Sweet Potatoes
(Ipomea batatas)

Cultivars

[These are not the same vegetable as true "yams", which are rare in the Western hemisphere and which we do not describe.]

Sweet potatoes are, to our minds, a marginal crop. They are, much like winter squash, something of a one-trick pony in the culinary sense, yet they take up quite a bit of garden space that could be used for far more useful crops. But, because we have space galore, we will eaasy a modest crop, because there are a few things one can do with them other than drizzle melted butter and brown sugar over them (they respond well to being paired with tart tastes, such as sorrel, or even--we saw such a recipe on the net--grapefruit).

Sweet potatoes have many cultivated forms, but in the United States just two types prevail: the dry, mealy, yellow sweet potato; and the more watery orange "yam"--which is no such thing at all, but that's the idiocy we're stuck with for terminology. It seems a market rule that northern consumers prefer the so-called "dry-fleshed" types, while southerners prefer the "moist-fleshed" types. (Strange But True: the "dry-fleshed" ones have more water in them than the "moist-fleshed" ones.)

Sweet potatoes normally grow on trailing vines that quickly cover the soil, rooting at the nodes along the way--but there are "bush" varieties available for when space is limited. Though "sweets" are far and away more common and popular in the south of the U.S. than up north, there are cultivars that do well even up here; those include Beauregard (light-purple skin, dark-orange flesh), Bush Porto Rico (compact vines, copper skin, orange flesh), Centennial (orange skin and flesh), Georgia Jet (red skin, orange flesh), and Jewell (orange flesh, excellent keepers). A reliable seedsman of our region offers the Beauregard and the Georgia Jet (both vining types).

Incidentally, I have had it pointed out to me that the leaves of the sweet-potato plant are also edible. That might be worth looking into.

To us, from our reading, Georgia Jet seems the cultivar of choice in northern short-season areas (though even it is still marginal hereabouts).

Planting

Sweet potatoes are invariably grown from "starter" plants called slips, which you receive from your chosen seedsman shortly before planting time. Take care to obtain slips only from seedsmen with certified disease-free roots.

Timing

One wants to plant sweets as soon after the last frost as the ground has warmed some; they are long growers, typically 95 days or so, and so setting out slips around June 1st gives them three of our warmer months for their growth.

The Bed

Sweet potatoes prefer well-drained, loamy to sandy soil. Heavy clay soils are not good them--the potatoes can end up small or misshapen.

Even using certified disease-free slips, it is wise to rotate their garden location annually.

Planting Out

In our climate, it is well to use a plastic mulch for sweets, setting it out a couple of weeks prior to the expected planting date. Using a bush-type cultivar on a deep-dug or raised bed, a plant spacing of 9 inches is about right according to Jeavons. It is probably as well to also add drip irrigation to one's plans.

Growing

Use row cover to help with warmth.

Water well, but: do not water during the last 3 to 4 weeks before harvest, so as to protect the developing roots (the "potatoes").

Dig your crop at about the time of the first fall frost. As with true potatoes and other "root" crops, take great care not to cut, bruise, or otherwise damage the roots.

More

Relevant Links

Besides any links presented above on this page, the following ought to be especially helpful.

• Batatas, Not Potatoes - much interesting and useful sweet-potato information

Odds and Ends

Biology

The sweet potato is not at all the same thing as the yam, though "yam" is very commonly taken to just be another nickname for the true sweet potato. True sweet potatoes are a member of the Convolvulaceae, or convolvulus, family, which includes few other edibles, but does include the flower Morning Glory.

(The true yam--family Dioscoreaceae--is a large root vegetable, some up to a hundred pounds, grown in Africa and Asia, and rarely even seen in the western world.)

History

We try not to re-invent the wheel, so here is a link to a comprehensive history of the sweet potato.

Envoi

"Sweet potato candies, ice cream, cookies, and related delicacies prepared from this vegetable are not yet widely known, but they are surprisingly good." Or so says one site.

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