Fresh celery from your own garden - from June to December that's a given. After harvesting, the celeriac can be frozen or moved to a dark, frost-free cellar to overwinter. At low temperatures it can be stored here for several months.
How to store celery over the winter?
To overwinter celery, store intact tubers in a frost-free, dark cellar with high humidity and temperatures between 5-10 degrees Celsius. Prepare the celery by removing leaves and allowing it to dry before storing it in damp sand.
The frost-free, dark winter quarters
The celery finds ideal conditions for overwintering in an old, brick cellar with a clay floor. Here the temperatures are usually between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius and the humidity is high.
The tubers are stored in rentals or wooden crates with moist sand. Cellars with heating pipes or heating systems are unsuitable because they are too warm and dry!
Alternatives to the cellar
If you don't have a cellar, you can store the celery in a pile of earth in the garden or use an empty cold frame.
Preparing celery for storage
- late-ripening varieties have a longer shelf life
- remove the leaves after harvesting to prevent premature wilting
- only store undamaged tubers without bruises or injuries
- Do not wash celery
- let it dry in a dry place
Tips & Tricks
For the earth rent, a pit about 30 cm deep is dug, lined with wire mesh and filled with sand. Straw or a wooden board is used to cover and close.
