are good for potatoes and roots.