My son helped me dig sweet potatoes on Sunday evening. What a great event!!!
I have to admit that to get my 18 year old into the garden, I had to trade for something he was interested in - $$. Since he currently doesn't have a job, but wants cash, I offered him the rate he got at his most recent job. Anyway, he got the garden fork and started in on the bed as I ripped out the vines.
My sweet potato bed was about 4 by 4 feet. Located just east of my popcorn (that failed this year :( ), its was bit shaded, and the vines had grown up and into the corn stalks. Its my first attempt at growing sweet potatoes and I was nervous.
Underground crops are such a suspense. I may have been holding my breath as we started. But with my son's first digs, he turned up beautiful orange, red and white tubers. And as I pulled the vines, lots of tubers came up attached to the plants. Wow! What a nice crop. My final weighing said 8 pounds of sweets. A good size bucket full.
One of the best parts was when my son said "I'm finished. I've got all of them." I asked if he would double dig just to make sure he found all of them. He said he had been double digging and they weren't any more. So I offered him a dollar for any additional ones he could find. His eyes lit up and he went back to digging. I tended the basil, weeded here and there, picked the pumpkins, and he dug. He kept announcing "Here's another!" ... "One more". Eventually, he earned another $15 and I finished the rest of my garden work with great company.
There is something very exciting (or not) about underground crops. I was so excited to dig potatoes with my parents this year and they turned out horrible - eaten by voles. Who would know. The leaves look great, but what'[s underneath?
The sweets we dug were all sizes and shapes. Tiny ones, big ones. Red, orange, white. Sunday evening I threw a few baby sweets in to roast. They were delicious. I started to peel them, but learned that baby sweets don't need to be peeled. I've never had a baby sweet potato before.
So I have another basket for my larder. We love sweet potatoes! I am looking forward to enjoying all of them.
... click on the label below to see my past posts about sweet potatoes....
10 comments:
Im Glad your Sweet Potaotoe`s work out good. Do not put them in the fridge it will kill them. Put them by a rad or some where hot. So then can cure. the one`s i grew a few years ago got better tasting after a couple of weeks. They will last about 10 months in a box at room temp. Congrats.
Oh I love sweet potatoes. . .this activity reminds me of my grandmas farm. It's fun right?good job! have you already eat a boiled sweet potatoes?it's good actually, try it=)
Yummy, I love sweet potatoes! It is fun finding out what grew underneath.
That is great! How big was your sweet potato bed?
All I can say is Wow!! Great job!
Wow. That is a great harvest.
Sweet potatoes are a challenge to grow here in Southern Ontario due to our very short growing season.
Some people are trying to grow them inside the greenhouses.
Sweet potato fries time.
I'd love to read a post about your larder - what you have stored, how you store it, etc.
These look amazing and delicious. I'm hoping to plant some potatoes next spring myself.
Luis
Last summer I grew sweet potatoes in a dedicated bed. It was 4' x 4' but I built it up so it was 3 feet deep - we have clay soil here, so I thought that would help increase yield. I bought special root stock from the nursery, I fertilized, I babied.
In the meantime, my daughter grabs a sweet potato from the grocery store, sticks it in a glass of water to start it rooting. She then plants it in her flower bed. She wanted the vines. Other than training them to go up a trellis and watering them she ignored them and they looked beautiful all summer.
You can see where this is going, can't you?
At harvest time I was thrilled to dig up 26 lbs of potatoes! Then my daughter cleaned out her flower bed and harvested 32 lbs.
sigh.
What variety did you grow? Sounds like different kinds if you got orange, red and white!
One lesson I learned this season is that if you want to try unusual varieties, to order your starts early. I don't plant mine until June here and every place I tried was sold out. Very discouraging.
Next summer I want to try some of the varieties I found at http://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/potatoes.html
That's one of the reasons I love gardening - growing varieties you don't find in the grocery store.
Wow, I share your the joy of your harvest! I grow sweet potato vines and the leaves are yummy! Don't think there is any sweet potatoes growing underneath though as I have heavy clay soil in my backyard.
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