sweet potato
 

Hello,

I bought the pack of sweet potato slips from T&M. The instructions say
you harvest any time between the end of September and end of October,
so that they are lifted before the frosts. Sadly I haven't had much
success. I wondered how everyone else did?

Two died pretty soon after planting; the other eight grew, but not to
the extent the leaflet suggested they would. The leaflet spoke of
trailing foliage and flowers. I didn't see any flowers and the foliage
whilst tit has grown, it hasn't gone crazy. It was planted in well
draining soil with rotted compost, as advised, so I am at a loss what
went wrong.

The sweet potatoes are the size of a pod of peas; far too tiny to eat!
Did I do something wrong or has this just been a bad year for them?
How did everyone else do?

Thanks,
Stephen.

sweet potato
 

In article ,
Stephen wrote:

I bought the pack of sweet potato slips from T&M. ...

You've been had.

The sweet potatoes are the size of a pod of peas; far too tiny to eat!
Did I do something wrong or has this just been a bad year for them?
How did everyone else do?

They're true tropical plants. With CONSIDERABLE care, and growing
them under protection, some people have got a crop. Otherwise,
don't bother.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

sweet potato
 

wrote in message ...
In article ,
Stephen wrote:

I bought the pack of sweet potato slips from T&M. ...

You've been had.

The sweet potatoes are the size of a pod of peas; far too tiny to eat!
Did I do something wrong or has this just been a bad year for them?
How did everyone else do?

They're true tropical plants. With CONSIDERABLE care, and growing
them under protection, some people have got a crop. Otherwise,
don't bother.


What Nick said. We grew them once since we were given a couple of slips, but
we're very close to the south coast, and it was a hot summer that year. Even
so, we only got two big ones and half a dozen tiddlers.

Steve

sweet potato
 

Stephen wrote:
I bought the pack of sweet potato slips from T&M. The instructions say
you harvest any time between the end of September and end of October,
so that they are lifted before the frosts. Sadly I haven't had much
success. I wondered how everyone else did?

Ours are still in the ground, probably about time to bring them up, I guess.
They are still growing quite well (as of last week, anyhow - not checked yet
today!) - will report back later!

Two died pretty soon after planting; the other eight grew, but not to
the extent the leaflet suggested they would. The leaflet spoke of
trailing foliage and flowers. I didn't see any flowers and the foliage
whilst tit has grown, it hasn't gone crazy. It was planted in well
draining soil with rotted compost, as advised, so I am at a loss what
went wrong.

Last year ours did quite badly, with not many tubers, but the ones we got
weren't as small as yours.

This year our plants have done brilliantly. That doesn't mean there will be
anything underneath, but they look /really/ good. If I get hte chance I
will get a photo before we dig them up (assuming they haven't died in the
last week)

We did get flowers, pink ones, like bindweed or morning glory flowers.

sweet potato
 

"shazzbat" wrote ...
wrote ...
Stephen wrote:

I bought the pack of sweet potato slips from T&M. ...

You've been had.

The sweet potatoes are the size of a pod of peas; far too tiny to eat!
Did I do something wrong or has this just been a bad year for them?
How did everyone else do?

They're true tropical plants. With CONSIDERABLE care, and growing
them under protection, some people have got a crop. Otherwise,
don't bother.


What Nick said. We grew them once since we were given a couple of slips,
but we're very close to the south coast, and it was a hot summer that
year. Even so, we only got two big ones and half a dozen tiddlers.

I also agree with Nick.

We tried for a few years and never got a worthwhile crop, those that did
grow had slug holes all over them anyway. We even tried using our own tubers
to make slips very early for the next season, an easy process BTW, and
potted them up in our heated greenhouse until time to plant out yet they too
didn't produce any worthwhile crop. Lots of foliage such that other plot
holders thought I was growing convolvulus from Hell, it ran everywhere, but
nothing to eat.

I think a heated greenhouse to start them off early, and a large Polytunnel
for growing are needed, at least in the UK.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Tropical in origin, but are grown very successfully in temperate climates with a long warm summer. They are grown in Spain and Italy, and grow well even in northern parts such as Catalunya and Veneto. They were a staple for the Maori of New Zealand. In the US they are cultivated commercially in Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina (the main producer), as well as the gulf coast states.

So we aren't too many hundred of miles north of good growing areas. But basically the problem in Britain is that the growing season normally just isn't warm for long enough for outdoor growing to have much chance of success. Better chance in a greenhouse.

The history of the plants is very interesting. They were cultivated from about 2500BC in central and southern America, and from about 700-1000AD in the Pacific Islands, including New Zealand. It was also grown in highland New Guinea before European contact, though possibly from more recent times. But the Philippines knew it not before European contact. The name for them is more or less the same - kumara or some variant - in Quechua (main Peruvian language), Nahuatl (main Mexican language) and Polynesian languages (including Maori), who all cultivated it before European contact. So there is some quite strong indication of Polynesian - South American contact. Although there is some very rare native sweet potato in Polynesia, it is not the same species as South America, and the Polynesians cultivated the South American version, via cuttings.

The Maori trained seagulls to pick bugs off the leaves, would you believe it.

sweet potato
 

"echinosum" wrote in message
...

;902987 Wrote:
They're true tropical plants. With CONSIDERABLE care, and growing
them under protection, some people have got a crop. Otherwise,
don't bother.
Tropical in origin, but are grown very successfully in temperate
climates with a long warm summer. They are grown in Spain and Italy,
and grow well even in northern parts such as Catalunya and Veneto. They
were a staple for the Maori of New Zealand. In the US they are
cultivated commercially in Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina (the
main producer), as well as the gulf coast states.

So we aren't too many hundred of miles north of good growing areas. But
basically the problem in Britain is that the growing season normally
just isn't warm for long enough for outdoor growing to have much chance
of success. Better chance in a greenhouse.

The history of the plants is very interesting. They were cultivated
from about 2500BC in central and southern America, and from about
700-1000AD in the Pacific Islands, including New Zealand. It was also
grown in highland New Guinea before European contact, though possibly
from more recent times. But the Philippines knew it not before European
contact. The name for them is more or less the same - kumara or some
variant - in Quechua (main Peruvian language), Nahuatl (main Mexican
language) and Polynesian languages (including Maori), who all cultivated
it before European contact. So there is some quite strong indication of
Polynesian - South American contact. Although there is some very rare
native sweet potato in Polynesia, it is not the same species as South
America, and the Polynesians cultivated the South American version, via
cuttings.

The Maori trained seagulls to pick bugs off the leaves, would you
believe it.


What a fascinating post! Thank you for the information.

We found kumaras for sale in South Island, N.Z. in a supermarket. They had
a dark purple skin and white flesh, not at all like what we get here. I
think they were like sweet potatoes, not yams.

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and b)
yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam, the other
is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the orange-fleshed one, grown in
the U.S. We don't have the white dry one except in Caribbean food shops.

The white-fleshed ones are very dry and starchy, and not terribly tasty.
They're used as a carbohydrate staple in the Caribbean. The orange-fleshed
ones are more watery and tasty and cook up a treat when baked with butter &
brown sugar. More like winter squashes.

What about all those other things - Apios americana, for example. I'm
growing them and I would not be able to expect to live off them for more
than a day or so.

Asian food markets have a treasure-trove of things one can plant.

someone

sweet potato
 

someone wrote:
"echinosum" wrote in message
...
[...]

The history of the plants is very interesting. They were cultivated
from about 2500BC in central and southern America, and from about
700-1000AD in the Pacific Islands, including New Zealand. It was also
grown in highland New Guinea before European contact, though possibly
from more recent times. But the Philippines knew it not before
European contact. The name for them is more or less the same -
kumara or some variant - in Quechua (main Peruvian language),
Nahuatl (main Mexican language) and Polynesian languages (including
Maori), who all cultivated it before European contact. So there is
some quite strong indication of Polynesian - South American contact.
Although there is some very rare native sweet potato in Polynesia,
it is not the same species as South America, and the Polynesians
cultivated the South American version, via cuttings.

The Maori trained seagulls to pick bugs off the leaves, would you
believe it.


What a fascinating post! Thank you for the information.

Yes, indeed!


We found kumaras for sale in South Island, N.Z. in a supermarket. They
had a dark purple skin and white flesh, not at all like what we
get here. I think they were like sweet potatoes, not yams.

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and
b) yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam,
the other is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the
orange-fleshed one, grown in the U.S. We don't have the white dry
one except in Caribbean food shops.

In general British usage, only the big things originating (I assume) in
Africa are called "yams".
[...]

--
Mike.

sweet potato
 

In article ,
someone wrote:

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and b)
yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam, the other
is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the orange-fleshed one, grown in
the U.S. We don't have the white dry one except in Caribbean food shops.

The term "yam" can be used in a strict sense to refer to Dioscorea
batatas, but (I believe) more often means just "edible root" in the
areas they are grown. In places where they aren't, it can mean
almost anything.

I have no idea if the two forms are varieties or subspecies.

The white-fleshed ones are very dry and starchy, and not terribly tasty.
They're used as a carbohydrate staple in the Caribbean. The orange-fleshed
ones are more watery and tasty and cook up a treat when baked with butter &
brown sugar. More like winter squashes.

On the contrary. The white-fleshed ones are delicious, and much
like huge chestnuts to eat :-) The orange-fleshed ones are slimy
and sickly, like a butternut squash on steroids.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

sweet potato
 

In message , writes
In article ,
someone wrote:

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and b)
yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam, the other
is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the orange-fleshed one, grown in
the U.S. We don't have the white dry one except in Caribbean food shops.

The term "yam" can be used in a strict sense to refer to Dioscorea
batatas, but (I believe) more often means just "edible root" in the
areas they are grown. In places where they aren't, it can mean
almost anything.

I have no idea if the two forms are varieties or subspecies.

The white-fleshed ones are very dry and starchy, and not terribly tasty.
They're used as a carbohydrate staple in the Caribbean. The orange-fleshed
ones are more watery and tasty and cook up a treat when baked with butter &
brown sugar. More like winter squashes.

On the contrary. The white-fleshed ones are delicious, and much
like huge chestnuts to eat :-) The orange-fleshed ones are slimy
and sickly, like a butternut squash on steroids.

The orange-fleshed ones, as sold in Tesco, are like a somewhat less
crisp carrot.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

sweet potato
 

wrote in message ...
In article ,
someone wrote:

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and b)
yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam, the other
is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the orange-fleshed one, grown in
the U.S. We don't have the white dry one except in Caribbean food shops.

The term "yam" can be used in a strict sense to refer to Dioscorea
batatas, but (I believe) more often means just "edible root" in the
areas they are grown. In places where they aren't, it can mean
almost anything.

I have no idea if the two forms are varieties or subspecies.

The white-fleshed ones are very dry and starchy, and not terribly tasty.
They're used as a carbohydrate staple in the Caribbean. The
orange-fleshed
ones are more watery and tasty and cook up a treat when baked with butter
&
brown sugar. More like winter squashes.

On the contrary. The white-fleshed ones are delicious, and much
like huge chestnuts to eat :-) The orange-fleshed ones are slimy
and sickly, like a butternut squash on steroids.

Chestnuts - yuk! Makes my mouth all dry just thinking about them. This
just proves that one man's Mead is another man's Persian :-)

someone

sweet potato
 

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2010-10-16 22:54:50 +0100, "someone" said:


"echinosum" wrote in message
...
snip
The Maori trained seagulls to pick bugs off the leaves, would you
believe it.


What a fascinating post! Thank you for the information.

We found kumaras for sale in South Island, N.Z. in a supermarket. They
had
a dark purple skin and white flesh, not at all like what we get here. I
think they were like sweet potatoes, not yams.

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and b)
yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam, the
other
is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the orange-fleshed one, grown
in
the U.S. We don't have the white dry one except in Caribbean food shops.

The white-fleshed ones are very dry and starchy, and not terribly tasty.
They're used as a carbohydrate staple in the Caribbean.

Aren't the white ones what are called 'poi' in Hawaii? Taste like
wallpaper paste - if I'd ever tasted wallpaper paste. I've seen both the
white flesh and orange flesh ones sold as 'sweet potatoes' in local
supermarkets. Now, I usually know what I'm looking for but if in doubt, I
scrape a tiny bit of the skin to be really sure.


The orange-fleshed
ones are more watery and tasty and cook up a treat when baked with
butter &
brown sugar. More like winter squashes.

And with a delicious flavour if roasted?

Definitely!

someone

sweet potato
 

In article ,
someone wrote:

On the contrary. The white-fleshed ones are delicious, and much
like huge chestnuts to eat :-) The orange-fleshed ones are slimy
and sickly, like a butternut squash on steroids.

Chestnuts - yuk! Makes my mouth all dry just thinking about them. This
just proves that one man's Mead is another man's Persian :-)

You're not adding enough butter :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

sweet potato
 

Stephen wrote:
Hello,

I bought the pack of sweet potato slips from T&M. The instructions say
you harvest any time between the end of September and end of October,
so that they are lifted before the frosts. Sadly I haven't had much
success. I wondered how everyone else did?

Two died pretty soon after planting; the other eight grew, but not to
the extent the leaflet suggested they would. The leaflet spoke of
trailing foliage and flowers. I didn't see any flowers and the foliage
whilst tit has grown, it hasn't gone crazy. It was planted in well
draining soil with rotted compost, as advised, so I am at a loss what
went wrong.

The sweet potatoes are the size of a pod of peas; far too tiny to eat!
Did I do something wrong or has this just been a bad year for them?
How did everyone else do?

You need to plant them early, and in a sunny position, preferably in a
sheltered spot.

They like plenty of water and feeding helps a lot.

Mine are in a planter, and I will leave them there for a second year.

Try eddoes - they are much more productive, and the leaves are edible as
well as the tubers.

Oh, and next time, buy a couple of sweet potatoes which are sprouting
and cut your own slips - I've never bought slips.

--
Rusty

sweet potato
 

Mike Lyle wrote:

In general British usage, only the big things originating (I assume) in
Africa are called "yams".

In my local friendly Asian foodshop they tell me that 'yam' just means
'root'.

--
Rusty

The orange flesh and the cream flesh/purple skin types are varieties of sweet potato. The name "yam" is used for sweet potatoes in some places, but is just one of many unrelated plants the name is applied to. Whilst some people may now use the word just to mean root, Europeans got the word from Africa, where something like it is found in various languages from Senegal to Kenya, where it is related to words meaning eat, chew or taste. It came into English via Portuguese or Spanish, who probably first encountered it in West Africa. In continental Portuguese, the word is inhame, which is pronounced in-yahm-(uh).

Hawaiian poi is not sweet potato, it is taro, Colocasia esculenta, an aroid. Eddoes are a variety of taro, which you wouldn't guess at first glance. There are other aroids with edible roots. The standard tropical yam we think of as growing in the tropics, long roots with a brown fibrous covering, are various Dioscorea species. However it shouldn't be confused with the similar looking long brown fibrous cassava roots, Manihot esculenta, which is quite different biologically, a euphorbia. So that is four different orders of plant I have mentioned.

The Antillean/Bahaman natives known as Taino called sweet potato "batata" - Columbus ate it under that name. Sweet potato is still called batata in Spanish. Standard potatoes were called papas in Quechua (the main Andean language), and that word is often used in Spanish of that region. The more standard spanish patata, leading to potato, is mix-up between papa and batata.

sweet potato
 

On Mon, 18 Oct 2010 echinosum wrote:

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and b)
yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam, the
other is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the orange-fleshed one,
grown in the U.S. We don't have the white dry one except in Caribbean
food shops.

The orange flesh and the cream flesh/purple skin types are varieties of
sweet potato. The name "yam" is used for sweet potatoes in some places,
but is just one of many unrelated plants the name is applied to. Whilst
some people may now use the word just to mean root, Europeans got the
word from Africa, where something like it is found in various languages
from Senegal to Kenya, where it is related to words meaning eat, chew or
taste. It came into English via Portuguese or Spanish, who probably
first encountered it in West Africa. In continental Portuguese, the
word is inhame, which is pronounced in-yahm-(uh).

I was taught some fifty-odd years ago at school (but I'm not saying that
this is right - just saying what I was taught at an old fashioned
grammar school) that yams were a yellow sweet potato whereas the white
ones were .... guess what? White sweet potatoes!

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

sweet potato
 

In article ,
David Rance wrote:

I was taught some fifty-odd years ago at school (but I'm not saying that
this is right - just saying what I was taught at an old fashioned
grammar school) that yams were a yellow sweet potato whereas the white
ones were .... guess what? White sweet potatoes!

If any teacher had tried that one on us, even at primary school,
they would have been laughed out of the classroom! Of course,
that was in Africa :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

sweet potato
 

Rusty Hinge wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:

In general British usage, only the big things originating (I assume)
in Africa are called "yams".

In my local friendly Asian foodshop they tell me that 'yam' just means
'root'.

Interesting, and beyond my learning...looks it up but it depends what
you mean by "mean", Senator. From OED it's certainly /applied/, with or
without qualifier, to a wide range of rooty things; but they don't offer
an origin beyond Portugoose and Spanish /igname/ etc.

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".

...But wait! The word, it says here, was, or is, even used in Scotland
for a particular stock-feed var of the ordinary potato. There's more to
be gleaned from what turns out to be a beautifully complicated
dictionary entry.

I see from a 1588 quotation that an early traveller in the East Indies
shared my attitude to turnips: "A fruite called Inany [It.
Ignami]:..lyke to our Turnops, but is verye sweete and good to eate"

--
Mike.

sweet potato
 

In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:
Rusty Hinge wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:

In general British usage, only the big things originating (I assume)
in Africa are called "yams".

In my local friendly Asian foodshop they tell me that 'yam' just means
'root'.

As I said, it more-or-less meant "edible root" in west Africa in
the later 1940s, according to reliable sources.

Interesting, and beyond my learning...looks it up but it depends what
you mean by "mean", Senator. From OED it's certainly /applied/, with or
without qualifier, to a wide range of rooty things; but they don't offer
an origin beyond Portugoose and Spanish /igname/ etc.

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".

Completely wrong part of Africa. Sorry, but that's irrelevant.

..But wait! The word, it says here, was, or is, even used in Scotland
for a particular stock-feed var of the ordinary potato. There's more to
be gleaned from what turns out to be a beautifully complicated
dictionary entry.

Yup.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

sweet potato
 

Interesting, and beyond my learning...looks it up but it depends what
you mean by "mean", Senator. From OED it's certainly /applied/, with or
without qualifier, to a wide range of rooty things; but they don't offer
an origin beyond Portugoose and Spanish /igname/ etc.

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".

Completely wrong part of Africa. Sorry, but that's irrelevant.

Hmm. That looks like an error in the OED. Swahili is not a
west African language. Hausa and Fulah are.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

sweet potato
 

Mike Lyle wrote:
Rusty Hinge wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:

In general British usage, only the big things originating (I assume)
in Africa are called "yams".
In my local friendly Asian foodshop they tell me that 'yam' just means
'root'.

Interesting, and beyond my learning...looks it up but it depends what
you mean by "mean", Senator. From OED it's certainly /applied/, with or
without qualifier, to a wide range of rooty things; but they don't offer
an origin beyond Portugoose and Spanish /igname/ etc.

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".

Een gon nyama, gon nyama

Oops - that means 'He is a lion'

Or should that be 'loin', then?

D&RFC

..But wait! The word, it says here, was, or is, even used in Scotland
for a particular stock-feed var of the ordinary potato. There's more to
be gleaned from what turns out to be a beautifully complicated
dictionary entry.

It's from the Latin, as any fule kno - 'Caesar adsum jam forte, Brutus
adorat.' (Casca adsum dux?)


I see from a 1588 quotation that an early traveller in the East Indies
shared my attitude to turnips: "A fruite called Inany [It.
Ignami]:..lyke to our Turnops, but is verye sweete and good to eate"

And by these, a Scot would mean 'Swedish turnip'.

Bashit neeps!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!


--
Rusty

sweet potato
 

sweet potato
 

sweet potato
 

Rusty Hinge wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
[...]

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".

Een gon nyama, gon nyama

Oops - that means 'He is a lion'

Or should that be 'loin', then?

D&RFC

Especially if there are any of the locals about: subject to correction,
as always, isn't that Zulu? (Once a Scout, always a Scout, after all.)
One of my few Swahili words is the one for "lion": /simba/.
[...]

--
Mike.

sweet potato
 

Rusty Hinge wrote:
wrote:

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".
Completely wrong part of Africa. Sorry, but that's irrelevant.

Hmm. That looks like an error in the OED. Swahili is not a
west African language. Hausa and Fulah are.

Surprise-surprise! That's one dictionary I rarely refer to, preferring
Chambers, myself.

Horses for courses: hammers smite nails, turnscrews turn screws.


OED is the only dictionary in step with a lot of its entries,
including '-ized'.

Home of lost causes, innit? But that's a rare betrayal of the guiding
historical principle.

--
Mike.

sweet potato
 

Mike Lyle wrote:
Rusty Hinge wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
[...]
But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".
Een gon nyama, gon nyama

Oops - that means 'He is a lion'

Or should that be 'loin', then?

D&RFC

Especially if there are any of the locals about: subject to correction,
as always, isn't that Zulu? (Once a Scout, always a Scout, after all.)
One of my few Swahili words is the one for "lion": /simba/.
[...]

Yes 'simba' is Swahili for lion.

Kwa heri ya kuonana.

--
Rusty

sweet potato
 

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Rusty Hinge wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
[...]

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".

Een gon nyama, gon nyama

Oops - that means 'He is a lion'

Or should that be 'loin', then?

D&RFC

Especially if there are any of the locals about: subject to correction, as
always, isn't that Zulu? (Once a Scout, always a Scout, after all.) One of
my few Swahili words is the one for "lion": /simba/.
[...]

There's a camp site near here called Shamba, which I'm told means
"homestead" in Swahili. Another language in which I'm one word fluent.

Steve

sweet potato
 

shazzbat wrote:

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Rusty Hinge wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
[...]

But /nyama/, as eny skoolboy kno, is Swahili for "meat".

Een gon nyama, gon nyama

Oops - that means 'He is a lion'

Or should that be 'loin', then?

D&RFC

Especially if there are any of the locals about: subject to
correction, as always, isn't that Zulu? (Once a Scout, always a Scout,
after all.) One of my few Swahili words is the one for "lion": /simba/.
[...]

There's a camp site near here called Shamba, which I'm told means
"homestead" in Swahili. Another language in which I'm one word fluent.

Shamba is a field (cultivated, not pasture)

Home - our home, that is, is kwetu. Kwenu OTOH, is your home. A
house/home is nyumba.

There are bound to be more local variants.

--
Rusty

sweet potato
 

Just been out in the rain and hail to bring in the sweet potato crop.
I haven't been through them all closely yet, but I have to say, this is our
best crop of them ever. Although I did notice a lot of holes, so on closer
inspection they may not be as good as I'm hoping.

From one standard sized raised bed, we appear to have a small trug's worth
of crop, so I don't know if you* would say that was good or not, but it's
certainly more than we've had in the past, and there are a few really good
sized tubers in there.

The thing I have to check now is what variety(ies) were there, as it looked
like there were 2 different colour roots, but only 1 colour sweet poato, so
I'm wondering if there were 2 varieties and 1 of them failed. (The ones we
have are all scarletty purple on the outside, orange on the inside)

sweet potato
 

On Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:03:09 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

We even tried using our own tubers
to make slips very early for the next season, an easy process BTW,

Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

sweet potato
 

On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:18:45 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wrote:


Mine are in a planter, and I will leave them there for a second year.

Do you need to do anything special over winter? The "how to grow"
leaflet sent with mine said that the frost would kill them off, so I
thought they were destined to become compost. If I could keep them to
try again next year, I'd like to know how to do that. If I try again,
I think I'll keep them in the greenhouse. Thanks.

sweet potato
 

Stephen wrote:
Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

Yeah, I believed that too, but Nick got ours to grow. But the ones we grew
weren't as good as the ones we bought.

Iirc, it just involved keeping them cool and dark, but I'm sure someone else
will be able to correct me.

sweet potato
 

Stephen wrote:
On Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:03:09 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

We even tried using our own tubers
to make slips very early for the next season, an easy process BTW,

Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

That's absolute balderdash, and IMO, a cynically deliberate untruth. You
can cut out the 'eyes' with a goodly chunk of flesh and skin, and if
kept warm and moist, and with a small dose of fungicide in the compost,
every one should shoot and grow.

If kept in a planter in a greenhouse, you might get a crop the first year.

I have one such planter and several sprouting slips, and my neighbour
has the rest of the slips...

--
Rusty

sweet potato
 

sweet potato
 

Stephen wrote:
On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:18:45 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wrote:

Mine are in a planter, and I will leave them there for a second year.

Do you need to do anything special over winter? The "how to grow"
leaflet sent with mine said that the frost would kill them off, so I
thought they were destined to become compost. If I could keep them to
try again next year, I'd like to know how to do that. If I try again,
I think I'll keep them in the greenhouse. Thanks.

They're in the greenhouse.

Yes, the frost will kill them, and they really don't like low
temperatures at all. Still, they'll just have to put up with the coolth
- the themostat cuts the heating in at 5° C.

If yours are planted outside, I'd dig them up very carefully, put some
compost into a largish planter ad lay the root-system on top, then
sprinkle and water-in handfuls of compost until the planter is filled.

It won't hurt to reduce the foliage/vines a bit - they wouldn't have
grown a lot during the winter, anyway. (Unless kept *VERY* warm)

--
Rusty

sweet potato
 

Rusty Hinge wrote:
Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

Yeah, I believed that too, but Nick got ours to grow. But the ones we grew
weren't as good as the ones we bought.

Iirc, it just involved keeping them cool and dark, but I'm sure someone else
will be able to correct me.

I put them in one of those twelve-pot plant trays in potting compost and
left them in a sheltered sunny spot, watered them, and watched them
grow. OK, they didn't rocket-up, but all are healthy.

They're all in the greenhouse now, overshadowed by the eddoes.

I don't think it's how to handle the slips that is the issue, it's how to
make the sweet potatoes sprout them in the first place.

sweet potato