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You can put one sweet potato in an empty mayonnaise jar or such with toothpick supports and it will sprout several vines. When time to plant you should have 1-2 dozen plants to cut off of the potato. I just don't remember how long you need to start before outdoor planting time. These also can be used as a center piece for a table if kept trimmed back.
That is exactly what we do. We use one sweet potato, some years two; let it get lots of roots and plant it. We usually start it toward the end of March and plant it about the first of June.
That is exactly what we do. We use one sweet potato, some years two; let it get lots of roots and plant it. We usually start it toward the end of March and plant it about the first of June.
I think I had mine in the ground b May 1st. One or two years I may have had to cover them for a late frost but don't remember it. The raised beds covered in black plastic warmed the ground and the extra month of sun made for a bigger yield and at the same time let us get them out of the ground and dried before the first frost.
I think I had mine in the ground b May 1st. One or two years I may have had to cover them for a late frost but don't remember it. The raised beds covered in black plastic warmed the ground and the extra month of sun made for a bigger yield and at the same time let us get them out of the ground and dried before the first frost.
I always get anxious when it get close to time to start digging them up: I always wonder if we are going to get one or 50. I just have to be patient. I did start cleaning out the garden yesterday. I was only out there about 10 minutes, but I pulled some weeds, some dead produce plants etc. to my surprise, under the weeds and crap were enough tender green beans for one more meal and the biggest shock, for the first time since I started growing the volunteer cantaloupe seeds I actually got one that was even the color of a cantaloupe. It is the size of an apple but it still tastes like a cantaloupe. I have been getting them for about 2 years, and some have been pretty good. I also still have a few regular tomatoes, but they are tiny and I will never stop picking the darn cherry tomatoes.
Thanks for the tips about the potatoes. I need to bring a root inside before it gets too cold. We finally got some rain Wooo! So hopefully the peas I planted will do well. They were actually even growing well during the drought. Hopefully the garlic and bok choi seeds I planted will sprout.
I was too busy watering the trees I'd planted/transplanted this year to pay any attention to the vegetable garden. I am getting tomatoes, peppers and YES eggplant...finally. Sigh. It seems like these took forever to produce.
I am getting a lot of those baby butternut squash, but they're not as sweet as the big ones. Well, they're edible, but I'm going to grow a pack of the big ones next year and just give em room. The tiny peppers are cute, but I did not get any fully ripe ones...just partially ripe...and it is already getting cold.
This is why I like ornamental gardening. Growing vegetables is so hard. Sobs. Well, I'm making plans for next year! I'm definitely doing kale and spinach again...just not as much as I did this year. Plus More Bok Choi. Slugs love it, but it was still great.
OK well, I am still doing vegetable gardening, and getting a little excited with the cool weather.
Garlic and Onion
The onion and garlic I replanted all have shoots. At least one of the onions split. Yay! They were pretty small. Hopefully they'll be bigger next year. I planted some more garlic. I put down a little fertilizer as well.
Greens
I am still getting swiss chard. That stuff is awesome! I love spinach, and it really tastes almost like spinach. I had to pick off a bunch of yellow and black bugs that were eating it. Grrr. Hopefully it will put out new leaves.
I bravely planted some lettuce and winter kale seeds. I absolutely adore leaf lettuce. It is not a survival food LOL, but it sure is easy to grow! Hopefully I will get to eat some of it and the kale as well. Thank god for the awesome rain! The bok choi I planted out is tiny. It should be ready to eat in a couple of weeks. I love that stuff. I wish I had more seeds left.
Peas
This is my last year planting peas. I got what...like 10 pods this year. I planted out the rest of the pack in summer, and they're growing. Looking wimpy as usual. I killed some caterpillars which were eating the leaves. Hopefully I'll get some peas.
Rose Hips
As part of my ongoing effort to introduce more edible plants into my landscape, I bought a bunch of roses...two years ago, I think. I selected them all based on the fact that they bear hips. Anyway this year the star of the rose hip show is brilliant pink iceberg. I nibbled one BIG orange hip. It was a little sweet and tangy. Not bad.
One rose which I had high hopes for is the native Virginia rose. But boy, does it grow slowly! Year two, and still no hips or flowers. I did move it again this year, so let us see how it does. The other roses have hips, but I think they're still unripe.
Squash
There's a reason that this is one of my favorite plants. Some of the plantings were decimated by insects, but I still have a few which were overlooked by pestilence and are producing fruits. I'd like to take a moment to thank our native american ancestors for squash...
Peppers
"Cute stuff" and the other peppers I planted are still producing tiny green peppers. I guess it is better than nothing. I had one yesterday in an omlette. I still have seeds, I think, so I will probably plant these next year.
Overall it was a very good year for my garden. We canned lots of beans, made several quarts of tomato juice and pasta sauce, put peppers and corn in the freezer and I harvested over 550 lbs. of kennebec potatoes. I was a little disappointed in my sweet potato harvest which was probably less than 15 lbs and that's an all time low for me. 2 years ago, I dug over 60 lbs with one potato weighing in at 10.2 lbs. Anyway its time to let the soil rest and plan for next year...........NOT! Here's a pic of my Red Russian Kale patch that I planted after I dug my potatoes. Everything below the kale has been sown in winter rye which will get turned under in the Spring.
Overall it was a very good year for my garden. We canned lots of beans, made several quarts of tomato juice and pasta sauce, put peppers and corn in the freezer and I harvested over 550 lbs. of kennebec potatoes. I was a little disappointed in my sweet potato harvest which was probably less than 15 lbs and that's an all time low for me. 2 years ago, I dug over 60 lbs with one potato weighing in at 10.2 lbs. Anyway its time to let the soil rest and plan for next year...........NOT! Here's a pic of my Red Russian Kale patch that I planted after I dug my potatoes. Everything below the kale has been sown in winter rye which will get turned under in the Spring.
I certainly appreciate you sharing your garden with us this year thank you. Now what on earth will you do with all that kale?? Looks beautiful BTW.
I certainly appreciate you sharing your garden with us this year thank you. Now what on earth will you do with all that kale?? Looks beautiful BTW.
Jaxson, I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping others and sharing the bounty of my garden. I share with my brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors. I usually can enough to get me through the Summer months. It will freeze down this Winter and then come back in the Spring and for a while, I'll have fresh kale again. Early to mid April, I'll plow it all under and get my potatoes back in the ground. Thank you for your kind comments.
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How on earth did he plant all that kale? LOL I got tired with one packet and all the teensy seeds.
kinkytoes, Those rows are about 2 1/2 feet wide and 90 feet long. I don't buy the seed in small packages. I think they hold 1/4 ounce and if you planted by the instructions, it would be a long single row. I buy the seed in bulk which is way cheaper. I think 8 oz. of seed cost me about $8 and that's a lot of seed. 1/4 oz pack of seed cost $1.25 so it's a no-brainer for me. I lay off the rows with my Gravely tractor, sprinkle in some fertilizer and then take a leaf rake and remove the clods. I then walk along the row and sprinkle the seed by hand. I go back over it with the rake to make sure it's covered and then water it all in from my drilled well. It really is a lot of work but I love it and the end result is well worth it.
We had our first frost for the fall this past week. Over night my sweet potato leaves turned dark, a sign of frost bite, so this afternoon I dug them all out. I had planted them in two locations, raised bed and a new bed I created earlier this spring using "lasagna method". To my pleasant surprise, the new bed produced more & bigger sweet potatoes than the raised bed. The soil is dark, soft, composted from grass clippjngs, card boards & straws. I am a believer.
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Thanks for the tips about the potatoes. I need to bring a root inside before it gets too cold. We finally got some rain Wooo! So hopefully the peas I planted will do well. They were actually even growing well during the drought. Hopefully the garlic and bok choi seeds I planted will sprout.
Looks beautiful BTW.
