Sweet Potatoes and World Domination

Here's the sweet potato patch, occupying a raised bed approximately 5 feet by 5 feet.  I trim the curling tendrils back about every week to keep it from smothering the tomatoes and suffocating the water faucet.  The little vining devils that wander out onto the driveway are ruthlessly pruned back when we drive on them.  And this is one plant, a tiny slip of a thing, that was planted in June of this year.

Look at them go!

We've grown sweet potatoes in this spot for two years now, and they seem to love it.  The variety pictured above is 'Beauregard,' also known as the Louisiana Sweet Potato.  I order them from The Tator Man, or George's Plant Farm.  It's best if you can get together with a group of people to order because, as you can tell, you don't need many plants.  It's too late to plant them this year, but bookmark his site for next April.  The prices work out to $1 per slip or less.  You will never find a better deal.  I love to grow sweet potatoes because they are so cooperative.  I fertilize them with a mild liquid solution when I remember to do it, and once this season I spread some Sluggo out for the snails.  That's it!

'Beauregard' is a traditional vining-type sweet potato and we grow it specifically for Thanksgiving, because it's such a quick crop.  This year, we are also experimenting with 'Bunch Porto Rican.'  Its stems are a pretty purple color and the plants are not nearly so assertive.  We have them planted decorously in the front yard, masquerading as a tidy little ground cover.  The vegetable garden is slowly escaping its confines, a la Hogan's Heroes!