Grow sweet potatoes in your own garden

Recommended varieties

The sweet potato has become more and more popular in Germany in recent years. It is now available in numerous varieties. Your tubers come in different sizes and colors. Which variety you cultivate in your garden depends primarily on whether you want to use the sweet potato more as an ornamental plant or whether you want to bring in a high-yielding harvest. Because the individual plants also differ optically in terms of leaf size and color. The following varieties have proven themselves for cultivation in the home garden:

• Beauregard and S8 are very productive
• Evangelia also forms a lot of tubers and is easy to harvest, and it also impresses with its wine-red leaves make it a handsome ornamental plant, the pulp contains a lot of sugar and is therefore a delicate one temptation
• Murasaki impresses with its impressive root and leaf growth, even if the harvest yield is rather low fails, the variety has a pink-red skin and white flesh with a nutty and aromatic flavor taste
• Although Bonita has comparatively small tubers, it can be used in many ways in the kitchen

Pull the sweet potato yourself

Anyone can buy a finished plant from a specialist retailer. You will be all the more proud when you harvest the first bulbs that you have bred yourself. Growing is child's play. All you need is a sweet potato or a sweet potato shoot. How to do it:

1. it is best to start growing in January
2. cut off one end of the tuber
3. put the potatoes or the cuttings in a bowl with water or in a box with potting soil
4. ensure there is sufficient light and warmth
5. The first shoots appear after just a few days
6. when they reach a length of 10 cm, repot them in a growing container
7. If the nights stay frost-free, you can plant the sprouted sweet potatoes in the ground

Planting sweet potato

In order for your sweet potato to develop properly, you should consider the following aspects:

Site conditions

The potato, which comes from the warm tropics, needs sun and light to grow. Only a few varieties are in Penumbra better off. A south-facing location ideally meets these requirements. Cultivation on the balcony is also possible. However, especially when keeping the bucket, it is important that no waterlogging occurs. A sandy, well-drained soil that is still rich in nutrients is recommended for cultivation.

Plant spacing

Promote the growth of your sweet potatoes by not planting them in a flat bed, but by creating small ridges. The earth warms up faster, rain and irrigation water flow away faster, so that no waterlogging forms. This method is also ideal for growing in heavy soils. Keep the following dimensions:

• Height of the dams: 20 cm
• Width of the dams: 60 cm
• Distance between the dams: at least 1 m
• Distance between plants: 30 cm

time

Since frost significantly inhibits the growth of a sweet potato or even damages the plant, you should not put your potatoes outside until mid-May after the ice saints. If you are growing your sweet potato yourself, it is advisable to start growing as early as January.

Further care

to water

Initially, young plants hardly need watering. Only later, especially on warm days, does your sweet potato need a lot of water. Daily watering may be necessary in summer. Always keep the substrate well moist, but avoid waterlogging.

Fertilize

A well-prepared bed provides all the requirements for an adequate supply of nutrients. However, if you opt for a mixed culture, the nutrient requirement increases. It is then recommended

• three liters of ripe compost with 100 g Horn meal to be distributed per square meter
• the gift of complete fertilizer

When cultivating in pots, fertilization must be carried out more often, about once a week with liquid fertilizer.

harvest

If your cultivation was successful, your sweet potato will reward you with delicious tubers in October. The yellowing of the leaves is an indication that you can dig up the sweet potatoes. It is best to use your hands alone to avoid damaging the sensitive tubers. You can store the sweet potatoes intact at 12-16 ° C for about a month.