Prep Genrl Freezer as root cellar

[Broken Arrow]

Has anybody here used an old freezer as a root cellar? My big freezer died and i'm contemplating uses for it.

I would be interested in hearing your experiences about this use of a freezer.

Thank you!

 

[EMICT]

Has anybody here used an old freezer as a root cellar? My big freezer died and i'm contemplating uses for it.

I would be interested in hearing your experiences about this use of a freezer.

Thank you!

I would think it would be ok if it actually were underground in a root cellar. If not, it might make a better coffin.

 

[moldy]

We keep a non-working freezer in the garage to store cabbage. Pull it up with roots intact, then layer with straw. Leave it completely open for about 3 days to get rid of most of the moisture, then close it- but leave it open a crack. We use a Gatorade bottle to keep it open about 3 inches.

I've been able to keep cabbage that way till March or April. I would think you could do the same if you used sand for root veggies like carrots, beets, or turnips. Potatoes we try to put in a single layer and store in a cellar, but we always have a lot of rot before spring. I'd like to be able to save some to plant, especially with how things are looking now.

 

[Raggedyman]

we've always kept our potatoes (kennebecs) in the root cellar in plastic clothes baskets - about 3/4 full - plenty of airflow around them. dug first week of october they will stay until about late feb early march when they begin to sprout.

though about trying an old chest freezer for storing them in the barn but I was concerned there wouldn't be enough airflow to keep them from rotting and if you leave the top cracked the mice will eat more of your taters than you will.

hands down the ABSOLUTE BEST way I've ever found to keep cabbage over winter is right in the garden.

just before the first hard frost we'd pull a trench as deep as we could with a potato plow. then we'd pull all our cabbage keeping the root as long as we possibly could and turn the cabbage head down in the trench and bury it leaving only the tip of the root exposed. we'd cover that all in hay or leaves and cover it with a tarp weighted down with concrete block. when you wanted a cabbage you went down and simply pulled one up by the root. the outer leaves would be all yellowed but the inside of that cabbage was just as perfect as could be - sweet and white and crisp even into late march. I can't tell you how many times I've gone down there in the past and hacked a cabbage out of the frozen ground. used to be that we'd plant 20-25 savoy cabbage as a fall crop and have that with smoked sausage onions and potatoes from early fall thru mid spring.