For years I’ve been experimenting with sweet potatoes in funny places….ie not in the actual kitchen garden! I don’t know why…I guess we don’t eat that many of them, although I think they’re delicious, and I got excited if I produced just one.
But I reckon I hadn’t found the spot, planted at the right time, or understood their growth habit. So this year, I thought I’d try something different. I was looking for some impact at the rear of the root veg bed & stubbornly (as I know I am!), decided to erect three wigwams to accommodate the twining tendrils of the vine, while assuming the sweet potatoes would grow underneath.
Well….this time they took off! Not only did the vine scramble up the wigwams, but it made a dense cover of luscious foliage on the ground. Impact indeed! Not only that….just look at the crop we dug….sweet potato anyone?!!! Some of them are obscenely large – I think we’ll opt to eat the more normal looking ones, or is it that those in the shops have been bred or graded to uniformity? Anyway, I’ll chop into a big one & see!
Today we must build the structures for our winter legume bed, and although I think this crop of pink wonders could stay in the ground for another month or so (there are plenty of immature tubers), I can wait no longer to plant our peas. So out they came yesterday afternoon, with gasps of excitement. You can’t tell me kitchen gardening isn’t fun!
As I often mention….there’s not a year that goes by in the Kitchen Garden when a valuable lesson isn’t learned. This one has me hatching an even more exciting plan for next year…..watch this space!