Clamps and earth pits

In short

• Build a clamp on a dry, raised spot, with a ditch round it to carry water away.
• One metre of clamp 1.2 m wide and 0.8 m high holds roughly 250–300 kg of potatoes (about 170–200 lb per foot).
• The cover grows with the frost: first straw and a thin layer of soil, then up to 40–50 cm of soil when real frost arrives.
• Straw or pipe vents every 1.5–2 m let out moisture and heat; plug them in hard frost.
• Open a clamp from the end, on a mild day, and take out 2–4 weeks' supply at a time.
• Never climb down into a closed pit without airing it and without a second person.

What's inside

Chapters

1. Clamp, pit or bed
2. Site and preparing the ground
3. A potato clamp step by step
4. Clamps for roots and cabbage
5. Earth pit and buried barrel
6. Roots left in the bed under straw
7. Taking stores out of the clamp in winter
8. Problems in the clamp
9. Safety: CO₂ and collapse
10. At the end of winter
11. Common mistakes
12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Clamp calculator
• Materials calculator
• Sketch of clamps and pits
• Clamp and pit calendar
• Clamp log
• Clamp labels