The Hidden Treasures of Garden Root Crops

Root crops in your garden are nutritional powerhouses, providing essential vitamins and minerals. From radishes and turnips to carrots, beets, and parsnips – these long-storage vegetables add zesty flavors to salads, soups, or roasting recipes.

Vegetables require special care during their growth cycle, including proper watering and thinning practices. Here are our tips to ensure optimal results are reached.

Potatoes

If you provide your potatoes, carrots and radishes with everything they require – water and nutrients from the soil – they’ll grow beautifully underground until it comes time for harvesting – making digging these treasures one of the most exciting experiences in gardening!

Root crops may not be delicious raw, but they’re ideal candidates for steaming, boiling, roasting or grilling to bring out their vibrant flavors or incorporate them into creamy soups and stews. Plus, most root crops store well – their thick skins help retain moisture so they won’t rot quickly in cool environments!

Curing is essential, which involves placing them in a dry environment away from sunlight for several weeks to allow the skins to firm up and increase longevity. Once they’re finished curing, remove any extra dirt before storing in baskets or bins – it is crucial that these vegetables don’t come into direct sunlight and spoil quickly when exposed to other produce or sunlight.

Potatoes have long been an indispensable staple food worldwide, particularly in Europe and Asia. No wonder: potatoes are inexpensive to produce, easy to grow, a great source of protein and contain most essential vitamins and minerals necessary for good health – not to mention that one potato can feed 10 people for less than the cost of five bags of cereal grain!

But this food may not be as popular in the US as it deserves to be. Not only is it delicious; it’s an integral component of global food security and poverty alleviation as well. In fact, the Food and Agriculture Organization refers to potatoes as “hidden treasures”. They thrive even in poor soils while providing people with an energy boost on limited land space.

Radishes

Radishes may hide their beauty underground, but above ground they shine bright and crunchy – an ideal choice for new gardeners who don’t know much about growing. When given enough room, water, and sunshine exposure your radish plants should be ready for harvest in just 2 months or less!

No matter if you don’t have a plot to grow flowers in, you can still enjoy these little beauties by planting the seed in any container with drainage and some sunlight; buckets, boxes, planter pots or your kitchen sink will work just fine if there’s drainage available; you could also grow them on windowsills, ledges, patios, fire escapes or rooftops where there’s some sunshine available.

A half cup of sliced radishes only contains 12 calories but is packed with essential nutrients, making it a highly nutrituous food source. Radishes provide fiber, vitamins C and K, folate and potassium; in addition to anthocyanins that may help reduce inflammation within your body.

To properly store radishes, begin by removing their greens (unless they’re fresh and crisp), washing in either tap or rainwater and drying completely before dampening two to three full-size paper towels with water (sprinkling or patting down) then using these dampened towels as liners in a plastic bag to store in your fridge veggie drawer – this should keep everything crisp and fresh for up to 14 days!

As with any medication, eating too many radishes – even in salad – may cause your blood pressure to drop too low, since they’re natural diuretics that encourage your body to release extra fluid through peeing more often. To protect yourself if you have high blood pressure, limit radish intake to one daily serving or less; alternatively try swapping out for other leafy greens like kale in recipes calling for radishes like this popular grilled vegetable sandwich recipe instead of the radishes

Carrots

Carrots are one of the most enjoyable root vegetables to grow, both because of their rainbow of colors and because they’re easy to harvest, store, and consume. Delicious raw, cooked or baked, carrots make an indispensable ingredient in many soups, stews and casseroles as well as classic ingredients in mirepoix – the classic mix of carrot, celery and onion used as the foundation of many French dishes – not forgetting sweet baking treats such as muffins cakes and pancakes!

Carrot roots require at least 6 hours of sunlight daily in order to thrive, otherwise their tops will begin to wilt and their roots become misshapen. Carrots thrive best in loose, rich soil that is free of stones; sandy or clay soils don’t suit them well at all; amend any unsuitable areas by mixing in aged compost or manure as necessary – carrots don’t like being exposed to excessive nitrogen-based fertilizers so only use minimal amounts in planting areas.

As your carrots develop, be sure to weed regularly so as not to compete for water and nutrients with other plants. As they reach maturity they will push through the soil surface, and when ready you will know by their color or how their shoulders have lifted off of it. When storing carrots they will last longer if their tops are cut short while leaving their root intact.

Carrots do best when stored at temperatures under 32deg Fahrenheit (0deg Celsius), with 90% humidity. This can be achieved either in the refrigerator or a cold storage room. Before placing carrots into storage, be sure to thoroughly clean and dry them prior to storing, in order to remove all dirt. Also try not storing them touching each other so ethylene gas, which causes bitter flavors in them over time, does not contaminate all batches at once. For an additional boost it might also be wise to brush carrots lightly with sand before placing into storage

Even without access to cold storage rooms, carrots can still last 2-3 months in your refrigerator if washed and dried properly before storing. Be sure to periodically inspect them and remove any soft spots or signs of mold; these could quickly spoil.

Onions

Onions have long been an unsung hero on the mountain culinary stage, popping in occasionally to add depth or flavor to soups, stews and casseroles. Yet their unique flavors deserve more recognition; onions can also enhance a wide range of ingredients in different ways. Plus, onions make appearances in many snacks and desserts — whether as garnish for salads, hamburgers or scrambled eggs!

As with other biennial plants, onions take two years from seed to harvested bulbs. In the first year, their seed germinates and forms modified leaves before subterranean bulbs form underground. Most gardeners plant sets to hasten maturity and harvesting.

Growing onions requires sunny conditions with loose, well-drained soil that has a pH range between 6.0 to 6.8. To achieve the ideal conditions, amendment should include adding organic material like compost or other rich sources as a soil amendment; several inches should ideally be added prior to planting onions. Furthermore, they don’t fare well when subjected to extreme temperature swings so covering them with mulch such as grass clippings is helpful to protect them from extreme climate shifts.

Properly planted onions can be relatively straightforward crops to raise. Plants should be spaced 6 inches apart with the tops kept clear of the ground for air circulation. Fertilization with time-release products prior to transplanting may help ensure adequate soil moisture. Onions tend not to absorb as much moisture than other vegetables so keeping it moist in your garden soil is key!

Onions are ideal for home gardeners looking to try new ingredients and cooking styles. As an easy-care crop that requires little attention from gardeners, Egyptian walking onions offer sweet mild flavor with crunchiness that enhances many dishes. Their exotic aroma makes this addition to a gourmet garden worthwhile!