Friday, July 31, 2009

Sweet Potatoes as Ground Cover and Food


In early May, our side yard was covered in mulch. Hence the name "Mulch Manor." Then we planted sweet potato vines. The leaves are pretty (we have three different colors) and it's edible. We had the space for the vines to crawl all about, which, they are happily doing, as you can see.
Denise said to dig up the potatoes in the fall, which, in our area, is about late October. But I'm so excited about growing my own sweet potatoes that I couldn't wait and just had to "peek" even though it's only the end of July. What I dug up from one vine is pictured on the right. I've never dug a potato in my life. Makes me feel like a real farmer!














3 comments:

  1. Those potatoes are quite impressive. I looked for some slips in early summer but could not find any. Where did you get yours?

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  2. Sweet pots can also wait until the first frost so you don't have to harvest so early if you want to save some for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just if it freezes, get the out of the ground the next day. We've also heard that they taste better if allowed to cure for a few days. We didn't cure them last year and they were a bit on the bland side.

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  3. What did you use for mulch to create Mulch Manor. I have been looking for non-Cypress options for wood chips. I was looking for something that was insect resistant because mulch would be abutting the house. Not a lot of Cedar chips sold around here. I lived in California for years and used Eucalyptus. Any affordable options. I need 5-7 cubic yards of it. Thanks for the information

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