While most people store potatoes indoors in a cellar or the like, storing potatoes in the ground has long been a traditional storage method, using potato pits for winter storage. When creating a potato pit, proper construction is the key to preventing rot in the spuds and allowing you to dig out only the few you need at any one time.
Creating a potato pit is a simple matter. First, locate an area outdoors that remains fairly dry, such as a slope or hill. Don’t choose a spot where rainwater tends to pool, as the stored spuds will rot. When creating a potato pit, dig a 1- to 2-foot deep pit at a width dependent upon the number of potatoes you wish to store. Then fill the bottom of the pit with 3 inches of clean, dry straw and place the potatoes atop in a single layer. You may store up to two bushels of potatoes in a single pit or 16 dry gallons if you can’t wrap your brain around a peck or a bushel. Add another deep layer of straw on top of the potatoes, between 1 and 3 feet deep, depending upon the severity of the weather in your region. Finally, put the previously excavated soil from the pit back on top, covering the newly laid straw until it is at least 3 inches thick and no straw is exposed. In extreme climates or just for additional protection, you can dig the pit deeper than recommended above and put a clean plastic barrel at a 45-degree angle into the pit. Fill the barrel with the tubers and place a lid on it, loosely closed. Then follow instructions above beginning with covering the barrel with 1-3 feet of straw. Using potato pits for winter storage should protect the spuds for 120 days or at least through the winter months.
Read more at Gardening Know How: Storing Potatoes In Ground: Using Potato Pits For Winter Storage https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible ... ground.htm
