Yep - that's a sweet potato.🍠 Regular spuds - we've got those down. Sweet potatoes, I've learned, are grown and harvested much differently.

🔸 We started in May by growing "slips" (small sprouts that grew on organic sweet potatoes we had purchased from the market), and then we planted 12 of those slips in some loose and super-rich soil.

🔸 For the past few months, we let the growing vines do their thing, ensuring watering is consistent and regularly (once a month) adding some compost to the soil's surface.

🔸 Even though this past week was hot, the days are getting shorter, and many of the vines were starting to show signs that it was time to harvest, and that is what happened today!

🔸 So did we have a sweet potato feast tonight? Nope.

🔸 Sweet potatoes (I now know) need to "cure" in a greenhouse environment for the next two weeks. Since we don't have a greenhouse, I'm putting them in plastic bags with holes and keeping them in my basement. Pretty much the same thing - right? These next few weeks are crucial, though, because during this time is when the tubers develop most of their sweetness.

🔸 Once cured, we can store them by wrapping them individually with newspapers and keeping them somewhere cool and dark. I've read that we can then enjoy them for the next six months.

🔸 So, fingers crossed, I don't mess them up, and we can enjoy and share these strange looking taters (rather sweeties) soon!

🔸 Now I'm looking for something new to try this season. What fun crops are you growing this fall??🍁