Ipomoea batatas
Sweet potato
Common names: Batata
Photo: Earth100 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The sweet potato is a warm‑loving, wind‑tolerant tuberous vine that has proven surprisingly successful in German gardens in recent years. Unlike the potato, it is not botanically related, but it produces sweet, orange‑fleshed tubers beneath its ground‑covering vines.
Care instructions
Start seedlings in March and transplant them into a warm bed or under a cover after the last frost, around mid‑May (week 20). Keep the soil consistently moist, give the plant plenty of space to vine, and harvest the tubers in September or October before the first cold weather.
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
sandy, loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Growing sweet potatoes: not a potato, but a bindweed
The sweet potato is botanically a bindweed, not a potato. How to raise your own cuttings, plant them warm, and why only curing makes them properly sweet.
Growing Jerusalem Artichoke and Yacon: Two Tubers That Almost Grow Themselves
Jerusalem artichoke grows as if by itself and needs taming rather than tending, while yacon surprises with juicy, sweet tubers from the Andes. Here is how to plant, harvest and store these two low-maintenance potato alternatives.