How to Grow Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are a versatile and increasingly popular vegetable and is certainly able to grow outdoors in the milder areas of the UK. They are grown more often in southern regions because they require at least four months of warm temperatures, though there are varieties that will grow in northern gardens, too.
Here you may need to use a greenhouse, glasshouse or Poly Tunnel. Sweet potatoes are surprisingly easy to grow and just a few plants can produce a generous harvest. It is a scrambling, tender perennial closely related to Morning Glories. Grow it as an annual and harvest in the early autumn. You can grow them from a sweet potato from the supermarket.
- Take a few clean sweet potatoes and place into a container
- Cover them with peat and keep damp
- Leave in a warm place
- When ‘slips’ emerge from the surface to a height of 20cm, trim them off
- Pot into Compact Rootrainers and allow to grow on. You could go with ordinary pots but the Rootrainers will prevent root disturbance when you plant them on.
- It is very important to wait for the frost danger to pass. Then you can plant them in their final position.
- then it is a case of watering and weeding well until around late September when they should be ready to harvest. to do this, carefully dig them up. Leave for one week to mature in a warm place (allows skins to set and flavour to sweeten)
Alternatively, order cuttings or slips, which will be delivered from late April onwards and pot the cuttings immediately into the Compact Rootrainers
More Posts
-
How to Freeze Home Grown Rhubarb
If you are growing your own rhubarb then chances are you might get a glut. Luckily rhubarb is easy to freeze. Discover if you have to blanch rhub...
Read More -
Beginners Guide to Growing Rhubarb Crowns or Seeds
Discover how to grow rhubarb from seed or rhubarb crowns. All you need to know from when and where to plant it to how to force and harvest it.
Read More -
Growing Jalapenos in Pots: A Guide for UK Gardeners
Your guide to growing jalapenos in pots in the UK. Growing jalapenos chillies from seed in pots and containers is not only possible but also incred...
Read More
Comments
0 Comments