On a whim after seeing an article in Mother Earth News I decided to order some vine slips and take a chance at what I could grow. My results were varied. Although my sweets did not get nearly as large as I had hoped, I did get a decent selection that would be good for baking and eating with steak. I would contribute this to my delayed planting of the slips a little late and the densely packed soil.
This Fall I think I'll incorporate some aged manure from the barn animals as well as some leaves into the area where I planted the sweet potatoes this year and see what happens. I also planted some sweet potatoes in the area inside my garden which has had the soil worked a bit more. The results were four to six inch long sausage shaped sweet potatoes. I had planted these really late, maybe even mid to late July. If these had more time to mature, I don't doubt that I would have had some nicely sized sweet potatoes.
Back to the hobby farmer... I had dug all my potatoes last night, unsure if I was pulling them out of the ground too early. The deer in the area have been feasting magnificently on the sweet potato vines. Combined with the cold nights and the leafless plants I decided to pull them out of the ground. I suppose my timing was perfect since the hobby farmer was pulling his out of the ground this morning when I drove past. I need to stop by and make his acquaintance, It looks to me like he could give me some pointers.
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