Unusual Vegetables. Sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes

Before we go any further let me tell you this is a borderline crop requiring cover or a very good summer for outside growing. There is a good risk that the crop will be poor or non-existant but it can be done.

Growing method.

Unlike most vegetables that are grown from seed or tubers, sweet potatoes are grown from cuttings called slips. Slips can be cut from a growing plant or struck from a tuber. In tropical climates the farmers simply take their cuttings for a new crop from another growing crop while it is in the field but here we have to work for our slips.

Slips can be bought from various seed companies but all of them are exploiting the market and are overcharging for cutting material that is frequently unfit for sale. The other alternative is to grow your own from a shop bought tuber.

This is the method I use. Select a good sweet potato and place it in a suitable pot or jar containing some water. Just enough water to keep the tuber at 100% humidity and placed somewhere cosy and warm. Now the really hard bit. You have to wait. And wait. And sometimes wait even longer. Some tubers will sprout within a week while others can take several months, it's a matter of patience. For this reason I like to start them off about the middle of February to ensure a long growing time.

Eventually lots of roots will appear followed by strong shoots. Keep tuber warm but place it in good sunlight during the daytime from now on. Once the shoots have grown to about 10cm and have say 3 leaves the shoot can be gently rubbed away from the tuber and that is a slip. (About £1.25 worth each.)

Once removed, the slips should be potted individually into small pots, given a good watering and kept in good light but free from any chill. The warmer they are, the quicker they will root and grow on. As the weather warms up, plants that are nicely rooted can be placed outside on sunny days or taken to the cold greenhouse or polytunnel if available. Before long the plant will outgrow the small pot and will require potting on to a bigger size.

The original tuber will continue to produce slips for several months until it is exhausted. Just take them off as soon as they are a decent size and pot up.

Page unfinished. To be continued.

Sources.

With a brand new polytunnel to support, I am placing the following items for sale:

• Red or Pink Oca tubers. Just a few bags.
• Jerusalem artichoke tubers. Quite a few but you have to buy them before I convert them into soup. Time is running out for planting.
• A few decent size Amorphophallus konjac tubers. (Flowers, not veg.)
• Canna tubers. Ambassador.

E-mail for details.