If you’re looking for a way to store your garden yield, but don’t have a root cellar, try building a storage clamp. A clamp gives gardeners an inexpensive means to store fall-harvested root vegetables through the winter. The technique of insulating heaps of potatoes, turnips, carrots, and other vegetables with layers of straw and soil has been used for centuries in Europe. Here’s how it works:
- Choose a spot on level ground where snowmelt or rain doesn’t collect, andplace straw on the ground in a circle about 4 feet in diameter and 6 inches thick.
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Clamps are often recommended in regions of Europe that are the climatic equivalent of USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6 to 8. In these areas, the temperature inside the clamp is more likely to remain within the ideal range of 32 to 40 degrees. In colder climates, underground clamps—straw-lined pits or barrels—offer additional protection from cold. Clamps are probably not the best storage method in areas warmer than Zone 8, colder than Zone 5, or where rodents or slugs are a problem.
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Article source: Rodale’s Organic Life
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