How to Harvest Sweet Potatoes (aka Treasure Hunting)

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It is my favorite time of year. Not just because of time with family and friends - but because the sweet potatoes have cured and are ready to eat!

A few years ago when we started our garden we were somewhat intimidated by the mass of vines and not knowing how potatoes would be found under the soil. How deep would they be? How far would runners go? What are the ways to get them out? Just pull or get rid of the vines first?

Before you watch the video of the steps we took, here are a few other tips:

  1. Dig what you cut that day. We had sweet potatoes in three beds. We cut down only the beds we could harvest that day because all of the experts say potatoes will rot in ground if the vines are cut off and left for days. We’ve not tested it. We just go with it.

  2. For the size bed we have in the video (4X8 feet) it took about 6 hours for two adults to cut, dig, set up to cure, and clean up the mess.

  3. Curing? Directions say “warm” place and then after 2-3 weeks to cool storage. We’ve never created an ideal environment for curing. We just lay them out, not touching each other, on cardboard in the garage. If it is September, it might be warm. If it is October, it is cool, especially on the garage floor. But they’ve always cured beautifully over 3 weeks.

Happy Hunting!

Critical question for gardening plus our garden updates

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I get asked what we are planting in our garden, so I decided to show you here.

This year was different. As we continue to develop our medicinal herb garden, we had much less time this year for our vegetable garden, so we used what we have learned to decide what to plant.

We asked ourselves, which plants are most important to us, because every plant has its unique pests and challenges. This summer we decided to not grow some of our regulars.

Beans require a lot of harvest and processing time. Squash is quick and easy to harvest and process, but the squash bugs are beyond description. I won’t even go there. Melons and cucumbers are nice, but there is not a great way to save extras.

So, tomatoes (easy to grow, harvest, and freeze), peppers (the same), and sweet potatoes (the variety I like are only sold at a store an hour away) were it for us this summer. Spring and fall include a lot of beets and radishes, as their pests are easy to control.

Next year our medicinal herbs should be established and we plan to get back to our regular vegetables. As you garden, for that matter as you live, there is a continual re-setting of priorities.

Enjoy your harvest!