They grew, and grew, and then grew some more. The vines crawled out of the box and into the adjacent flower bed / herb garden. I cut them back. Every week.
And they grew some more. Getting bored with cutting back the vines, I started to accept their habits and trained some into a nearby mock orange. It became difficult to determine where sweet potato vine ended and bush began. Occasionally I would redirect them when they threatened to take over the sage or the nasturtium, but mostly I let them grow. My Achilles heel when it comes to gardening is vines, and I was too tender hearted to hold them back.
Then came the whiteflies. They set up shop on the undersides of the leaves, so that when I disturbed the vines, little white clouds would billow up from them. My tough-as-nails sweet potatoes did not suffer, but unfortunately the whiteflies used them as a strategic base from which to launch an assault on my surrounding ornamentals and vegetables.
So when the time finally came after six months to dig up my harvest, I was relieved. Oh, it was bittersweet. I do love vines, and they lent a lush and bountiful aura to my garden. They shouted, "I'm growing vegetables! And they're thriving, dammit!" Since they've been gone, it has never been quite the same.
Occasionally before I harvested, I would eagerly scratch aside some dirt looking for the "tubers". I tried not to worry when I didn't find any. Surely they were just a bit deeper. But when the Big Day came, I dug up several impressively long taproots measuring 2 or 3 feet in length, but no tubers. I kept following the roots down, hoping the sweet potatoes were just a little beyond my trowel. When I came to grips with the lack of "real" potatoes, I tried convincing myself that these non-tuberous roots were edible sweet potato goodness. However, when I cut them open they were milky white and decidedly not yummy inside.
I had no idea what had gone wrong, but I knew I had just wasted six months of precious garden space and maintenance for nothing. I gave up.
Until this fall. The school garden that I help manage does this incredible sweet potato and taro garden with the fourth graders. The cuttings were sourced from a local farm and consisted of two different heritage varieties. The school's sweet potatoes are robust and relatively free of pests (despite whiteflies being present in the area).
I began to wonder if I had spent all that time growing an ornamental variety of sweet potato. Last week I decided to get back on that horse, after almost two years, and try again. As I was cleaning up the school beds on a Sunday afternoon, several vines broke free. Instead of throwing them in the compost, I brought them home.
I trimmed the last 12 inches from the vine tips, then stripped the leaves from these cuttings except for two or three at the terminal end. Then I stored the cuttings in fresh water until I was ready to plant (they will keep a couple days like this - they get all wilty but are still viable).
Meanwhile, I stripped the leaves from the rest of the vines. I discarded stems and yucky leaves by feeding them to the chickens. Then I washed my big bowl of remaining leaves.
I heated my cast iron skillet on medium until it was good and hot, then added olive oil and salt to the pan. I threw in the leaves and sautéed them until wilted -just a couple minutes. They were like baby spinach, but so much better. I can't believe I had all that good food in my garden two years ago, and I was just throwing it in the compost week after week!
After lunch, I planted my cuttings in loose soil about six inches apart, burying the stems up to the terminal leaves. They can be planted vertically or at an angle. The soil needs to be kept consistently moist until new roots are established and the vines begin to grow.
This time, I don't care if I get tubers as long as I can enjoy those greens. Whiteflies, stay away!
Aloha Aina!
