7:30 a.m. NE Texas. Light sprinkle of rain. 57 F degrees. A bit chilly but decided to go ahead and plant out the sweet potato slips because the next 5 or 6 days are forecast to be gray with intermittent precip. They might stall a bit because of the temps, but maybe acting now will keep the young transplants from burning up in the bright Texas sun before they get well established. Some past years, I have had to plant them under shade cloth, which just felt wrong somehow.
Vardaman, 16 plants. These are a bush variety from Mississippi that I have grown before. They yield plenty of tender and tasty young leaves all summer for stir-fry meals at a time when I’m not able to grow traditional leafy green vegetables because those mostly prefer cool weather. When harvest rolls around, usually late October, before the first frost, I still get several pounds of good-sized tubers.
Porto Rico, 16 plants. Another bush variety, new to me. These sweet potatoes are all in my front yard and I would prefer that they didn’t send out miles and miles of vines on the ground and take over the whole neighborhood. Hence the choice of bush varieties.
Growing them in eight 20-gallon grow bags. Four slips per bag. Loose, fluffy soil amended with perlite and compost, but no additional fertilizer. I built chicken wire cages to hopefully limit the squirrel predation. My yard has 4 large oak trees and, thankfully, they get enough acorns to take care of their hunger, but they still try to bury their stash in my grow bags if left undefended.
by NPKzone8a
2 Comments
In DFW area and have some Vardaman slips to plant today! The rain has deterred me so far this morning but at some point I’ll put on my jacket and get ‘er done. First time doing slips and you make a good point to get it done now while we have some overcast days.
I’m trying Japanese sweet potatoes this year! I already have 5 slips rooting and 5+ still coming off of my potatoes. I’ve never grown these before, but I’m very excited. I also got a batch of 20 gallon grow bags to use.