How to store without geting all tied up in knots

URBAN FARMER: Onion rope aside, it's an easy affair preparing storage spots for this year's fruit and vegetable crops

NOT BEING someone in the habit of wearing a necktie, it came as a surprise to learn that there are no fewer than 85 different ways to knot one, as proven some years ago by two (male) physicists called Thomas Fink and Yong Mao, both then students at Cambridge University.

Another surprise was the discovery that the two scientists also wrote a book on the subject (to very warm reviews), called The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie: The Science and Aesthetics of Tie Knots.

Who would have guessed, you might think, that the business of tying a tie could be quite so complex? Equally, who ever could have known that there is such a thing as “mathematical knot theory”, or that those 85 ways include only 13 “aesthetic tie knots”, which are particularly prized for their symmetry and balance? But that’s the world of knots for you.

I was reminded of Fink and Mao’s book last week while trying to make a traditional Breton-style onion rope. The general idea of this is that you twist/knot the stems of the bulbs around a loop of string before hanging them somewhere frost-free for the winter.

Just like Fink and Mao, the aim was to create something of “symmetry and balance”, but before long, I was just happy if they stayed on the string, despite the fact that I was doing my best to follow the very clear, step-by-step diagrams on how to make an onion-rope that Id found in a dog-eared, old gardening book by Lawrence Hills, the founder of the modern organic movement.

“It is easier than it looks,” he wrote kindly and encouragingly, “once you have been shown how”. Maybe so, but while both Fink and Mao would surely find it easy-peasy, I’ve discovered that I’m not up to the job of making an aesthetically pleasing onion-rope. It’s a “knot” thing, I’ve realised, and you’re either good at tying knots or you’re not.

An easier, but less beautiful, alternative, I think, is to store your onions in old tights – just make sure to dry the bulbs properly before you do so. Alternatively (as also suggested by Hills), onions can be stored spread out on wire-mesh that’s been nailed to a wooden frame, which can then be suspended from the wooden roof joists inside a frost-free shed (a knowledge of knots would come in handy here also).

In the walled kitchen garden in the Phoenix Park, OPW gardeners Meeda Downey and Brian Quinn have neither the opportunity nor the need to store onions or indeed any crops, as all surplus goes to the nearby Phoenix Café. But, just like any other GYOer, they’ve been busily lifting any remaining potatoes over the past few weeks, as those left in the ground run the risk of being damaged by slugs and winter frosts.

POTATOES

If you are planning on storing your potatoes into the winter, then wait for a dry, sunny day, then spread the tubers out on the ground for a couple of hours – leave them any longer and you risk the sunlight turning the potatoes green, which is a sign that they now contain dangerous levels of the poisonous alkaloid known as solanine. Discard

any that are green, damaged or that show signs of soft rot or blight damage. The remaining potatoes can then be stored in a dry, dark, rodent and frost-free place, in sacks made from hessian/jute or a double layer of strong paper, both of which materials (unlike plastic) are breathable and absorbent.

These sacks are surprisingly hard to come by, though, and can also be expensive. Some canny gardeners get theirs as discards from pet shops (some bird feeds come delivered that way), while others make their own by buying hessian/jute from a fabric shop such as Murphy Sheehy in Dublin, who have shops in both Dún Laoghaire (01-2020643), and Castle Market, just off Grafton Street (01-6770316).

Alternatively, gardeners might consider grouping together to buy in bulk from a supplier such as SG Baker Ltd (specialistbags.com), which sells them in two sizes, suitable either for 25kg or 50kg of potatoes.

Other vegetable crops in the garden that should also be lifted in the next month or so and stored in a dark, frost-free place include beetroot, carrots, celeriac and winter radish, all of which can be stored in layers, in boxes of slightly damp sand or compost. This technique is also suitable for potatoes. Likewise, pumpkins and squash need to be harvested now, wiped clean with a dampish cloth and then stored off the ground in a dark, frost-free-shed.

Conversely, the flavour of certain root crops such as parsnips and turnips is improved by frost, and these should be left in the ground for the time being, as should leeks and all the winter-hardy brassicas.

APPLES

As for storing this year’s huge apple crop, its best to pick the fruit when it’s not quite ripe by lifting and then gently twisting

the fruit off the tree (keep the stalk intact) while holding it gently in the palm of your hand. The aim is to carefully avoid puncturing the skin or bruising the delicate flesh – because once you’ve done either, the apple is no longer fit for storage.

As the late Mr Hills put it almost 40 years ago: “So many people today do not even know enough to pick their apples, merely gathering them as they fall to tip them tumbling and bumping into cardboard boxes, to spread their rottenness to each other before being dumped in the dustbin.”

If this weren’t enough of a warning, remember that you

also need to know the variety of the apple in order to decide if it’s even suitable for storage – some, such as Golden Delicious or Bramley’s Seedling, will keep

for months if spread out in a

tray in a dark, dry, cool, frost-free spot (between 2.5°C and 4.5°C), while others such as the

popular Katy variety must be

used quickly.

If that all sounds too confusing, then next week’s column will be looking at other uses for apples, with a visit to David Llewellyn of Dublin-based Fruit and Vine, who uses the fruit to make apple juice, vinegar and cider.

In the meantime, it’s back to Mr Hills for one last attempt at making a proper onion-rope. Persistence, they tell me, is everything, but in this case, I’m not convinced.

The OPW’s Victorian walled kitchen garden is in the grounds of the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre, beside the Phoenix Park Cafe and Ashtown Castle. The gardens are open daily from 10am to 4pm.

WHAT TO: sow, plant and do now

Sow OutdoorsGreen manures (Under cover) komatsuna, land cress, hardy types of lettuce, mibuna, mizuna, mustards, salad rocket, winter purslane.

PlantAutumn onions, shallots, garlic, hardy lettuce, kale, oriental leaves.

DoContinue harvesting and storing, weed, clear and manure beds, lift and store maincrop potatoes, pumpkins, onions etc, order fruit trees.

Madeline McKeever of West-Cork-based Brown Envelope Seeds will be giving a day-long workshop (10am- 4pm) in Bantry House on Sunday, October 17th on how to collect, sort, clean and dry all sorts of vegetable seeds. Price €80 includes a delicious lunch in Bantry House tea-room.

Fionnuala Fallon is a garden designer and writer