Description
Supplied: Three slips i.e. rooted stem cuttings.
Description:
Purple sweet potatoes grow on sprawling vines with large, lobed, purple – tinged leaves. Can be grown in containers as long as the vines have a structure to climb, or can occupy a large vegetable bed. This variety has a strong tendency to send down additional roots and form tubers wherever the vine touches soil.
Sweet potato leaves are edible, with a taste similar to spinach, and take on a wonderful creamy texture when cooked in a soup or curry. The tubers have a purple skin and deep purple flesh which can be cooked in the same ways as the more common orange sweet potato. They tend to be drier and firmer than the orange varieties, with a strong, earthy flavour and medium sweetness.
For another warm – season root vegetable that can be interplanted with sweet potatoes, see Jerusalem Artichokes.
For other edible groundcovers, see Warrigal Greens or Berry Saltbush.
Planting instructions
Plant runners in a trench so that as much of the stem is covered with soil as possible, with leaves above the soil level. This will facilitate the development of extra roots.
Water daily for the first two weeks, after which water during dry periods. Tubers are most commonly harvested in Autumn. If grown in an area with ‘hard frosts’, some tubers should be reserved over Winter from which to grow new plants the following Spring, however the plants do not die off over Winter in areas with only light frosts.
