How To Grow Sweet Potatoes In Your Garden

When you think of an organic garden, you want variety of vegetables, flowers and herbs to plant in your garden. Though you live an urban life, a small space in your surrounding can be enough to plant little vegetation. By companion planting you can have different types of vegetables within less time. Before planting anything, be sure about what kind of garden you want.

If you want a vegetable garden, then growing sweet potatoes in garden can be a good option. Now, if you want companion planting, divide your field or space in parts and cultivate variety of potatoes like regular potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams etc. together.

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Potatoes are such vegetable which is used in various ways. So, growing potatoes in garden with other vegetables can meet your need. But, do you know how to grow sweet potatoes in garden or its instructions? That will come eventually. Before that you need to know some benefits of sweet potatoes. It will come on the list of the healthiest foods for you and your children.

Your kid may not like potatoes, but the sweetness of these reddish skin potatoes will definitely attract them. Researchers say a sweet potato is a rich source of vitamin A and C and iron, calcium and potassium. The calorie level is also less than regular potatoes.

So, it is always better to plant sweet potatoes than growing potatoes in garden. Now, with the following tips you can have an idea of how to grow sweet potatoes in garden-

1. Before Planting
Sweet potatoes grow from slips. Cut a ripe potato in half and keep in a damp pot and cover with moist soil in a way that those can get enough warmth. Within few days little roots and leaves will come out. Now they are ready to be planted on field.

2. Soil
For growing sweet potatoes, you need acidic soil as it enhances the growth of the vegetable. If the pH balance of the soil is between 5.0- 6.5, then it is ideal for growing sweet potatoes.

3. Temperature
This is one of the important terms before knowing how to grow sweet potatoes in garden. Actually, for good growth you need 4 frost free months. So, it is better to plant the vegetable in summer as the temperature is favourable then.

4. Sunlight
Full sunlight is a must necessity for growing sweet potatoes. The complete exposure in sun is preferable for their growth, but if you are planting in your house then partial shade will also do well.

5. Planting Tips
If you want good yielding of your hard work then follow the planting tips of how to grow sweet potatoes in garden. When the roots and shoots come out of slips, plant them on soil ridges. Make 8” ridges of soil so that it get warmth and drain water well.

6. Keep Space
The sweet potatoes grow in vine so they need enough space. Keep 12-18” space between plants and put them in 3-4 rows. Thus the leaves and branches of each plant will get enough space to grow and your garden will also look beautiful with lively green leaves.

These are some basic tips of how to grow sweet potatoes in garden. Besides this, you must know that watering is OK at beginning but stop it before 3-4 weeks of harvesting. Also keep the area weed free for their usual growth. You may face the pest problems of wire worms or nematodes and rodents like mice also hamper the growth by digging and loosing up soil. Be careful and take immediate steps like rotational cropping, using pesticides etc. to get adequate crop you expected.