Sweet lesson on the importance of timing
Last spring, when vegetable seeds were hard to come by and I was feeling a little desperate to get my garden started, I looked to my refrigerator for things that I could plant. That included several potatoes that had already started to form “eyes” in the back of the vegetable bin. I also turned to more unlikely things, like trying to grow my own sweet potato slips. I watched several how-to videos, and got started.
The process sounded simple: skewer a sweet potato with three toothpicks more or less along the “equator,” and suspend it in a glass or jar of water. The thing is, the videos said that it’s important to discern which end of the potato is which, and submerge the correct one. The videos made it seem obvious — pointy and less pointy — but the reality of my sweet potatoes was that I couldn’t see any difference. I made the best guess I could.
For days, nothing happened. As I waited, I shared my project on my Chester County Roots Facebook page.
It was disheartening to read a comment that suggested that because these were store-bought potatoes, and likely to have been kiln-dried for storage, I wouldn’t get any results. I continued to wait.
Contrary to the prediction, the sweet potatoes put out tons of tiny shoots that grew to barely an inch or more. I had to marshal some courage to sever the shoots from the potato, then I placed them in water to (hopefully) root. Sweet potatoes thrive on heat, so all of this happened on a plug-in grow mat, to help keep the water warm.
Once the sprouts had grown roots, I planted them in little seed-starting cells. Growth seemed to happen faster at this point, but I was already a month or more behind the optimum planting time. Eventually, into the raised bed they went, in nice, soft potting soil.
It took a while for the diminutive plants to take hold, but once they did, the vines were off and running. Unfortunately, about a month in, deer discovered the plants one night and ate most of the leaves.
I was heartbroken, but figured that there was enough foliage left to keep the plants going while they grew new leaves. I created a barrier with bird netting, and was pleased to find that this measure worked.
Finally, late October arrived, with the threat of frost. Time to dig! You can see the results in the photo: not much of a showing. I think that a bit more hot weather would have filled them out; after all, I got the plants into the ground a month late, plus the plants started so small. Sure, I would have liked a real harvest of fullyformed roots, but I’m happy to have something. And I learned some valuable things in the process.
The one baffling part for me was the advice on what to do after the harvest. Which is to “cure” the potatoes for about a week at 80 to 85 degrees, and about 80 percent humidity. Where do you get that kind of conditions in our area at the end of October? I also learned that after harvest, sweet potatoes should be kept for at least three weeks before eating them. This apparently allows time for the starch to convert to sugars, yielding a sweeter sweet potato.
That pretty much wraps up the 2020 growing season.
Except that a zucchini plant, beleaguered by powdery mildew, is still hanging on, putting out blossoms, and working on maturing two baby fruits. I covered the plant during the frosty nights, and am hopeful that with the current stretch of mild weather, I’ll have a tiny harvest before it’s truly, finally all over.
Pam Baxter is an avid organic vegetable gardener who lives in Kimberton. Direct e-mail to pamelacbaxter@gmail. com, or send mail to P.O. Box 80, Kimberton, PA 19442.
Share your gardening stories on Facebook at “Chester County Roots.” Pam’s book for children and families, Big Life Lessons from Nature’s Little Secrets, is available on Amazon, along with her companion field journal, Explore Outdoors, at Amazon.com/ author/pamelabaxter.w