This year I decided I wanted to try to grow sweet potatoes. It ended up being a bit more complicated than I expected, since the sweet potato is only distantly related to regular potatoes, so you don't just throw them in the ground and hope for the best.
I started by sticking some tooth picks in the sides of some organic store bought sweet potatoes. I then suspended them, so that they were half in and half out of a glass of water with the side that had more eyes on the top.
It was two weeks or more before I saw any sprouting, I think I had some extra stubborn potatoes! Finally they started to grow and I ended up with many beautiful and strong slips.
Next I gently pulled the slips from the potatoes and set them in some water to grow roots. Once rooted I transferred them into some soil and eventually transplanted them to the garden.
The soil preparation in the garden was another task that made growing sweet potatoes in Canada a bit more difficult than most other crops. In early Spring, I first weeded a large area and made sure it was level. Then I used a strong clear plastic, spread out in a large rectangle, using rocks to keep the ends down until I had it very flat and smooth. Then I buried all my edges making a perfect growing area. I left the plastic there for a week or two to heat up the soil faster than the rest of the garden so my slips would be happy.
Then, once it was warm enough outside, I made slits in the plastic and planted my sweet potatoes.
They grew well over the summer, but still I had no clue what was happening under the ground!
Finally it was time to harvest! I waited until the frost had mostly killed the plant on top and then decided to go for it.
Check out how it went in this video!
Thanks to @theneohippy for taking the video while I dug them out :)
Thanks for checking out this post, I hope you get inspired to plan a garden next year or maybe try something you haven't before!
Hurray for sweet potatoes!! :)
Awesome post!!
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I just love sweet potatoes so the idea of being able to grow your own is just fab.
Have you eaten any of your crop yet?
@coffeehub Haven't tried them yet. They have to cure for a few weeks or so before they will be ready. I'll make a post about it when I do so.
I'll look out for it
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WOW!! They look great :) :) :) I'm so impressed, and what a process too, I had no clue!! :) :) Wonderful post @venomnymous!!!
Thank you @lyndsaybowes. The process was really fun for me.
Definitely will be growing them again next season, now that I've got figured out.
Very well explained. Love the spider look, btw. :)
Thank you. 😀
I wish they were ready to eat!!! :)
I should give that a try next summer! :P
You should! It's a fun project.
I'm seriously addicted to sweet potatoes. Find me a place anywhere in the world that serves them and I'm going to scarf them down. Or I can grow my own. I'll definitely resteem this not only to get the word out...but so I can go back and use this as a reference! :)
Awesome, thank you! Sweet potatoes fries ftw!
Awesome!
You look like you could do with those mini polytunnels or something to keep the frost at bay.
Yup, next year I'm investing in frost protection haha.
Oh wow. Those were fantastic. I have been wanting to grow some sweet potatoes. I didn't know you could pull the sprouts off the potato and put them in water to grow roots. That's a great tip. Thanks a lot.
It was fun to watch you harvest also. Have a great day.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
This is actually super helpful - we just moved into a house with gardening space and I was wanting to grow sweet potatoes. (My puppies love them, and they're super tasty.)
Great! I've had a lot of fun growing sweet potatoes and i'm happy to share experience with everyone.
Sorry, only saw this now
You wasted a big part of your crop, check out this site which gives you all the details:
http://www.onlymyhealth.com/health-slideshow/top-five-benefits-of-sweet-potato-leaves-1485503363.html