My 2012 Sweet Potato Journal/post #26 starts 2013!

[lesa]

Wow! They look fabulous! Mine really began to grow, once we had a little rain. That flower certainly does look like a morning glory. I have never had mine flower. Lets hope there are lots of potatoes in that dirt!

 

[Daddykirbs]

The garden looks fantastic! Thanks for the link to the forum

 

[baymule]

It is raining today, I pulled my back yesterday tossing square bales of hay. Somebody tell my body it is NOT getting younger! I am doing my very best to do as much of nothing as possible, and having a marvelous degree of success. So, during a lull in the rain, I took cell phone in hand and got some updated pics of the sweet potato garden.

Beds #1 & 2 look how the vines have obliterated the poor wild sunflower in the corner of the bed. The vines have grown 4 feet into the driveway and all but covered the sidewalk. I have cut them back 3 times.

Bed #3 The vines have over run the brick walkways on both sides and are in conspiracy with beds 1 & 2 to take over the driveway and eat the car!

I will be digging them in another couple of weeks. I hope I get lots of goodies!

 

[hiker125]

Oh baymule- your sweet potatoes look amazing. Have you dug them yet?

 

[baymule]

I dug 2 of the sweet potato beds last weekend. Bed #1 & #2 each are 2'x4'. I got 22 pounds out of bed #1 and 17 pounds out of bed #2. The chickens got all the vines. I still have one bed left. I planted it about 2 weeks later than the other two, so I will wait a little longer before I dig it.

My helper. Our 5 year old grand daughter who had a blast with her mamaw digging in the dirt!

I dug up a bunch of nasty grubworms that had been feasting on my sweet potatoes! Some have damage on them, but I figure we will eat these first.

I washed the dirt off with the hose and let them dry. I lug them in every night and lay them in the shade in the grass every morning so they can cure. I am so excited to grow these! Thirty-nine pounds of sweets, from 2 store bought sweet potatoes that were sprouting! Not bad. I will definately do this again next summer. I am happy to find something that grows so well in our scorching heat and looks attractive too!

 

[thistlebloom]

Wow Baymule! You sure got a good return for your investment! That's an amazing harvest. Wish I could grow sweets like that. Last year I harvested enough for one meal :/ .

 

[baymule]

Today I dug bed #3 and got 13 pounds of sweet potatoes. There wasn't as many grub worms in this bed. Bed #3 is 4 1/2'x6'. I added up the square footage of the 3 beds and the total is approximately 40 square feet. I harvested 52 pounds of sweet potatoes total. I didn't get as much from bed #3, it was planted a month later than the first two from vine cuttings I took from beds #1 & #2. I should have taken more cuttings and planted them closer together in bed #3. Overall, I am very pleased with my harvest and plan on planting sweet potatoes again next year. Just for grins, before I yanked up the vines, I took cuttings of 6 to 8 inches and stuck in a vase of water. If I can keep them alive untill next spring, then I will already have my slips to get going all over again!

Soooo....... does anyone have 101 recipies for sweet potatoes????

 

[lesa]

There are endless ideas, but we love slicing them up and cooking them in a little olive oil, basil, and s and p. Very delicious!

 

[NwMtGardener]

We had roasted sweet potatoes tonight. My husband sliced them up like jojos, and popped them in the oven. Then he roasted brussel sprouts (cut in half) and made a balsamic vinegar reduction with cranberries in it. It was divine all together! And i had mine with some blue cheese dressing, cause i love it.

 

[so lucky]

Your sweet potato harvest is enviable. I hope to grow some next year. I did plant one vine, very late. I think it was about the end of July, maybe even the first part of August. (I knew it was too late) However, much to my surprize, yesterday I found that the little vine did produce four small potatoes, about the size of short fat carrots. There were several tiny "buds" as well, that would have developed, given time. Gives me hope for next year. And I'm gonna eat those things!