Success "storing" carrots in the ground over the winter

[cHeroKee]

Last planting season I decided to plant a batch of carrots on the 1st of July with the intention of letting them grow and leaving them in the ground through the fall and winter. I went out today to put in my peas and radishes and decided to harvest the carrots I planted last July. I found that doing this allows one "store" the carrots over the winter with a harvest in the spring. I have been trying to find ways to "store" root vegetables over the winter and found a good way to do carrots.

[sarge712]

Around here in the southernm Appalachians of western NC / East TN the old timers used to have a shed or "crib" set aside for preserving certain types of produce (apples, potatoes, corn , cabbages, onions, etc). They spread a 2' thick bed of hay and lay apples, cabbages, etc on the hay and then covered it all with a blanket of hay. The fruits or veggies were laid out where they weren't touching each other and along with cool or cold weather kept quite well for a long time. Sometimes they would dig a ditch, line it with hay and then laid the produce out as described above. They then covered it with hay and then dirt. The only problem was that the hogs could get to the stuff in the ditch method if they weren't penned up or if there were wild hogs about. It sounds iffy but I've seen the crib method work but was only told about the ditch method and also read about the ditch method in the Cold Mountain novel.

[prairiemom]

Very cool! What USDA zone do you live in? I'm wondering, do you know how hard a freeze the root crops can take? because it gets pretty cold here. This winter we had about 8 wks where we never saw the positive side of zero.

[cHeroKee]

Very cool! What USDA zone do you live in? I'm wondering, do you know how hard a freeze the root crops can take? because it gets pretty cold here. This winter we had about 8 wks where we never saw the positive side of zero.
I am in Utah County. Elevtion ~ 5700ft

[level3Navigator]

It sounds iffy but I've seen the crib method work but was only told about the ditch method and also read about the ditch method in the Cold Mountain novel.

One of my favorite novels, being a Civil War history buff. It is worth a read, for those who haven't had the chance to yet. You'll learn a bit about survival without all the modern comforts, although the main story is more about returning home. I call it the American Odyssey. Yet to see the movie (due to the rating), but I doubt they did it justice, as is the usual case with Hollywood.