Saturday, February 12, 2011

sprouting sweets and saving squash seeds

sweet potatoes 009 squash seeds 021

Today, I finally remembered to bring my small (finger-sized) sweet potatoes upstairs to see if the warmer temperature will get them to sprout. (I left the big ones downstairs to keep for eating.) I'd like to get the sweet potatoes to sprout soon. They start off slow.

Also, I roasted a nice buttercup squash from my local CSA and couldn't resist saving a few of the fat seeds. It is a nice variety with thick orange flesh that tasted great and kept very well until now. Even though squashes do cross pollinate, I think ones grown on a farm have a good chance of being pollinated by the same variety. But if they did cross pollinate, it will be fun to see what I get. I'll try a couple plants and see what they produce.

4 comments:

Lynda said...

I bought some sweets at the local natural foods store and added a few of my homegrowns...I did my slips pretty late last year and didn't get the kind of crop I was looking for: lots of skinny looking sweets and only a few nice big fat ones. Good luck with yours. Sweet Potatoes are always such a treat.

Mal's Allotment said...

You are obviously planning for warmer times ahead! Out Scottish 'temperate' climate just isn't suitable for tropical plants. Even tomatoes are a bit of a struggle. I'll be fascinated to see how yours come along!

Donald said...

I cheated a bit this year i ordered some Sweet Potato slips from Vesseys "Beuragard Sweet potato" 12 slips $29.00, they deliver them May? depending on the weather. You grew the white one`s with kinda a off white skin, I grew them a while back i just got a lot of vines and no Sweets, the one with the purple skin and white flesh taste`s more like a regular potato than a sweet potato. Georgia Jets are the ones that dont need a long season never grew these but they are on the to do list.

earlysnowdrop said...

You might get some sprouting by storing in a paper bag with a few apples.