Grow Sweet Potatoes — Even in the North

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Sweet potatoes are surprisingly easy to grow in different regions of North America and, if properly cured, they have quite a memorable flavor.
Sweet potatoes are surprisingly easy to grow in different regions of North America and, if properly cured, they have quite a memorable flavor.
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As your plants grow, you can harvest and eat the tender sweet potato vine tips. 
As your plants grow, you can harvest and eat the tender sweet potato vine tips. 
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When fall arrives, take care to cure your sweet potatoes properly, and you’ll be blown away by their superb sweetness. 
When fall arrives, take care to cure your sweet potatoes properly, and you’ll be blown away by their superb sweetness. 
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Attention Northerners: This inconspicuous clear plastic mulch is your key to growing great sweet potatoes. 
Attention Northerners: This inconspicuous clear plastic mulch is your key to growing great sweet potatoes. 
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Harvest time! Use a broadfork to easily dig your sweet potatoes in fall. 
Harvest time! Use a broadfork to easily dig your sweet potatoes in fall. 
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Making your own sweet potato slips is simple: Sprouts will grow from a tuber stood upright in a glass of water. 
Making your own sweet potato slips is simple: Sprouts will grow from a tuber stood upright in a glass of water. 
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Holy sweet potato! Follow our tips, and you, too, could harvest potatoes that are as wide as a child. 
Holy sweet potato! Follow our tips, and you, too, could harvest potatoes that are as wide as a child. 
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A ‘Georgia Jet’ sweet potato blossom. If your ‘Georgia Jet’ is flowerless, you’ve been growing the Imposter! 
A ‘Georgia Jet’ sweet potato blossom. If your ‘Georgia Jet’ is flowerless, you’ve been growing the Imposter! 

An ideal staple crop for those seeking to meet most of their food needs with homegrown produce would be nutrient-dense, offer high yields, and have excellent flavor and storage qualities. A crop that fits this bill perfectly? The sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes are more nutritious and store better than any other root crop — they’re easy for home gardeners to keep for a full year. And while many people think of them as a Southern crop, you can in fact easily grow sweet potatoes in northern climates.

Unforgettable Flavor

I’ve been growing (in Canada!) and learning about sweet potatoes since the mid-1980s, when my friend, Suzanne Mason, who lives in South Carolina in the winter, brought me a half-bushel of cured sweet potatoes. They were incredibly sweet and delicious. I thought I knew sweet potatoes, but I never imagined they could be this good!

I wondered whether Suzanne’s grower in South Carolina had a secret. There must be a secret, or I wouldn’t have gone my entire life without coming across this superb flavor.

  • Published on May 23, 2011
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