Low-maintenance methods for growing sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes thrive on long, hot summers, but they can be raised wherever they will have 150 frost-free days to grow in. Follow these methods to get this hardy and nutritious super food growing for you.

• Sweet potatoes are raised from the sprouts, or slips, that their tubers send out
• One potato suspended on toothpicks in a container and half-covered with water will produce several sprouts. Larger quantities can be grown by placing several potatoes on a bed of sand and covering them with a five centimetre (two inch) layer of moist sand or soil
• Keep sprouting tubers at 24°C (77°F)
• Start the slips a month before warm weather settles in, when nights get no colder than 16°C (60°F). During that month the sprouts will grow to 20 to 25 centimetres (8 to 10 inches), and each will bear several leaves. Remove the slips for planting by giving them a twist
• Buy slips at a garden centre if starting your own is not feasible

• Sweet potatoes do best in loose, sandy soil
• To prepare the soil, spread a five centimetre (two inch) layer of compost and work it into the soil
• Push the soil into a 30-centimetre-wide (12-inch-wide), flat-topped mound 15 centimetres (six inches) high
• Plant the slips 35 centimetres (14 inches) apart in the centre of the mound, and set them 15 centimetres (six inches) into the ground, leaving at least two leaves above ground
• Water well
• Sweet potatoes require little care. A bit of weeding, done carefully so as not to injure the shallow roots, is usually all that is needed

• When the tops of the plants turn black after the first frost, the sweet potatoes are ready to harvest. (In frost-free areas, harvest four months after planting the slips)
• In areas with less than four months growing time, tubers can be dug out before they reach mature size
• Dig sweet potatoes carefully, for their skins bruise easily. Let the tubers dry for several hours, then spread them in newspaper-lined boxes
• Leave them in a dry, warm area for about two weeks; then store in a cool, dry place

By following these growing methods you'll be able to enjoy fresh-from-the-garden sweet potatoes of your own with little effort.