Top 20 Garden Crops to Stockpile for the Winter

Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats fresh garden produce. Whatever it is you are growing, the taste, texture, and sheer enjoyment of eating garden-fresh crops is second to none. That’s why I garden myself, and I’m sure many of you do the same.

But when winter closes in, the fun is definitely over. Most crops don’t grow and can’t be harvested over the winter, but that doesn’t mean you have to go without the hard-earned fruits of your labor.

Some garden crops, fruits, and veggies alike can easily be stockpiled over the winter so you can enjoy them throughout the cold season in all kinds of recipes – giving you months of shelf life, and even up to y year…

In this article, I’ll be telling you about 20 such crops that are perfect for long-term winter storage.

Beets

Beets are one of the tastiest and most versatile winter veggies, and they also keep great in a cool, humid environment. All you’ll need to do is cut off the stems, leaving about an inch behind, and then pop them in your root cellar or refrigerator.

If keeping them in a root cellar, you can place them in damp sand or sawdust to help them retain moisture and easily get four months out of them, and possibly as long as
six, as long as you keep them around 45°F.

All varieties, including the usual deep red or purple as well as the rarer golden and white, store just fine and have a great flavor. You can also consider pickling them to keep them ready to use and delicious.

Parsnips

If you’ve ever seen a peculiar carrot before, you might have just been looking at a parsnip. These root veggies have a lot in common with carrots, but parsnips are always a pale ivory color.

Compared to carrots, they’re usually a little sweeter and also have a nutty, savory note that is really good. This is another great choice to stockpile for the winter because you can harvest them late after the frost; undergoing a light frost or two will actually improve their flavor!

Keep them in a chilly – 40 to 45°F – and moderately humid environment to help them last longer.

A root cellar or refrigerator once again work fine, but if keeping them in a cellar, leave them in moist sand or sawdust for moisture retention as with beets. Shelf life is anywhere from 4 to 6 months in ideal conditions.

Turnips

Another globular root veggie, one with white or purple skin and white flesh, turnips have a faintly sweet but spicy, peppery flavor.

They are wonderful as a side dish when mashed or roasted, or as an ingredient in casseroles, soups, and stews. You can get anywhere from 4 to 5 months of storage out of your turnips by keeping them cool and moist.

A root cellar or other in-ground storage system will work best, but you can use your fridge in a pinch. Once more, anywhere from 40 to 45°F is your target temp.

Remove the greens before storage, and if not in the fridge, keep them in a moistened substrate as mentioned before. Alternative options for storage include pickling and fermentation.

Radishes

Firm, crisp, and peppery, radishes are one of the tastiest and also the fastest-growing garden crops, and you can usually get multiple harvests throughout the year from them, especially if you’re growing a smaller variety.

This means it’s highly likely that you’ll have a late fall harvest to bring in and store over the winter!

Like most root veggies we’ve looked at already, cool (40 to 45°F), damp conditions are a must.

Go with the
refrigerator or root cellar at your leisure, but if you’re keeping them in the root cellar, make sure you’ve got a moist substrate to leave them in. Shelf life will be between 4 and 5 months at 40°F.

Pickling is an option for year-long storage, and pickled radishes are great as a side dish or topping in salads and sandwiches.

Carrots

The most versatile and popular of the root vegetables, carrots keep wonderfully all winter long as long as you store them properly.

No surprises here—you’ll want to cut off the greens entirely, then keep them in moistened sawdust, sand, or even peat moss in your root cellar. You’ll get at least 4 months out of them if kept at or below 40°F, and they can last up to 6 months with no problems.

Other storage options for winter enjoyment include freezing and canning, and there are many recipes for the latter. If you’re going with freezing, make sure you blanch them first so they’ll maintain their quality better. Shelf life, frozen or canned, is about 1 year.

Rutabagas

Some of the largest root veggies around, rutabagas aren’t particularly popular in the US, but they are a versatile crop with a unique sweet, bitter, and earthy flavor.

If you care about padding your winter pantry, they are also known for an extremely long storage life when kept cool, usually around 6 months. They can also be harvested quite late in the season, so they maintain freshness better than other veggies.

Like the other root veggies we’ve looked at so far, they need to be kept cool and damp, and preferably in a slightly moistened substrate. Sand works particularly well for rutabagas. They can be roasted, mashed, or used as an ingredient in all kinds of different dishes.

Apples

If you’ve got a sweet tooth like me, you’ll be thrilled to know that apples are a viable choice for stockpiling over the winter. Whether you like sweet or tart varieties, all of them will keep quite well if kept cold and in humid conditions. Humidity is key here to keep apples from drying out; aim for 90% plus humidity and a temp around 40°F.

But, you’ve got to pay attention when sorting out your harvest: bruised or damaged produce must be used sooner than later or even discarded – since they can make the whole bunch go bad.

Stick the rest in a crate, box, or basket lined with paper. They should keep for about 6 months, or you can extend storage life by canning or dehydrating them.

Pears

Pears are a lot like apples for our purposes, but they tend to be a lot sweeter and have a grainier texture. Red, yellow, and green varieties will keep just fine in cold storage, no warmer than 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 Celsius).

Like apples, humidity is a must to keep them from shriveling. As with apples, 90% to 95% is perfect. You also need to harvest pears before they are perfectly ripe and while they are still firm for best results.

Stick them in a paper-lined crate or bin, but only in a single layer: don’t stack them, as fragile pears are vulnerable to bruising and that will be disastrous. And just as with apples, you can dehydrate them, can them, or turn them into preserves for even longer shelf life.

Cabbage

This is another all-star choice for a winter veggie, and one that’s a lot easier to store than you might think. The trick is partially in selection.

You don’t want to risk a batch going bad from infestation or damage, so discard any pest-damaged heads and remove damaged outer leaves before wrapping them in paper and placing them in a well-ventilated box or tray in your root cellar or refrigerator.

That’s all there is to it! You’ll get at least 3 months out of your cabbage if carefully chosen and prepped this way.

Alternatively, if you like it, you can process your cabbage into sauerkraut or shred it and freeze it. You can get up to 9 months in storage using either of these methods, and possibly longer!

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi has a funny name, but a great flavor that’s crisp, mild, sweet, and juicy. I always say it tastes like a cross between radishes and broccoli, and if that sounds appealing to you, you should stock up on this veggie for winter.

No surprises here—keep it cool and in a humid atmosphere. Trim the leaves off prior to storage.
Refrigeration is a good choice if you have the room; big kohlrabi bulbs take up plenty of space. Stashing them in a root cellar in the right
conditions is possible, though it won’t keep as long as some other veggies we’ve looked at: about 3 months at best.

Celeriac

No, not celery—celeriac. This knobby veggie does taste a lot like celery, though, but it has more of a savory flavor compared to the grassy crispness of true celery.

Your best bet for stashing celeriac is, once again, in a cool, slightly moist environment. In a root cellar, damp substrate will keep it crisp and prevent shriveling. Refrigerator storage is also viable, but it will suffer if you are opening and closing the door constantly.

Whichever route you go, trim off the leaves and the roots. Properly handled and stored, it will last anywhere from four months to half a year. If you’ve never tried this stuff before, you’ll find it is a surprisingly good potato substitute in many recipes.

Potatoes

Speaking of potatoes, we can’t forget about them for our winter stockpile! All potato varieties, from classic russets to reds, Dutch gold, and everything else, will keep for months on end in a cool, dark, and airy place.

The ideal temperature range is between 40° and 45° F (around 5 – 6 Celsius). One crucial tip is that you shouldn’t wash them before you put them away, as that will facilitate rot and sprouting.

Keep your potatoes in burlap or paper bags, or stack them loosely in well-ventilated crates. Also, make sure you keep them well away from your onions and other allium genus veggies because this too will facilitate sprouting and spoilage.

Your potatoes will last at least 4 months when kept this way…

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are another fine option for stockpiling over a long winter, and they are just as nutritious and as versatile as regular potatoes. Unfortunately, you’ve got to put in a little more work to prep them for storage.

The first thing you must do after harvesting them is “cure” them: this is done by leaving them, untouched, in a warm, humid environment. Once cured, you can transfer them to a very dry and slightly cool place in bags or crates, ideally around 55° F / 12° C.

Do not put them in the refrigerator! That will negatively impact both flavor, texture, and storage life.

Garlic

Garlic is far and away the most ubiquitous and, for much of the world, most-used veggie on our list. So many dishes just wouldn’t be the same without it! It’s also unique because garlic has to spend a winter in the ground to be ready for harvest in the following summer.

That might sound a little early for our timeline, but don’t worry, because fresh-harvested garlic can keep well in excess of half a year when stored properly. You can plant fall or spring varieties and time your harvest accordingly.

Once you harvest your garlic, you’ll need to keep it in a warm, dry, and breezy environment for a few weeks to cure.

Once that’s done, you can hang the
bulbs in a cool, dry completely dark environment and expect them to keep at least 6 months and probably 8 months (for softneck varieties) or a little longer.

Hardneck varieties usually keep for 6 months in ideal conditions, or around 3 in non-ideal conditions. In my experience, all types does really well in root cellars as long as they are cold enough: shoot for a temp of 32° F if possible.

Onions

Onions are another mainstay in any kitchen, and they should be treated like garlic for our purposes in terms of winter storage. Cure in a warm, very dry place for at least two weeks prior to transferring them into a cool, well-ventilated area. Onions keep well all the way up to 50°F but the closer you can get to 35°F the better.

A root cellar is best, and you should avoid refrigeration because any condensation whatsoever will quickly turn your onions bad due to
their papery skin. Done right, storage life is at least 6 months. Pick intermediate or long day varieties (planted in late winter or early spring respectively) to maximize stoage life after harvesting.

As mentioned above when we were talking about potatoes, make sure you keep onions far away from them because onions will accelerate the spoilage of the potatoes. If dry storage isn’t your thing, you can consider dehydrating or pickling onions for better shelf life.

Shallots

These tiny, mild, and tasty bulbs are prepared and stored in basically the same way that we do onions and garlic.

Cure in a warm, dry, and well-ventilated place for at least two weeks, preferably three, and then transfer them to your root cellar for up to 6 months of storage, or pickle them for a perfect topping, garnish, or side dish.

Leeks

These long, slender, mild allium veggies are kept distinctly differently from the ones we just looked at. These should not be cured, and instead should be put straight into a cool, humid environment.

Root cellar storage is okay, but you’ll usually only get about 2 months worth of shelf life out of them. Refrigeration is a better option, but again you should try to minimize opening and closing the door if you want them to stay fresh.

Longer shelf life is best achieved by blanching and then freezing them, as they will keep with very good quality for at least 6 months.

Pumpkins

Most folks think that pumpkins rot really quickly after being harvested, but they don’t have to if you know what to do. Any pumpkins, however big or small, should be cured by leaving them in a warm, dry place for 10 days.

Once that’s done, you can transfer them to cooler storage with an ideal temperature range of between 50 and 55° F (10 – 12 Celsius). This can let them last three, maybe even four, months.

Note that most of your smaller pumpkin varieties tend to have a better shelf life than the really big ones, so if you’re going for novelty or carving pumpkins, you might want to think twice.

As always, pumpkins have many other options for storage, including canning, pureeing, and freezing. Proper processing will yield a shelf life of a year.

Winter Squash

If you are a squash fan, there are tons of great winter varieties out there to choose from. Some of the very best and most popular include acorn, butternut, and the versatile spaghetti squash.

You should treat squashes like pumpkins for stockpiling: cure for 10 days, then transfer to cool storage. Shelf life is anywhere from 3 to 6 months, highly variable depending on conditions and variety.

As with pumpkins, consider canning or freezing to reliably extend shelf life.

Dried Beans

This is sort of a cheat inclusion on this list. We can’t harvest beans and then put them into storage right away—we’ve got to thoroughly dry them out first, but once they are properly dried, they can last for many, many years—not just over the winter!

This is one of the best long-term food storage options you can get, and they are a great source of valuable protein, vitamins, and minerals.

For bean varieties like kidney, pinto, black, and navy beans, you can air dry them, dry them in the oven, or toss them in a food dehydrator after shelling them post-harvest.

Once they are rock hard and absolutely dry, let them return to room temperature and then store them in any airtight container you want. Keep them in a dark, cool, or room-temperature place and they’ll last basically forever!