New Vegetable Garden Techniques by Joyce and Ben Russell

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast:

Copy of Grow That #Garden Library (3)

New Vegetable Garden Techniques by Joyce Russell 

Joyce Russell has been gardening for forty years, and she's my favorite type of gardener - practical and generous with her knowledge.

Plus, she has loads of experience growing fruit and vegetables and feeding her family with her garden harvest.

Joyce and her photographer husband Ben have collaborated on several garden books. Their first book, The Polytunnel Book: Fruit and Vegetable All Year Round, is a perennial best-seller. They also released Build a Better Vegetable Garden in 2016.

In NVGT, Joyce highlights 23 projects for gardeners to try independently. I especially loved the plan of using a carrot clamp for preservation. Joyce shares that a carrot clamp preserves carrots outside for months. It also works for other root vegetables like potatoes, beetroot, and parsnips. 

Now, creating a clamp is pretty straightforward. You can follow along with the beautiful images in Joyce's book (thanks to Ben, no doubt). To make a clamp, you cut the tops of your carrots, leaving about 2.5 cm of the green stem.

Lay the carrots in a circle with the tips of the carrots pointing to the middle of the ring. Insulate the pile of carrots with straw or rushes. Then cover with soil. 

Then, when you want a carrot, you make a door by pushing your hand through the layers of soil and insulation. Take out as many carrots as you need. The pile will slump down as you extract your produce. 

It's a simple, secure outdoor storage that works like a charm.

Joyce also offers excellent step-by-step instructions for creating an onion string and garlic plait, trialing different mulches, creating simple and effective flappers to scare birds away, building a simple frame to protect fruit crops, and an excellent basic basil pesto recipe on page 172—in addition to all of the wonder growing techniques that she shares throughout the book.

You can get a copy of New Vegetable Garden Techniques by Joyce Russell and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $7.

SI HORTUM IN HORTORIA PODCASTA IN BIBLIOTEHCA HABES, NIHIL DEERIT.

"If you have a garden, a garden podcast, and a library,
you have everything you need."

2 Comments

  1. Joanne Corry on March 20, 2022 at 3:11 pm

    I purchased this lovely book recently and I have to make you aware of a reference in it about hedgehogs.
    It says they eat slugs and snails. Whilst this may be true it is only because they are starving. Slugs carry lungworm and these make hedgehogs ill.

    • The Daily Gardener on October 4, 2023 at 10:16 pm

      Hi Joanne. Thank you for your love for hedgehogs – a love I share! I appreciate you taking the time to point out this information.

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