Sweet Potatoes are Fun!

I grow Sweet Potatoes, the whitish ones, and Yams, the darker reddish variety with the deep orange flesh.

Very few people that I’ve talked to have ever had what we call “Yams,” other than covered with syrup or marshmallows or in some other ghastly form. Mostly, people that have only had them that way have a strong dislike for “Yams,” the darker variety of Sweet Potatoes. When they eat them in a medley of roasted vegetables, or rubbed with olive oil, sprinkled with Kosher salt and baked like a Russet potato, they’re amazed.

Related to Morning Glory, they grow very fast in warm weather. As a ground cover, no ornamental vine compares.

Loaded with vitamins and minerals, one of the most complete foods in the garden, they’re very easy to grow in warm climates. Here in Los Angeles, I get them started in late April. Almost all of them come up as volunteers, left over from the year before.

One little sprout, piece of sweet potato or whole small one, that was left in the soil, will have a re-birth in the late spring. I transplant them or take cuttings. Cuttings, put in a glass of water at room temperature, will sprout roots in just a day or three. Put them in the ground and that’s that. Not much water is required for a big crop. You don’t even need to get the cuttings rooted. Just cut off a branch and stick in the bed. It will play dead for about three days. As soon as it has sent out roots, you have a new vigorous plant.

The following pictures tell the whole story. From these, on 3 May 2013, we’ll be having Sweet Potatoes and Yams through about January. When we want some, I’ll just reach down into the bed. (I have very soft dirt in those beds-having created a mix of about 1/3 peat moss to 2/3 soil by volume.) From the 2 beds, one 55 square feet and one 65 square feet, I’ll take about 300 pounds of the lovelies from August through December, and into January.

Volunteer Sweet Potatoes

Last year's Sweet Potato sending up new shoots called Slips

Slips sprouting form one looked over last year

Slips ready to go into the bed

What they'll look like in 2-3 months