And Now This

 

So, this is happening.

My sweet potato garden. 

These are "slips" cut from whole sweet potatoes I put in soil, half burying them. One variety surprised me by sprouting within a week or so. Last year it seemed that this one was very pokey about sprouting. It's called "Jersey" and has white flesh and tan skin.

Sweet potatoes sprouting. These are Jerseys.

The second variety is "Murasaki," or Japanese sweet potato. It was presprouted at the same time as the Jerseys, but has only recently started sprouting. It has white flesh and red skin. We find the white sweet potatoes to be sweeter than the orange ones, although probably containing less beta carotene and some of the orange related nutrients.

All purple sweet potatoes have a good deal of "anthocyanins," potent antioxidants that help prevent a variety of health issues. Last year I presprouted the all purples at the same time as the others, and had tons of sprouts before the others started sprouting much. By the time I put them in the ground, they had started putting on tiny sweet potatoes. So I started presprouting them about the time I put the others in soil. They are starchier than the other varieties of sweet potatoes.

I'm not sprouting orange ones. One of the local nurseries will have slips to sell be mid-May, so I can get them all in the ground by the end of May.

I started presprouting the Jerseys and Murasakis around the first of February, and put them in the soil around the first of March. I used a bird feed bag for presprouting. It had a thin sheet of plastic sandwiched between two paper layers. It must have maintained humidity too well, as some of the Murasakis, which were at the bottom end of the bag, were moldy when I pulled them out. One was so moldy I tossed it. However, the others have started sprouting in spite of the mold. Next year I'll use a bag without the plastic.

In spite of starting to sprout the potatoes later than last year I will still be inundated with slips by planting time. Lucky neighbors who receive the excess.

Last year I did a post about starting and planting sweet potatoes. Rather than go into all the information here, you can read all about it in my Sweet, Sweet Potatoes post.

The slips I'm growing now are from sweet potatoes we grew last year. The originals came from organic sweet potatoes from the grocery store.

Growing your own slips and sweet potatoes really is a fairly easy process. Timing is important, though.

Last year I planted a little more than 200 slips. This year I will plant even more. My husband practically lives off of sweet potatoes and has had to start buying sweet potatoes after consuming all that I grew, except for a few white flesh ones he's save back. Since I'm on a low carb diet right now, sweet potatoes are mostly off the menu for me. Sot the sweet potato garden is pretty much all for him.

Sweet potato love.