Here is the thing about homesteading, sometimes you have great success, and sometimes you have epic failures. Well, I don’t like to think of them as failures, but rather the gift of learning from the experience, and believe me, I have had plenty of these.
This post, however, is not about a failure. This is about sweet success from none other than the sweet potato.
How did I do it?
With sweet potato slips, and little help from the compost pile (some the vines came up voluntarily).
A slip is the vine that starts from the eye of a mature potato.
You can order slips via the mail, but why bother spending money when you can easily start these at home since your probably buying sweet potatoes for a meal, and it’s a great project to do with the kids.
Tips for Growing sweet potato.
- Use an organic potato. Why the organic? The non-organic ones are often sprayed with a chemical that prevents sprouting. You want these puppies to sprout quickly and easily, so save yourself some time and get the organic ones. I actually started the slips from left over potatoes that I had gotten from the local grocery to feed to the chickens (they were going to dispose of the these leftovers so I snagged them).
- Take the potato and add some toothpicks around it. Place it in a cup and submerge in water.
- It will begin to sprout from the eyes of the potato.
- Once the slips are about 3-4″ long you can snap them off. This is what you are going to plant into the ground.
- Make sure to keep the soil moist to allow the slip to get established.
- After that, it will require very little, to no maintenance.
- Sweet potatoes require a long growing season (you won’t be harvesting them until the late fall right before the first frost), so it’s important to start the slips early.
- The leaves are edible and can be used throughout the growing season for sauté’s, soups, and salads.
Sweet potatoes are the gift that keeps on giving.
The vines act as ground cover to keep out the weeds and hold in the moisture, so the bed was basically maintenance free (maintenance free gardening is always a plus). After pulling the potatoes, we were left with rich soil underneath.
The vines were put back onto the beds for compost and then they will be covered with manure and grass clippings. This will sit throughout the winter and be ready for another planting in the spring (Yes, I know that goes against the composting rules, but trust me, this will work and it is WAY easier than doing it the “normal” way).
I am sure that there were some potatoes left in the ground that will sprout again next spring, and you will get no complaints about that from me.
Now the question is, what to do with all these potatoes? Besides freezing them, it will be fun to try some new recipes. How about sweet potato ice cream, or sweet potato fly?