The first metre I resolve to grow sweet potatoes , I did n’t know what to require . When I bought my little synthetic heroin - upper of a planetary house , there were locks to change , drywall sections to patch , and plenty of broken light fixtures to replace . There was also a scrawny patch up out back that might make a decent garden . It was already July and the soil quality looked less - than - idealistic , but I was compulsive to set up a late - time of year craw ofsomething .
With summer already well afoot , I was able to purchase a couple hundred gratifying potato “ slips ” for less than $ 20 . ( Rather than being started from seed , sweet murphy slips are small plant jump which have been sprouted out of sweet Solanum tuberosum tubers . )
I broke up my sullen clay soil , put down some dope barrier , and hastily plant four “ northerly - clime ” types : Ginseng Orange , Excel , Hong Hong , and Ivis White Cream . Sometimes also market as “ early ” or “ brusque - season ” potpourri , northern - climate mellisonant potato case can pass on adulthood in about 90 sidereal day . let in loanblend , heirloom , short- and long - time of year change , you could grow sweet potatoes of hundreds ofdifferent kinds , evenpurple motley .
I periodically water the growing vines , hoping they ’d have enough time to produce a sweet potato or two . Once the vines give out back in previous downfall , it was crop sentence . That initial experimentation more than paid off . I — along with my Friend , family , and neighbour — stop up with hundreds of pounds of sweet potatoes . I was hooked , and , these days , I make it a pointedness to grow mellisonant potatoes . ( Just not quite so many ! )
The Big Dig
Other than some live day and the ability to crowd their beginning through the dirt with relative ease , fresh Irish potato do n’t actually postulate much . In fact , if your grease is too rich , they ’re more potential to produce vigorous vine and little else . While growing sweet potatoes is fairly straightforward , the right way harvesting them take a little more care .
That ’s because it ’s easygoing to inadvertently damage them during dig and removal . Have some of your own sweet potatoes to harvest ? For unspoilt results , use a potato fork , rather than a shovel and give potato plant a full berth . Angle your white potato fork into the soil about a foot away from individual flora , eat aside at the dirt until you uncover your sweet potato crop . Depending on your mixed bag and grow conditions , a single plant can produce just a few very heavy potatoes , some foresighted - and - tightfitting spuds , or a compounding of these .
Any tater which you accidentally slice up during crop should be set away . You ’ll desire to use these as soon as possible , since they are now unsuitable for long - term storage . ( Those receptive wounds can become transmitter for intellectual nourishment - bodge decline . ) As for more intact Tuber ? When in good order bring around and stack away , they ’ll keep for many months . During angelic white potato sorting , take care not to throw them around or wield them too roughly , since they bruise easy right after they ’ve been harvested .
Curing Your Sweet Potatoes
in brief give your sorted , intact genus Tuber some personal infinite in a dry , gay spot . This helps to dry out any big soil cluster that may be adhere to them . Once cling soil is juiceless , you may use a soft - thorny brush to work off the bad of the turd , but do n’t endeavor to get all of your potatoes perfectly clean just yet .
During the “ curing ” process , unfermented potato skin toughen up and the starches contained within the tubers commute to sugars . This make honest-to-god , cured sweet potatoes even tasty than their just - glean opposite number .
Ideally , cherubic potatoes should be kept in tender , humid conditions for about a week — think 85 academic degree F and 85 pct humidity . If you do n’t have such a live spot , you’re able to bring around them in slightly lower temperatures — say , in the mid 60s to 70s — but the summons will take longer . Successfully bring around sweet murphy will feel firmer to the skin senses and have tougher skins than those that have n’t had this treatment .
For farsighted - term memory , loosely wrap up each cured tater in newspaper and multitude in cardboard boxes . salt away these in a coolheaded , dark storage locker or pantry .
Sweet Potato Slips for Next Season
If you grow an open - pollinated , heirloom multifariousness , you might desire to bring through some of these back for slip - starting in late wintertime . To grow your own slips , plant potatoes indoors in loose , well - draining soil . let about half of each white potato vine to stick up above the dirt line and use a seedling heat lustrelessness to keep the soil warm . Because a single sugared potato genus Tuber can generate scores of faux pas , you should have plenty of these showtime in time for out-of-door planting next season .
