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Yay my first real post, this is actually a test post to get familiar with the site. Got everything covered, photos, video, hyperlinks, HTML.


November 3rd, 2019

I Finally got my first frost Friday night and decided to harvest the sweet potatoes Saturday Morning.
I had a few that broke ground and had a pale shade of green, I was worried about Solanine in the potatoes but doing a little research, I found that a "potato" is in the night shade family and is not the same as a "sweet potato" that is in the Morning Glory Family, so Solanine is not an issue.


Fun Fact, the Yam is in the Lily Family.


Depending on how these cure, store and taste, I may plant 9-12 slips next season.







And the harvest video



The potatoes were cured for 14 days in my 72°F Kitchen, no special curing procedure, I just tossed them on the counter.
After the 2 weeks they were individually wrapped in newspaper and placed in my basement 50°F - 60°F.
The test will come tonight when we make some Tzimmes, no I'm not Jewish but was intrigued by this recipe.

I'll also get a chance to try a Butternut Squash, here is the recipe for the "Tzimmes" and I will follow up with the results.



Tzimmes

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 medium carrots, sliced
• 2 medium tart apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Vanilla yogurt, optional

Directions

1) Place the first seven ingredients in a 5- or 6-qt. slow cooker. Combine the orange juice, honey, ginger, cinnamon, pie spice, orange zest and salt; pour over top and mix well.

2) Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until vegetables are tender. Dollop servings with yogurt if desired.




............................Merry Christmas and have a safe New Year!








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Great looking sweets!

Great harvest and fun video. Much appreciated.

Thank you for posting, shall have to try the recipe. Much appreciate the video, particularly showing Beauregard can flower, something I am yet to get it to achieve here down under.

OK, we made the Tzimmes and it smelled awesome cooking all day, but what did it taste like?
I posted the results over in the Recipe Section.

Tzimmes



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Wow, really nice sweet potatoes.

Beauregard was the standard commercial variety for year. It was also the most reliable for the north half of the country. It has now been displaced by Covington. Tubers are identical but are in tighter clusters. The result is that they can be planted closer together. Doesn't mean much to a home gardener but tons to a commercial grower. It's been my choice since 2011.

Martin

how or what did you do to get such uniform potatoes? did you wash them when you dug them? Mine were every size under the sun no two the same size. I left them on the wagon and by Jan they were shriveled and ugly.
I said I wasn't growing them this year but I found these lovely purple ones at an HEB while I was in texas and brought one home to make slips out of. it is sitting happy next to the sink with a few little starts coming from the top.

I've been growing purple sweet potatoes in an Earthbox for a couple years and get all shapes and sizes. They are probebly crowding each other out vying for space to grow. Makes it interesting trying to peel some of the ones that grew in twisted shapes and severe bends.

Last year's crop came out great, sweeter than most years. Maybe I'm finally catching on as to how to cure them. The only thing I don't like about the purples are they stain everything, including my hands when peeling them. I have purple hands for a couple days no matter how many times I wash them.

I'll be starting slips from last year's crop in a week or so.

Clk, no secret to get uniform tubers. Just needs a little extra work. First is to loosen soil good to at least 8" and work fertilizer into that. Then create a mounded row at least another 8". That will give at least a foot of loose soil for the tubers to be formed in. Also, there is no need to put fertilizer in the mound soil, All of the feeder roots will be 8" deep.

Martin

thanks Martin. We had an extremely wet Spring last year and the garden literally became hardpan from all the water running over it time and time again. it was crazy. that didn't help my sweet potatoes any I am sure.

I bought a pack of Beauregard sweet potato seedlings last year and planted them in my garden. This was my first experience growing sweet potatoes and I got a nice crop which I stored in my cool basement and they are storing well.

About a month ago I had a small potato that I didn't use for a meal so I just put it in my upstairs pantry and forgot about it.

2 days ago I discovered that it was sprouting so I cut the sprouting potato and suspended it in a glass of water. Each sprout will get twisted off gently when it gets bigger and then put into water to grow roots. After that they will be planted either in pots or the garden depending on the temperature by then.

How fun. I have never done this before so I got 3 more small tubers from the basement and brought them upstairs where it is warm and hopefully they will sprout too.




20200419_084019 (2) by Brownrexx, on Flickr