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| Photo Credit: Megan Bame |
| Start your sweet potato sprouts on the windowsill. It’s a great project for kids to get the garden started! |
The hardest thing about growing sweet potatoes is harvesting them, but don’t let that stop you – this superfood is worth the effort! Its nutritional value is off the charts – filled with fiber, antioxidants (including vitamin E and beta-carotene) and potassium – and they’re fat- and cholesterol-free! But before you can eat ’em, you’ve got to grow ’em.
Come spring, after the risk of frost has passed, you can find bundles of sweet potato “slips” at your local garden center or farm supply store. Slips are bare-root vegetative cuttings sporting two to three leaves and often sold in bundles of 50. It’s important that you keep the slips well-hydrated. If you can’t plant them immediately, you can store them in a bucket of water for a few days – just be careful not to submerge the leaves. If you prefer, you can produce your own slips. You may have noticed that a sweet potato that’s been stored too long or exposed to a warm storage temperature will grow green, leafy sprouts (not eyes like an Irish potato). You can work with these sprouts, or you can encourage sprouting on your own by either burying the sweet potato 2 inches below the surface in a bed of sand (and wait for the sprouts to pop out) or suspending it with toothpicks in a glass of water. When the sprouts reach 8-10 inches long, they’re ready for transplanting. Just detach the sprouts with a simple twist, then off you grow! Sweet potatoes prefer well-drained soils. Prepare your soil by tilling well and forming 8-inch-tall, flattop ridge rows that are 1 foot wide. Prior to planting you can also apply 8-8-8 fertilizer (2 pounds per 25-foot row). Plant the slip or sprout about 3 inches deep, spacing the plants about 10 inches apart. Water well immediately after transplanting, and keep a close eye on the slips for about a week to make sure they have plenty of water to support root development. Once established, for optimum development, sweet potatoes require 1 inch of water per week from rainfall or irrigation.
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