Storing carrots and beetroot: the sandbox kids love to dig in
Before frost arrives, carrots and beetroot move into a crate of damp sand. It's fun to bury them, and it keeps your harvest crisp well into spring.
Every family with a raised bed asks the same thing in October: where do all the carrots and beetroots go? The fridge fills up fast. A crate of damp sand in a cool cellar is the old, simple answer – and a great project for small hands.
The right time to harvest
Carrots tolerate light frost, beetroot is more sensitive: below roughly minus 3 degrees Celsius the roots can get damaged. So lift beetroot before the first harder frost, and carrots at the latest when the soil starts to freeze. Pick a dry day and loosen the soil with a digging fork instead of pulling on the leaves.
Prepare, but don’t wash
Twist off the tops or cut them back to about two centimetres, so the roots don’t bleed and don’t sprout. Let the soil cling and just knock off the coarse dirt. Damaged or nibbled roots go straight to the kitchen – only flawless ones go into the crate.
Building the sand crate
Take a sturdy crate with holes in the bottom, ideally wood or plastic. Add a layer of slightly damp sand, place the carrots and beetroot so they don’t touch, and cover them completely with sand. Continue layer by layer. The sand should feel like sand for a sandcastle: damp, but not dripping. The kids can play treasure hunters and label each layer.
The right spot
Ideal are cool, dark rooms at 1 to 4 degrees Celsius with high humidity: an earth cellar, a frost-free unheated garage or a cool stairwell. Don’t store the crate next to apples, as ripening fruit releases a gas that can make vegetables bitter. Check every few weeks and remove any rotting roots right away.
What can stay in the bed
Not everything has to go to the cellar. Parsnips, salsify, leeks and kale stay in the bed over winter, and parsnips and kale even taste better after frost. Harvest them fresh whenever the soil isn’t frozen. A mulch layer of leaves or straw helps you reach them even in January.
From the crate to the kitchen
Stored like this, carrots often keep until spring and beetroot nearly as long, as long as temperature and humidity are right. Take only what you need for a week and cover the rest with sand again. In Rootivo’s plant encyclopedia you’ll find harvest windows and more details for many vegetables, so you don’t miss the best moment.