A Custom-Made Root Cellar

Root cellars are as practical today as they were in the past. Learn how to build your own root cellar.

Read about constructing a root cellar--complete with a shed over the top!

In this online exclusive you'll also find tips for storing your produce and other items underground. The article "Putting Down Roots," which appeared in the September/October 2008 issue of Hobby Farms, offers even more advice.

Read a related article: "Produce Bound Underground" by Rick Gush.

Want a Root Crop Recipe or two?

Give us your opinion on
A Custom-Made Root Cellar

Reader Comments

railroad ties make for a nasty odor of creosote or worse substances in every thing they surround. You may want to reconsider using railroad ties unless you can cover them with an impermeable vapor barrier.

Kevin, Menomonie, WI
Posted: 7/25/2009 8:52:06 AM

Pretty darn neat! We are building a root cellar this year as well. The hole is dug already. Wish we could do the same as the article but hubby wants railroad ties instead. The hole right now is dug at 14X16X71/2. Looks like a swimming hole! Really seems to impress the folks around here. Funny. So does the garden. (big grin)
We are going to follow suit though as in the article and build a shed over the top. Wishing it was done already.
Happy cellaring.

Normajean, Round Mountain, NV
Posted: 7/22/2009 11:33:25 PM

Two points that seem wrong in this document

"The dimensions are 12'x8'x7'. [...] We fitted two 6-foot long vinyl pipes, 4-foot in diameter, into two of the four aeration holes on the short end [...] This is where cold air [...] enters the tank at floor level."

1) 4-foot in diameter... fitted into 4-inch holes?

2) If the 6-foot pipe almost touches at the floor level of a seven foot cellar where is the other end of the pipe? Certainly not going thru the ceiling top and outside to suck air into the cellar.

There are other minor bad measurements in this document. Be sure you souble-check before you order your material.

Sorry about this comment.

Gerry, Montreal, QC
Posted: 6/27/2009 4:22:40 AM

I would of never thought to build a rootcellar.

mary, Leoti, KS
Posted: 6/7/2009 7:57:12 AM

Name:

Address:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Email: