![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_15391-225x300.jpg\" "\\"Sweet")
<\/a>Later season vigorous vines<\/p><\/div>\n
The vines really grew well, especially later in the season.\u00a0 We gave them a later start, partly because we didn’t read the article until the end of April.\u00a0 We probably should have started the slips in late March to be able to plant them a month sooner than we did.\u00a0 But what did Mr. Bad Sweet Potato Attitude care?<\/p>\n
One day in mid-September, Mrs. Gardener and I were visiting Smith and saw the tops of two sweet potatoes peeking up from the soil like dirty, orange prairie dogs.\u00a0 Even I was excited to know that the plants really had produced something.\u00a0 But when to pick them?\u00a0 We read and studied still more about this plant we’d read a lot about already. \u00a0 We decided to dig them before a serious frost.\u00a0 With nighttime temperatures in the forties these days, I grabbed the garden fork and we took advantage of a perfect fall afternoon to hunt for buried treasure.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2232-225x300.jpg\" "\\"By")
<\/a>Hidden gold unearthed<\/p><\/div>\n
Searching for them was a lot of fun though a tiny bit nerve racking, like hunting for buried Easter eggs, because we wanted to dig thoroughly without breaking the fragile potatoes.\u00a0 Almost magical the way a few would appear with a fork full of soil.\u00a0 We laughed to see it.\u00a0 At the end of the search we ended up with 20 potatoes.\u00a0 Some have tiny holes but don’t seem to be soft or rotting.\u00a0 We don’t really care, because we learned.\u00a0 Next year, I’ll buy proper seed sweet potatoes (we used store bought), and start them earlier.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2236-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Look")
<\/a>Our haul<\/p><\/div>\n
We are now curing them in a box with a lamp.\u00a0 Newly harvested sweet potatoes need to be in an 80 – 85 degree atmosphere for a week or so.\u00a0 It toughens up the skin so they will last longer, several months in a cool basement or root cellar.\u00a0 These little beauties also need to sit for a month or more to increase the sugar content.\u00a0 According to the article, newly picked sweet potatoes don’t have much flavor for a month or so after pulling them, as if I care about their taste.\u00a0 Maybe they will be ready by Thanksgiving.\u00a0 For sure by Christmas.\u00a0 And who knows, maybe I might just like a sweet potato pulled from my own garden.<\/p>\n
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I dig them in the garden, but I don’t like eating them.\u00a0 I never have and I’m guessing I never will.\u00a0 Too bad for me, I’ve been told, missing out on such a sweet and healthy treat. This was Mrs. … Continue reading