Daniel Mercer never planned to dig anything underground when he first started gardening in his suburban Iowa backyard. He just wanted a reliable way to store extra tomatoes, potatoes, and squash that ...

One occasionally sees, cut into the side of a hill or lying flat next to a home's foundation, a door in that ground that leads to a drab, potato-colored wonderland of vegetable storage: a root cellar.

If you are contemplating starting a small farm, or have been toying with the idea of building a root cellar so you can store enough of your garden’s produce to feed you all winter long, “Beyond the ...