Sweet!

I'm always trying something new in my garden. This year, I'm going for a southern theme, with the addition of mustard greens, okra and sweet potatoes. I didn't know anything about growing any of them before I ordered them all from the seed catalogs.

When you order sweet potatoes, this is what comes in the mail.

Well, the plants didn't come exactly like that. They came in some sort of cardboard container with a weird moisture-holding material.  The towel came from my linen closet. I wrapped them in a damp towel to keep the roots moist when they first came to me on a Saturday.  

My friend and I ordered 25 (that was the smallest number possible) and we have been selling a few to friends and coworkers, since neither she nor I wanted to plant 12 1/2 sweet potato plants.

I planted four plants right away and stuck the other few roots in a bottle full of water and let them soak for a few days while I figured out where else to put them.

I put one in a straw bale, and it actually looks pretty good.

Half of the other ones I planted look like they died, but I'm confident that the root is still alive and that the plant is merely mustering up enough energy to burst forth and multiply. See, they have little tiny leaves that are waiting for the right conditions to emerge. 

From what I've been reading, I'll need to cure the sweet potatoes by putting them in a hot, humid place for two weeks after I harvest in order to get the sweetest flavor. Don't really know how I'll pull that one off, but I'll worry about that after the plants actually grow and produce.