Tasty sweet potatoes
Their rich orange flesh adds colour and texture to many dishes - I love sweet potatoes roasted with other vegetables, or mixed in warming stews when the weather turns cooler.
As they are widely grown in tropical countries, they do need a sunny and sheltered spot in rich, sandy soil, dug over with compost and a general fertiliser.
They are mainly grown from ‘slips’ - cuttings from a mature sweet potato available through seed companies or simply sprouting from a healthy sweet potato - and need four months to mature, so you need to plant tubers in May to enable them to grow to maturity.
However, you’ll need to warm your soil first with cloches or black polythene, as the soil needs to be at least 12C (52F) for them to succeed. Plant them 6in (15cm) deep and 12in (30cm) apart with at least two leaf nodes under the soil. Keep them warm by growing them under cloches or through fleece and they’ll need to be well watered regularly.
They can then be harvested the same way as potatoes in September.
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Weather for Ripley
Monday 20 May 2013
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Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 20 C
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Wind direction: North
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