Last year we had a very poor crop. I planted too late, right before a dry spell, and the ground hogs thought the sweet potato plants were their buffet. Our crop of sweet potatoes was very small but my parents shared some of their sweet potatoes with us.
This year, I am starting my sweet potato plants much earlier. I plan to put a soaker hose along the hill for easy watering, and be vigilant against animals.
Grow
Sweet potatoes, unlike regular potatoes, are started with plants. You can grow your own plants by placing a sweet potato in water. I have two sweet potatoes in water right now. The one is just starting to grow fine roots and tiny sprouts. I wrote step-by-step directions on starting sweet potato plants here.
Sweet potatoes are grown on a hill of soil. Since they like warm weather, in my area, they are not planted until June. Last year, just for an experiment, I planted a whole sweet potato that already was sprouting leaves. It did not produce new sweet potatoes like the little sweet potato plants.
Sweet potato plants are harvested near the time of the first frost. Frost will blacken the leaves of the sweet potato plant. Of course, they will not continue to grow after a frost so they need dug immediately.
With proper curing (which I wrote about here) sweet potatoes will last all winter. The sweet potatoes that we just ate, were still in perfect condition. Sweet potatoes actually improve in flavor with time. Some people won't eat their sweet potatoes until after the New Year when the sweetness has increased.
Sweet potatoes are one of the simplest vegetables to store. Sweet potatoes don't need to be canned, frozen, or stored in a cold cellar. Since they are best stored in a cool room, my grandmother would wrap the sweet potatoes in newspaper and store them under her bed.
Eat
I love having stored sweet potatoes to eat in the winter. Sweet potatoes contain more vitamins than almost any other vegetable. We enjoy mashed sweet potato crunch as a treat over the holidays but our favorite way to eat sweet potatoes is oven roasted. Roasting brings out the sweetness. My children like when I cut them into french fry strips and serve with ketchup.
If you want more information on raising sweet potatoes, check out this article, Grow Sweet Potatoes - Even in the North. It gives lots of good information on raising and storing sweet potatoes.
Do you grow sweet potatoes? I'd love to hear your tips and recipes!
Mine are sprouting right now also. Like you my crop last year was marginal at best. The year before we had a bumper crop. Wonder what this year will bring?
ReplyDeleteI don't have the space to grow sweet potatoes but we love to eat them. We use them in almost anything you can use pumpkin in. (I didn't grow up eating pumpkin at all.) Pies, cakes,muffins, breads, stews, baked, fried, and "candied". We love them!
ReplyDeleteWe have not grown sweet potatoes in years. We have talked about adding them back to our garden this year as we all really like them. Enjoy your day and God bless.
ReplyDeleteHi Gina - I am new to reading your blog and I am really enjoying it. I have just spent the morning digging over my veg patch (its only tiny). I seem to kill every plant I grow; not sure what i am doing wrong as I follow instructions. Never mind we'll try again. Little Son gets excited even if we only produce one strawberry!!
ReplyDeleteI have never grown sweet potatoes before, but thought this year I might give it a go.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information and may God bless you with an abundant harvest!
Blessings~
Laura
I've never met anyone in my zone who's grown sweet potatoes, but we love them too. Our favourite way is as fries served with mayo, or mashed as the topping for Shepherd's Pie. Using them in place of pumpkin is an interesting idea.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered how you grow sweet potato plants, Gina, you are a gardening whiz. My sweet potatoes got too wet last fall and have shriveled to almost nothing.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless you Gina.
One way to get sweet potatoes to put more strength in growing potatoes and not just vines is: trim the vines back to the bottom of the ridge. We do that at least once a summer.
ReplyDeletewell, I just didn't know all that about sweet potatoes! Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteWe love roasted sweet potatoes with salt and pepper. We are not fond of them with sweeteners, though.
Wow, thanks for the tip... I never thought of sprouting in a cup of water... My first year gardening and I'm already overwhelmed!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your knowledge on growing and curing sweet potatoes!
ReplyDeleteOur Chinese community garden neighbors taught us to eat our sweet potato greens in stir fry and soup. The greens taste good and contain lots of vitamins. Thanks for all your gardening and baking tips! God Bless!