Hi Kt, Lou and everybody else who remembers me, lol. I am sorry I have been away to answer your questions but I had a big family reunion and I have been so busy! visiting parks, shopping, cooking and a little bit of gardening in between. The last member of the family is leaving Monday and I can return to take care of the garden and posting pictures for all your eyes. Going back to the question, I discover recently last season when I pulled the sweet potatoes out of all the places that I had them growing, the biggest roots where under the bananas. Now all my leftover container soil like after growing tomatoes is being recycled in the banana trees, so the soil is kind of rich there. Sweet potatoes do not like high nitrogen soil, the root of the bananas are very hardy and they will comeback like mine are doing now. I have some regular potatoes planted there now and I will again plant the sweets without amending the soil, since is already amended with the leftover soil from the pots. I will be posting pictures of the garden, hopefully next week and I live near Orlando in Oakland between Winter Garden and Clermont. c9pilot- when did you plant your sweets? they are usually ready somewhere between 100 and 140 days depending on the variety, you will see that it form a mound where the potatoes are ready. Silvia

I dug up ONE tuber a couple of weekends ago. I know there must be more, but I couldn't reach way down inside that planter box - it's about 4' deep. It was about 6" long and about 6" in circumference. Not too big, really. But I put it in my cabinet where I store my potatoes. Looks like a regular old sweet potatoe to me. Moni - yours is HUMONGOUS! Susan

Terri- I've wondered about doing powdered mashed white potatoes, but haven't tried it. I do dried potato slices and shreds, but you have to be careful with potatoes because they tend to mold if improperly dried. I believe you can make a slury in the blender with skinned/seeded tomatoes and dry it on fruit roll-up sheets until crispy. Powder in a blender when thoroughly dried. Dehydrated Potatoes 1. Wash and sort potatoes. Use like-sized potatoes if possible so they dehydrate in about the same time. Peel, if desired, or leave skin on. 2. Using a cutting mandoline (a really quick way to slice food for dehydrating) or knife, cut the potatoes into 1/8- to 1/4-inch slices and drop into cold water to prevent oxidation. 3. Then place the potato slices in boiling water (in small batches) and blanch potato slices for 5 minutes (or 6-8 minutes if using a steam blanch). 4. Drain and drop into a lemon juice/water solution - 2 quarts of cold water and 1/2 c. bottled lemon juice. Soak for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. (Other recipes omit the lemon/water soak, but an acid treatment is important to prevent microorganisms, such as Salmonella and E. Coli 0157:H7. These bacteria are hearty enough to survive basic drying methods, and new procedures are needed for safe dehydrated food. Use lemon juice/water, ascorbic acid/water, or citric acid/water.) 5. Drain and dry potato slices (I used my lettuce spinner and gently drained the water from the potatoes by spinning them.) 6. Dehydrate in a single layer, 12-18 hours at 120°F. (or temperature according to the manufacturer instructions of your model of dehydrator). Make sure the potatoes are brittle and semi-transparent. Incomplete dehydration will cause the potatoes to mold. Do not eat dehydrated potatoes with mold on them. Turn the potato slices once or twice during drying. 7. Store in an airtight container. To re-hydrate: Mix equal amounts of dehydrated potatoes and boiling water and allow to sit for 25 minutes. You can also slice washed potatoes into 1/2-inch shoestring strips for "hash browns" using the same method. -Grainlady

North Carolina is the number one producer of sweet potatoes in the US, 40% of the nation's supply. We have a Ham 'n Yam festival in Smithfield in May where huge crates are set out with paper bags for anyone attending the event to fill for free. Most of the restaurants offer baked sweet potato and fries. Sweet potato pies far surpass pumpkin and are home baked year 'round. In the chain grocery stores the prices are about 89c but the farmers markets have them for 25c to 35c per pound most of the year. They keep a long time open in a cool dark pantry but not near regular potatoes, onions, or apples. Don't refrigerate them unless they are cooked or they will become bitter. Cook them with the skins on for the best flavor, and eat the skin too for more nutrition. The county extension agencies discourage backyard gardeners from planting sweet potatoes to prevent potentially harmful blights, pests or bacteria's from affecting the big farmers cash crops. If you have a sprouted sweet potato, cut it and suspend it over water with toothpicks, put it on your window sill and soon you'll be rewarded with beautiful leaves as the vines and roots grow. My mom grew them that way from the earliest time I can remember, and pinned the vines to her curtains over the sink where they grew happily into the winter.