Friday, May 31, 2013

Sweet Potatoes

Even though we had one night in the 30Fs over last weekend, the forecast for this week was hot, hot, hot. Yesterday was to be the start of the 90 degree weather. The above bed was the baby greens bed. I needed it empty so I could plant the sweet potatoes in time for the heat wave. Sweet potatoes love heat. My greens don't. So I harvested everything that was ready and cleaned up the bed.

What was left was my kohlrabi. It was an experiment to see if they could bulb up enough to harvest before June 1st (my normal sweet potato planting time). They didn't quite make it but are close. I'll leave them in until the last of my slips are ready.

I started trying to spout my slips at the beginning of March. It worked for the Purple and Beauregard sweet potatoes.

But the Garnet sweet potatoes still hadn't really leafed out enough to root them. They were very, very slow. Last year I had trouble too. I'm either going to have to start them in January or February or overwinter some vines in the house next year if I want Garnets. If they get big enough I'll put them in the middle of the bed where the kohlrabi is now. Not the most ideal location as the other sweet potato vines might overwhelm them, but I hope it works. Maybe in a week I can get them into the ground. If I feel I can't, I have some more Purple and Beauregard to take their place.

This year I'm doing three rows across the bed and each plant about 16" apart. Last year I put them much closer and though they needed more room. I'll see if the yields are better this way or if I should keep them at the close spacing.

19 comments:

  1. Those baby greens are gorgeous. I'd hate to harvest them, they're too pretty! I do wish I had room for sweet potatoes, but I'm the only one who eats them, so I feel the space can be better used by other veggies. I grew one as a houseplant one year, and it was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I left it here when we went south for the winter, and told my daughter to stop by once every week or so to water and clip it back for me, but she forgot. I guess I should try growing another one now that we stay home.

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  2. It looks like you harvested your baby greens at the height of perfection! I hate to think how they would have fared in 90° weather.

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  3. Wow! Bet your greens are delicious. Have you considered the garnet sweet potatoes in a container so they don't have to compete. They seem to love the added heat and it makes them easy to harvest.

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    1. I'm not good at container gardening. I tend to not water enough. I think my mints are still alive because they are so hard to kill. I wish I could keep containers alive, but history tells me it is better not to try.

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  4. Well. . . sweet potatoes might surprise you. They don't like too much water or nutrients. I threw a few slips in a black 2.5 gallon nursery pot with some zinnias a few years ago. I stuck it on a patio which was the sunniest spot I had and it never got anything that didn't fall from the sky. They split the pot open. If you have a few extra slips to try it might be worth a it. Either way I wish you many sweet potatoes!

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  5. I hope to grow sweet potato this summer for the first time!

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  6. Hi Daphne, I love your blog. I live in Florida & am finding a lot of the things I used to grow up north don't do well here. I have been able to grow kohlrabi though. It's a new vegetable for me so I was wondering how you eat the ones you grow.

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    1. My favorite way is just like you would eat a carrot stick. Out of hand and with dip. Yum. I also slice them up and put them in salads. Sometimes they get cooked into stirfries.

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    2. I forgot. I don't do it, but lots of people use them to make slaws.

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  7. I will be interested in your sweet potato spacing results. I love your baby leaf bed - they looked beautiful shame they had to go but then delicious to eat no doubt.

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  8. Gosh your bed of greens look so nice and full! I hope you get some garnets! I planted my sweet potatoes pretty early cause they were not liking it inside anymore and I almost thought I lost them with the cool temps but they are growing beautiful now. We'll see how it turns out.

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  9. I didn't look too closely at the Sweet potatoes because I know they are unlikely to do well enough to be worth planting here, but I am impressed by the Kohlrabi. They certainly look big enough to be useable. I sometimes find that my Kohlrabi makes long thin "bulbs" instead of the usual spherical ones. Do you have any idea about what might cause that?

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  10. Although I love them, I've never planted sweet potatoes. I'm going to follow your progress. I may try them next year.

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    1. No I've never seen a long thin bulb. Sometimes they don't bulb up at all for me, but I'm not sure why.

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  11. I bet your lettuce greens were delicious!! I have never tried Kohlrabi. Something for me to think about trying. I probably don't have enough room for sweet potatoes. I love them but hubby doesn't. Will be watching your progress on yours tho! Nancy

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  12. I'm trying sweet potatoes in the ground for the first time, over at my community garden plot, since I had some slips left over after planting my balcony garden. Wish me luck - right now, they're not looking too happy.

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    1. Good luck! I have some slips that are sulking too. Hopefully they will perk up soon.

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  13. wow your greens looks great! I didn't bother with sweet potatoes this year as they didn't do well in my garden last year. Maybe I will try them again in 2014

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