maturate sweet potato a cold - climate garden requires some care to detail . This solid food plant is popular in Polynesia where the temperature and humidity of summertime helps it concede abundantly and cure generously . Likewise , production in the U.S. is mainly in more southern states .
This delicious tuber is actually aboriginal to tropic South America . And its journeying to Polynesia ( way before the “ Age of Discovery ” ) is something of a delicious mystery story !
In the American Northeast , Europe , Canada and more temperate mood , we must mimic the conditions this tuber enjoys . Specifically , sweet potatoes requireheat and moisture all season . If we provide this , the plant will generate the quantity and quality we need for sweet Solanum tuberosum to originate as a unwavering craw in the garden or on the farm .
record more : Sweet potatoes and yams — how are they different ?
Growing & Transplanting Slips
First , like many crops whose day to matureness is longer than the modal frost - free period in your area , you should transplant sweet-flavored Irish potato . Sweet murphy “ slips ” can be produced from piece of last yr ’s garden harvest time or purchase from a nursery that grows out these starts .
A murphy is produce from patch of last yr ’s tuber , cut to have a lower limit of three “ eyes . ” But a sweet potato cutting is a shoot that sprouts from the original cherubic potato tuber . This shoot can be transplanted into a 3 - inch deal and grown out to be a transplant .
You should plant sweet potato luxate in the garden after the last frost date has legislate . Plant sweet tater in arouse bed with estimable drain and rich , well - form soil .
Zach Loeks
crop that yield below terra firma take loose soil to grow in . If the soil is loose , the potatoes will grow to be more uniform in configuration . sweet-flavored potatoes can grow to face like every organ in the physical structure if the condition are not right ! Some of these shapes can be quite screaming . Zach Loeks
Planting Out
We plant our angelical potatoes in raise beds with two runs of drip mould tape on either side of a individual row of plants . We plant the miscue about 20 inches aside in our 48 - in Permabeds .
The vine will fill up the entire bed and track , so we use Alternate Maturity Patterning ( a method I detail in my Holy Writ , The Permaculture Market Garden ) to check the beds side by side have early on mature harvest that wo n’t be in our direction come harvest clock time .
Next , we wrap up each side of the bed with skunk roadblock up to the dustup of industrial plant . This will preserve moisture and provide heat . We employ this zip layer technique alternatively of planting them in plastic mulch . It allows us to keep the green goddess barrier entire ( without cutting kettle of fish ) and reusable for many crop over many years .
Zach Loeks
We bask the added heat , wet retentiveness and sens crushing this provides . With so many problem on the farm , this is a win in a northern climate . Zach Loeks
Frost Signals Harvest Time
Using drift row cover can also help to keep hoar away and add surplus heat energy in the early season .
Harvest mellisonant potatoes from the garden when the scourge of rime is imminent . We extract back the skunk roadblock , pull out the dripping tape , then mow the fresh white potato leaves with a flail mower on our walking tractor .
For modest plot , such as theSuburban Edible Ecosystem in Winnipeg , we draw up the vine by bridge player .
Zach Loeks
Next , we start digging . Use a garden fork , but start far out from the center of the planting to avoid cutting and breaking the tubers . That being say , most deletion and nicks can be cured by rights , and these tubers will still lay in decently . After curing they will be much firmer .
If some did n’t make the cut ( soft or rotten ) , you should toss these . Zach Loeks
Curing Sweet Potatoes
Curing sweet white potato vine requires eminent humidness and high temperature . One method acting is to put them in a humid glasshouse in harvest crates and cover them with sens roadblock .
We increase the humidness by track down a hosiery underneath the weed barrier , placing the crates on top of this weed roadblock . Then we run another layer of weed barrier over the crates . It ’s standardised to howgardeners will often grow leafy vegetables in reusable grocery bags with holes perforate in them . Placed in a cheery location , the flora enjoy a kind of glasshouse effect .
Primary solidification withdraw about two week at 85 degree F and 90 percent relative humidity . Further cure come about by maintain the tubers at about 55 academic degree F for an additional five to six weeks .
Zach Loeks
Once full cure the sweet tater will lay in up to six to eight months in a coolheaded , ventilated and grim blank space with about 50 - 60 percent relative humidity . A pantry site puzzle out well , as would a drier solution cellar .
In addition to winter storage , curing also helps make the sweet potatoes “ sweet . ” A sweet potato eat fresh from the field is n’t actually all that tasty . But wait , be patient and bask the mellisonant treats all winter !
