Where "Do You" store root vegetables in the desert garden, when conventional spring houses and root cellars are not as easily doable?
Answer: In The Ground!
I partially dug up one of my sweet potato beds I did not harvest from last fall. Pictured are some of my eggplants too.
So what is the deal with leaving root vegetables in the ground until you need them? They stay fresh, may get bigger, store better than in your crisper, and you don't have to figure out what to do with pounds and pounds of something all at once. If you are wondering about taste -- overall if you choose heirloom quality root vegetables to grow, they maintain their flavor over a long in-ground season.
Sunday I decided on using some of the sweet potato for breakfast and the combination of the sweet potato and eggplant with dinner.
Sunday is the day we have eggs and bacon as our special treat. While we enjoy soft fried egg on toast I frequently come up with something special to put the egg on. Sometimes it is oatmeal with herbs and cheese in it. Last month I cooked up diced potatoes, topped with cheese and place the egg over it.
I diced up the sweet potato, added some of my sun-dried onion to soften and cook with it, topped it with Parmesan Cheese, and the egg.
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| One with egg, other waiting for egg |
For Dinner, I sauteed the diced eggplant and sweet potato along with more of my dried onion, a half a teaspoon on turmeric I'm trying to add more turmeric to our meals for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant helpers (plus great taste)I topped the veggies with the reserved crumbled bacon and served with chicken.
While conventional spring houses and root cellars are difficult in the desert garden, have you tried one of the alternative methods like digging deep holes with containers for storage?
Pioneer History Museum has a reconstruction of a root cellar and spring house. Pretty cool the way they demonstrate how they were made/used back in the 1800s. Pioneer is a great historic recreation museum. If you have never been, check it out.
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A Note Folks: I will be traveling quite a bit in August, so I will only have a couple of posts to share (including monthly planting guide), but will be back to posting at least weekly in September.
NOW through August 1st is the time to plant your Three Sisters seeds and plants like pumpkins.
Have a wonderful week!
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-- Catherine, The Herb Lady
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