Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Roger of Lytham on December 14, 2017, 11:30
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Hi all: have tried Sweet Potato "Beauregard" grown from slips in greenhouse for two seasons here on the Lancashire Fylde Coast. First year was useless, just masses of top growth. Second year, planted early as possible and got some eatable roots in late October, but more like chipolata sausages than potatoes. Maybe the growing season is just too short, or could be I didn't feed or water them enough. Has anyone else done better than this?
Roger
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It was six years ago I tried growing sweet potatoes from slips grown from an (unnamed) supermarket tuber.
IIRC there were two rooted slips planted in a half bag of compost in the GH. I wrapped a black plastic bin liner round the bag to try to increase the amount of heat getting into the compost.
As you can see from the first pic, they grew well and threatened to take over the GH! :ohmy:
Second pic shows the total crop - a couple of reasonably sized tubers but mostly a bit on the small and therefore rather fiddly side.
A long, hot growing season is what they really need, and the further north you are the harder it is to achieve that, even in a GH, but as with most crops which are a bit borderline in the UK, if you don't build your hopes up too much they are at least worth a try.
Edit: Note to self - if you want to avoid looking as if you don't know your right hand from your left remember that pictures are added from the left so the second one added is the first if you get my drift! :lol: