Thanks so much for all the advice and information grandad, toogreen, farmerdilla and wayne. It sounds easy indeed, now I wonder why we did not try this before. In the worst heat of the summer, only the okra looked good last year. I cannot believe that plant, flowering when it is 107 F!!!! crazy plant (I love it). This year we are adding cow peas and sweet potatoes to the hot weather vegetable clan. Why not? might as well take advantage of what grows well here and now. We cannot grow parsnips or cherries, so we might as well grow sweet potatoes. We have several roots (tubers?) starting, I only showed one, but we have white sweet potato and red sweet potatoes. They have different types of leaves, as shown in Farmerdilla's picture. Farmerdilla, your picture is nice, thanks for posting it. We might do a bed just like that, still have a few recycled pieces of lumber to use for garden beds. I think that 500 slips is a bit much for us, we might do from 12 to 20 slips. Since each averages about 6 sweet potatoes, this should give us plenty for feeding two not too large people. Besides, we are also growing other 'starchy' root crops, regular potatoes (to be harvested soon), jerusalem artichokes, chayote (the root is edible) and some weird tropical ones (elephant ears types). I take it that the level of development shown in the pictures I posted is just about right for taking the slips? not too large but large enough? or perhaps they could be 'harvested' as slips a little younger? We still have them in water but we will plant them in the ground, or in pots, this coming weekend.

I like cheese in my scalloped potatoes. These are my two "go to" recipes. Potato Gratin Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup) 1 clove garlic, halved Cooking Spray 1 c onion, chopped 6 medium sized baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 3/4 c extra sharp cheddar, grated 1/4 c romano cheese, grated 1-3/4 c chicken broth 1 c evaporated milk Preheat oven to 425 Rub a shallow 3 qt casserole with cut sides of garlic halves, discard garlic. Coat dish with cooking spray. Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray, place over medium heat until hot. Add Onion and saut� 5 minutes or until tender., set aside. Arrange 1/3 of potato slices in prepared casserole, sprinkle with half the salt and half of the pepper. Top with half of the onions and half of the cheeses. Repeat layers, ending with potato slices. Bring broth and milk to a boil over low heat in a small saucepan. Pour over potatoes. Bake, uncovered for 50 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Scalloped Potatoes with Three Cheeses Bon App�tit : November 1999 by Rick Rodgers Ingredients 3/4 cup (packed) grated extra\-sharp cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces) 3/4 cup crumbled Danish blue cheese (about 4 ounces) 1/3 cup (packed) freshly grated Parmesan (about 1 1/4 ounces) 4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4\-inch\-thick rounds 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 3 tablespoons all purpose flour 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter 3 cups whole milk Preparation Preheat oven to 400�F. Lightly butter 13x9x2\-inch glass baking dish. Mix cheddar cheese, blue cheese and Parmesan in small bowl. Arrange half of potatoes in prepared baking dish, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle onion over, then flour. Dot with 2 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle half of cheese mixture over. Top with remaining potatoes, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 2 tablespoons butter. Reserve remaining cheese. Bring milk to simmer in medium saucepan. Pour milk over potatoes (milk will not cover potatoes completely). Cover baking dish tightly with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Uncover dish (liquids in dish may look curdled); sprinkle potatoes with reserved cheese mixture. Bake uncovered until potatoes are tender and cheese is deep golden brown, about 45 minutes longer. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Cover and rewarm in 375�F oven about 20 minutes.) Remove from oven; let stand 15 minutes before serving. My notes: I use gruyere in place of blue cheese and this was delicious! Linda

During the Depression my grandmother ran a boarding house for young men at the Unversity of Missouri. She needed recipes that featured Fast and Cheap. I don't remember all of her scalloped potato recipe, but it began with cooking the sliced potatoes in boiling water in a large frying pan. Then she poured off the water and added flour, milk and seasoning. There was no baking involved. The whole thing was cooked on the top of the stove. Cooking the potatoes in water was faster, and you didn't have to worry about the milk or cream 'turning' snce you added it after the potatoes were almost tender. You could add ham at the last...if you had it! Grandmother had sent her two eldest boys to live with an uncle. She managed to keep the other five housed and fed by running the boarding house.

Too cold in the fridge also will turn the starches to sugar and you get odd flavored sweet tasting potatoes. I store mine in wire racks in my current version of the "root cellar", which is really just an unheated cement block room attached to the back of the house. It seems to be cool year round, being shaded by a large bunch of trees, but does not freeze in the winter. I buy potatoes in 8 lb bags when I don't have any homegrown ones left, like right now. They seldom sprout, as they are treated to prevent that, usually, when buying commercial potatoes. However, mine are about ready to dig, so blue and red potatoes will be stored in wire bins and the fingerlings will have to stay in plastic milk crates with mesh bottoms as they are small enough to slide through the wires on the bins. The crates stack nicely, although I seldom grow more than a couple of crates full. I always keep some back for next year's planting, and they'll keep until next year when it's time to plant, although I'll get sprouts that are measurable in feet instead of inches, LOL. When I get a lot of them, I'll do like grainlady and prepare a lot of twice baked potatoes or freeze individual portions of mashed potatoes. I used to make a LOT of homemade French fries when the girls were home, cutting them into fries and par cooking them in hot oil. They would then get put into the oven when the girls wanted an afternoon snack before I got home from work and it was very convenient. Annie