Learn how to grow sweet potatoes this year! Here’s the information you need to successfully harvest delicious sweet potatoes from your garden.
Do you grow sweet potatoes? Sweet potatoes are one of my absolute favorite veggies to grow! Purely because they are full of vitamins and they taste great in virtually any dish–even desserts {if you prepare them correctly}. Instead of growing only regular potatoes during the grow season, I make it a point to grow sweet potatoes as well. Let’s begin!
How to Grow Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes grow in any kind of soil you have available–even the most poor. It is important to note that sweet potato roots can end up deformed if they grow in heavy clay soil. To begin, build 10 inch high ridges of soil spaced 3.5 feet apart. Rodales Organic Life recommends adding plenty of compost to help grow sweet potatoes.
For perfect sweet potatoes, plant potato sprouts in a box of chopped leaves six weeks before the last frost. Keep the box of sprouts in a warm spot and cut off any shoots when they reach 9 inches long. Plant the sprouts in an area of full sun 3 weeks after the last frost.
When the weather warms up enough to transplant your sprouts, make holes six inches deep and a foot apart. Bury your sprouts. Pack the soil down firmly around them and water well.
Watering Sweet Potatoes
In regards to watering, if the weather in your zone is dry, make sure that your sweet potatoes get at least one inch of water per week. Two weeks before harvesting, cease all watering and let the soil dry out. Be careful to never overwater sweet potatoes. Too much water creates vegetable rot. Don’t worry too much if you deal with drought in your area. Sweet potatoes tend to handle droughts better than they do overwatering!
Harvesting Your Sweet Potatoes
Harvest the sweet potatoes as soon as the plant leaves begin to yellow. However, it is important to mention that the longer the potatoes are in the ground, the more nutirent dense they become. Harvest potatoes with a spade on a day with tons of sunlight and dry soil. Ripe sweet potatoes store well for several months!
Sweet potatoes aren’t the only plant that likes dry weather. Here are 10 plants that love it hot.
I’m so curious because of i have got many sweet potatoes in my garden. Can’t wait for harvesting, but i must be patient.
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Thanks for this. I will try this in my potato sacks in the UK. Do you plant the sprouted sweet potatoes whole or do you cut the sprouted parts off the mother potato? Also can you earth them up like you do normal potatoes? Thanks.
Jamie,
You can harvest them like you would a normal potato! I usually just plant the cut sprouted part!
Can you grow sweet potatoes in containers like regular potatoes? I live in an apartment, and do all my gardening in containers.
Check out our article about container gardening! https://beesandroses.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4228&action=edit
What temperatures does sweet potato need? Same as potatoes?
Sweet potatoes are sensitive to the cold. The nighttime temps should be at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit before you plant. If you want to help warm the soil before you plant, spread black plastic over the planting area for a couple of weeks.
Will you get as many potatoes in a container as you would in the ground?
Usually, by weight, a garden will produce as much as 30% more than containers. But on average it is around 18-20%.