That's awesome, Silvia! Next time I'm going to follow you more closely when you plant and harvest your sweet potatoes so mine are a little bigger next time ;).

I have Brandywine tomatoes started indoors along with California Wonder (I think) bell peppers indoors.

I'm wondering when I should plant zucchini and summer squash. In the spring I just planted summer squash seeds straight in the ground and they came up great. I'm not sure when to plant them in the fall, though in 10a.

Very nice Silvia!

Thank you Nessz, sweet potatoes are one of the easiest crops to grow and are very versatile in cooking.
I am also starting some brandywine tomatoes, the seeds that I have are a variety from Monticello that did very well for me last season. After the weather cools down some, I will be planting squash, cucumbers and beans straight in the garden.

Thank you Amber, I hope that you are getting ready for the fall planting, I am starting your Indigo Rose tomatoes this season, it is going to be fun trying new varieties. From all the tomatoes that I started the one that looks the most vigorous is the tomato that I got in Italy, it is already double in size compared with the other varieties.

Silvia

Silvia - Nice looking patch of sweet potatoes. What will you put in its place?

Christine

Very nice! I am growing sweets in grow bags this year. It will be interesting to see how much they produce. I think I have another week or so till I unearth them. Just starting on the seeds for my tomatoes as I can't put anyting out till Ocotber and sometimes its mid October. What varieties are you growing this season?

Silva, I'm growing that Italian tomato you sent me too. I wanted to let you know your Fish pepper seeds sprouted faster than any pepper I've ever tried. They sprouted days before all the tomatoes I planted at the same time.

Thank you Christine, I try to rotate the crops even in my small space, so I probably put bush green beans or summer squash.

Thank you Keiki, let us know how well they do in the bags.
Every year sweet potatoes get better and better, they last me for a long time and didn't have to buy any the last few years.
As for the tomatoes, I always grow for me and my family an assortment of different varieties, heirlooms and hybrids, different colors and sizes. But for the community gardens, I am growing mostly big varieties because that is what they prefer so they will be getting an assortment of beefsteaks, heirlooms and hybrids and hope for the best.:)

And for all of you is this video, that I thought is very cute.:)

Here is a link that might be useful: sweet potatoes

Amber, Is good to know that you are also growing the Italian tomato, in the picture of the seeds look like the size of the campari in a string. The fish pepper plant is very productive and ornamental.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: fish pepper

Silvia, I planted the sweet potatoes you gave at the spring Garden party that same week. should I be harvesting them now??
That sure is a good looking harvest you got there.
carmen

Carmen -

This month is the harvest for those sweets! :-) But you can leave them longer and take what you need as you need it, too. I like to leave mine in longer, until I need the space for other things and get bigger 'taters, too.

Barbie~

Oh- wanted to say I think that Silvia's have been in the ground longer. ;-)
B.

Thank you Carmen, remember the day of the party? mine were already on the bed and growing, I don't remember exactly when I planted them but it was just a few days before. What you have to do is look under the vines and kind of feel the sweets under where they form a mound. They are usually ready around 90/120 days. I am eating some today and they are really good! I just roasted them with olive oil and kosher salt and I am sharing with my dogs, they like them too.:)

Barbie, you are right, mine were already planted but not too long before the party. Yours and Carmen should be getting ready and I am sure your kids are going to like them, when mashed with little butter are very tasty.

Silvia

How do you store all of those sweet potatoes?

How long can they be stored?

Thanks

A bit off topic, but I've got Ipomoea vine in hanging baskets and darned if there's not a bright red potato in there from what I can tell. What do I do ? I was not growing it for edibles and it's had all sorts of watering from the reclaimed water as well as healthy doses of the mosquito spray we used about a month ago.

Can I just leave it in the hanging basket ? Can I pull the potato out without destroying the vines ? Should I pull the potato out ? So interesting to me that I potted this up for the beautiful foliage and now I've got a real potato ;) .

Thanks.

Hi Joeworm

I let the sweet potatoes to dry a little bit for a few days on the porch, after that I put them between newspapers in stacked bins and store them in a closet.

Of course I eat some and save a few till next planting time, that will be next spring when I start the slips again to plant them.

This season I am also growing Okinawan purple

And Mahon's

Silvia

Sylvia,

Nice harvest of sweets, you always do well with them.
I still have 2 months left to wait on my Beauregard as I planted them late this year.

Lou

Hi Cocoableachlorax

Any variety of sweet potatoes are very easy to root, somebody asked a similar question before and the answer was not to eat the potato from the ornamental varieties because it is not that tasty.:) If you are growing them just for the vines, I would leave them like it is or you can start more vines with cuttings and put them in another basket.

Hi Lou!

Thank you. I remember harvesting sweet potatoes even in the winter, if we don't have frost they do fine even with the cold.
A guru from the veggie forum recommended for taste alone Okinawa purple and Mahon's, it is going to be very interesting to find out about the flavor and because I got them late like you, I will be harvesting them about the same time...

Silvia

Thanks Silvia ! I just love that the ipomoea reminds me of the fall colors back home when the leaves change. I pot up the bright green with the deep purple, it reminds me of the Japanese Maples.

I planted my share of the slips from the party on the day after. I tried digging one hill in the corner and got 3 smallish tubers. they are long enough, 5 inches, but only 1 and a 1/4 inches in diameter.

Should I wait another week or two to dig the rest?

Larry

Cocoabeachlorax, I also like easy care plants and if they come with good association memories, the better!

Larry, if you look at the picture above, I also harvested some thin potatoes but most of them were some good size. When in doubt, you should wait another week or two. Look under the ones that would be producing tubers first like mine were in the middle of the bed, the thinner sp were at the end of the beds and to my surprise I am still harvesting some that are all the way down.:)

Silvia

I sliced up my fingerling taters and fried them in a little butter. So good! So, so what if they are small? Certifiable organic locally grown vegetables are a pleasure to eat.

I brought in a pineapple today too, and my banana is making fruits. I'm ready for fall gardening.

Thanks Silvia. I never would have tried these without the gift of the slips.

Larry

Larry, I am eating those small potatoes also, I just love baby vegetables!
Growing your own food is fun, delicious and nutritious, you can't beat that.
Let's get ready for the fall gardening!

Silvia

You constantly learn something new with gardening. I pulled the vines today. Like Silvia said, lota work. They had taken over a 12X20 area and had grown through the fence into the neighbors. The vine had rooted along the runners and I was wondering if you could replant some of them to get more taters. Next thing I know I'm finding fingerling taters at some of the root points. There are still some runners on the other side of the garden fence, so I think I'll leave them and see if I will luck out and get a second crop... and If I missed any of the fingerlings, I'll have volunteer plants next spring.

Larry

Larry, that is the beauty of sweet potatoes, they will keep on growing and rooting from anything that is left, and if you don't want them, they are easy to take out or transplant in another area...and when you think you want to try new things, the leaves are edible, prepare them like any other green.:)
They will tolerate cold but not frost, you can always cover them up, I use an old blanket.

Silvia