Root Cellars

[Twister-n-Dos]

Do any of you other gardeners store your veggies in a root cellar?

Here is a picture of ours that was taken today:


This will be the third year that we have used it

Our food preservation routine has become easier and more efficient. Much less canning and freezing.

We also overwinter plants that are not cold tolerant and biennials for seed production.

It would be great to see some pictures of other root cellars and learn tips and tricks on their use.

 

[AlienChick]

I would so LOVE to have a root cellar!
We plan on building one some time in the future.
Right now we just use the mancave (workshop) if we need to.
We don't really have that much to store.
Would love to see pics tho!

 

[wyoDreamer]

I so wanted to build a root cellar when we finished our basement, but we ended up not having room for it with our final design. We had some piping issues and other needs that took priority.

We have a walkout basement so it sould be fairly easy to incorporate a root cellar into the hill when we finally do our landscaping. I have read a couple of really good articles on Mother Earth News that have some fantastic ideas for building one. But first, I have to get the garden beds producing better, so I have something to store!

 

[Twister-n-Dos]

While we were designing our root cellar we referred to the book "Root Cellaring" by Mike and Nancy Bubel.
Lots of different approaches to to cold storage presented. We ended up incorporating various ideas into our
own design. Of course our plan evolved as we progressed from want to have. It was not without false starts.

What we ended up with is a buried 20 ft shipping container. The roof is supported with a 6 inch steel beam
and three steel posts. There is 5 feet of dirt on top. There are still some refinements that need to be done,
but it has been functioning really well for us. Can't imagine not having it now.

It was a big project. Here are a few photos.

Excavation



Ready for the box




Cut out for entrance



Framing the portal




Interior work



Rewards today

 

[wyoDreamer]

That is one heck of a project.
Congrats on a job well done.

What do you have for ventilation?

 

[Twister-n-Dos]

Passive ventilation. The two black pipes (4" PVC) sticking out of the ground above the cellar are an inlet and
outlet. The inlet pipe extends to the floor, and the outlet pipe is flush with the ceiling. There are two rooms inside.
Inlet air enters the front room. There is another piece of pipe through the interior wall at floor level. Outlet air is in
the back room (where the veggies are stored).

 

[wyoDreamer]

We have decided to add a root cellar to our landscaping plans. Hubby suggested that maybe we will make the entrance into my "Hobbit Hole" garden space that I have been wanting to create.

It probably won't be built until 2014, because we have other things on the to-do list that take precedence - like building the greenhouse so I have veggies to store in a root cellar.
We also need to build a detached garage/shop, hopefully in the spring that will happen.

I have a hold on the book you recommended and will pick it up from the library beginning of next week.
I'll let hubby start to work up the design as his winter project.

 

[Crafty-Duck]

I want

 

[CoopersCoop]

Sooo cool! I want one too!

 

[gjensen]

I like that.