Chaman I always start my roots that way. Don't have any real documented proof, but I believe that they are less prone to have rotting problems when started in potting medium (vs. water) and intact (instead of cut). "Horizontal" put more of the root in contact with moisture and thus, likely to grow sprouts. That's just my reasoning. But there are people who have done the toothpick and water approach for MANY YEARS and they get sweet potatoes! Glenn Drowns, at Sandhill Preservation Center, has been doing quite a bit with sweet potatoes. He has the most extensive collection of varieties, available for sale, that I know of. But he, being in a Northern environment, has also been doing a lot to learn about the plant's requirements. Probably the #1 thing I've heard from him, over the years is that the sweet potato requires HEAT to grow and prosper. Glenn often counsels folk not to plant their starts until the nights and soil are warm. Starting slips in the garden early does not give better results than starting late but with plenty of warmth. Last year he started some varieties towards the end of July and still got good results. I started my last planting here on July 18 and found that two out of three varieties did not plump up quite as well I would have liked. My theory on this is that here in OK we have a number of weeks in the summer, when temps are so high, and we get no precipitation, that a lot of plants just sit there, rather than growing. Still, I would not hesitate to plant any sweet potato (here) anytime in June or early July. Sweet potato vines are incredibly resilient! I do not know why I do lose a slip or two almost every year when planting. But most of the time I put them out and water them (from a can), mainly for my own sake, not for theirs. When we lived in the high desert, in Hidalgo, Mexico; we helped a private school with agronomy. We used flood irrigation, as it rained infrequently. Anyway, I once saw a student harvest sweet potatoes and drop a vine in an unused garden plot. That plot received no irrigation or rain for four months. The vine was crisp and brown. When someone irrigated that plot the vine grew sprouts and rooted again! This was a native variety so folks, don't try this one at home, unless you just want to satisfy your curiosity. In my opinion, sweet potatoes are one of the most neglected and most useful crops a person can grow, and, I believe Northern gardeners really should try them. If one has a really short season or cool nights, then go with earlier varieties and use black plastic mulch. George Tahlequah, OK

wow, thanks for all the input! Okra: I feel bad about saying it, but, well, I'm not a big okra fan. I've never purchased, grown, or prepared it myself, but I've had it a few times in restaurants and it hasn't really inspired me. Winter Squash: I am growing several vines of butternut and futtsu winter squash on my new squash trellis already, as well as rampicante and tatume summer squash which can do double duty as winter squash. I did only start them recently, so I'm really hoping they have time... My last frost date is usually mid-October. I'm a convert to c. moschatas after my one and only time trying zucchini and bush delicatas, although I did put in a couple of spaghetti squash seeds as I've found they can pump out some squash before their inevitable borer-induced demise. Fall Brassicas, Carrots, Beets, Peas: Generally speaking I have other spots planned for these crops, although I might move some into this bed to get an earlier start. Especially the brassicas, if I'm going to need row covers (I'm on the fence about this, because without row covers my brassicas get infested with caterpillars and whiteflies, and the rowcovers seem to make the whitefly population explode. I'll probably post for some advice on this.) Pole Beans: I felt stymied by a lack of additional trellis space, but now that I think about it, they're called 'pole' beans, right? I have some extra 7' bamboo I could probably rig some bean tepees with...and I'd love some extra beans... Sweet Potatoes: This was going to be my first year with them, and we really enjoy them (and they take no prep at all, just tossing them in the oven or even the toaster oven) so I'll probably give a few slips a go just as a test. My sprouts are about 2 inches long (max) - any tips on sizing up slips in a hurry? Potatoes: I was also very intrigued by that tip from Farmerdill about the fall potatoes, but I haven't dug my spring potatoes yet and I'm not sure when they'll be ready. Maybe I'll look in the cabinet to see if I have any shrivelly tentacle monsters left over from last year.. So I suppose my sweet potato bed will now be a sweet potato/potato/pole bean/brassica/lettuce/herbs/greens/volunteer tomatoes/carrots/beets bed? It doesn't have the same clarity of purpose, but it certainly sounds interesting...

I raise Beauregard which is a deep orange that I love. My crop this year didn't amount to much but I just planted 10 plants. They should be cured for a couple of weeks in high temps around 80 degrees. Normally that isn't too hard to do, but with these cold days, I may just bring mine inside to cure. Then store at around 50 degrees with high humidity of 80 to 85%. I store them in a room in the milk barn that has concrete floors and walls so the humidity is pretty high. I place them in single layers on newspapers in card board boxes to I can check them often. Loose papers on top. I turn a heater on the keep it from freezing. I like to save a couple of medium sized ones with no deformities and if I can from a hill that had the best production. I hope we can both save some over. I scrub and bake all the fingerlings for snacks. I love them, but DH won't touch them. I eat skin and all.

joann, I don't have a recipe, but this one had rave reviews. Southern Candied sweet potatoes Serves 12 6 large sweet potatoes 1/2 cup butter 2 cups white sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 tablespoon vanilla extract salt to taste DIRECTIONS Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into slices. Melt the butter or margarine in a heavy skillet and add the sliced sweet potatoes. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Cover the sweet potatoes with sugar mixture and stir. Cover skillet, reduce heat to low and cook for about 1 hour or until potatoes are "candied". They should be tender but a little hard around the edges. Also the sauce will turn dark. You will need to stir occasionally during the cooking. Stir in the vanilla just before serving. Serve hot.