Garden Guide: Grow Sweet Potatoes In 3 Easy Steps

Sweet potatoes are tasty, healthy, and easy to grow. Here’s a quick step-by-step to planting and growing them in your own garden.

Sweet potatoes are a marvelous crop to grow in your garden. They don’t require a lot of maintenance, don’t suffer from too many pests or diseases, and yield lots of healthy, delicious food that keeps well into the fall, winter, and even spring!

Sweet potatoes – despite their name – aren’t even related to the white potato. In fact, they are a member of the morning glory family, so they will fit well into your crop rotation scheme as you probably won’t have a lot of related crops in your garden, so you can grow sweet potatoes just about anywhere.

However, keep in mind that sweet potatoes like to take over whatever space they are in, so don’t plant them too close to other crops, as they will sprawl and climb all over them!  It is best to put them on the outside edge or in a corner of the garden where they can be allowed to grow and vine out as they please.

Here are 3 simple steps to grow sweet potatoes – once danger of frost has passed in your area, it’s time to get them in the ground:

Step 1: Get Your Planting Material!

This isn’t hard. Sometimes your local feed store or nursery will sell “slips,” which are just rooted segments of vines. This is a really easy way to get started, but if you have a little more time you can make your own sweet potato slips like I teach you here.

You can also simply buy a bag of sweet potatoes and start burying them in the garden… or take chunks of vine off an existing plant and start plunking the stems a few inches deep into the ground.

Step 2: Prep Your Bed

You don’t have to worry too much about preparation for sweet potatoes. Loose, loamy soil is great… but they’ll also grow in so-so sand without many complaints.

Step 3: Water Well… and Stand Back!

Sweet potatoes will take off in warm weather and need little to no irrigation in years with decent rainfall. They also tend to run over most weeds and control the area where you plant them… and the areas around the garden… and some areas beyond that.

Get more information at TheGrowNetwork.com

 

Rose S.

An avid gardener since childhood, I love sharing my passion for gardening with others! I have gardened in a number of different climates and settings, from large fenced garden plots, to tiny patio and container gardens, and I firmly believe that everyone can learn to grow at least some of their own food - no matter where you live. Growing your own food can help you take control of your own health and food supply, and there has never been a better time to get started!


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