Yesterday I received sweet potato slips in the mail from Steele; they were shipped 5/28. I brought them home and put them in water, but they look pretty sad.
I got four each of Beauregard, Centennial, and Murasaki. The second two seem more robust, but I'm not sure the Beauregard was ready to be shipped - quite small, not hardly any roots.
Well, I'll put them all in the ground and hope for the best. I prepared soil by digging a trench about 8" deep and 12" wide, and then I mounded the soil up at least another 4". They don't get direct sun all day because of a neighbor's tree, but I think they'll still get a fair amount - especially once the leaves spread.
A big part of why I'm growing them is that when in Liberia my favorite food is sweet potato greens. While I can't duplicate that same dish, I can probably make some nice stir fries and such with the leaves.
If this goes well, I want to save my own slips for next year - these slips are not inexpensive and it's been a bit of a hassle to get them (I thought I'd get them a week ago, and now they won't be hardened before I have to travel). In general I want to save seeds as much as possible, which today means I need to collect the cilantro seeds from the plant out front that is long expired.
We'll see. Going slowly, slowly. Giving the watermelon and squash and sweet potatoes room to spread so it will seem like I'm gardening my whole yard, but lots aren't very big in New Orleans - if I really want to maximize productivity, there would need to be some vertical elements. But not this year, except for okra leaning against a chain link fence, and I'll construct a bean teepee. The lot where I'm growing now is not going to be my permanent garden - I only plan to be in this house a few more years, and I put in fruit trees that will soon hopefully grow and eventually shade everything. For now I'm learning, and it's not going to hurt anything that I'm improving the quality of the soil with organic matter.
I got four each of Beauregard, Centennial, and Murasaki. The second two seem more robust, but I'm not sure the Beauregard was ready to be shipped - quite small, not hardly any roots.
Well, I'll put them all in the ground and hope for the best. I prepared soil by digging a trench about 8" deep and 12" wide, and then I mounded the soil up at least another 4". They don't get direct sun all day because of a neighbor's tree, but I think they'll still get a fair amount - especially once the leaves spread.
A big part of why I'm growing them is that when in Liberia my favorite food is sweet potato greens. While I can't duplicate that same dish, I can probably make some nice stir fries and such with the leaves.
If this goes well, I want to save my own slips for next year - these slips are not inexpensive and it's been a bit of a hassle to get them (I thought I'd get them a week ago, and now they won't be hardened before I have to travel). In general I want to save seeds as much as possible, which today means I need to collect the cilantro seeds from the plant out front that is long expired.
We'll see. Going slowly, slowly. Giving the watermelon and squash and sweet potatoes room to spread so it will seem like I'm gardening my whole yard, but lots aren't very big in New Orleans - if I really want to maximize productivity, there would need to be some vertical elements. But not this year, except for okra leaning against a chain link fence, and I'll construct a bean teepee. The lot where I'm growing now is not going to be my permanent garden - I only plan to be in this house a few more years, and I put in fruit trees that will soon hopefully grow and eventually shade everything. For now I'm learning, and it's not going to hurt anything that I'm improving the quality of the soil with organic matter.
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