{"id":471,"date":"2013-02-10T10:06:54","date_gmt":"2013-02-10T17:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=471"},"modified":"2013-02-12T01:40:15","modified_gmt":"2013-02-12T08:40:15","slug":"sweet-potato-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/vegetables-herbs\/sweet-potato-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Potatoes on Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/sweet-potato-rhs-trial.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-472\" title=\"sweet-potato-rhs-trial\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/sweet-potato-rhs-trial.jpg\" alt=\" \tSweet-potato-rhs-trial at Harlow Carr\" width=\"448\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/sweet-potato-rhs-trial.jpg 448w, https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/sweet-potato-rhs-trial-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The RHS have trialled several varieties of Sweet Potato. They  picked a wet, sunless season so far but as the plants will be harvested during October (they need a long time in the ground) there is time for a good spurt of hot weather (I am an ever hopeful optimistic gardener).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Normally these plants are difficult to grow successfully in Britain but for those who are a bit adventurous you may want to try this crop next year. If so follow the results of the RHS trials.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Grow from cuttings or slips (young shoots) forced into growth be heat in a damp sandy compost<\/li>\n<li>Plant out in June they are spreading vine like plants related to Morning Glory and root along the nodes<\/li>\n<li>The black polythene acts as a heat absorber and offers protection<\/li>\n<li>The mounds can be filled with straw and soil mixed<\/li>\n<li>Avoid frost but allow the longest growing time possible.<\/li>\n<li>Harvest in early October or wait for half the crop until the end of the month<\/li>\n<li>Sweet           potato,<em> Ipomoea batatas,<\/em> is a tender, warm-weather vegetable that requires a long frost-free growing season to mature large, useful roots.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sweet potatoes suitable for growing in the UK <\/strong><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGeorgia Jet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is considered to be particularly reliable.<br \/>\nFor a brightly coloured skins try \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcT65\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 &#8211; its red skins contrast nicely with the creamy, white flesh.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBeauregard Improved\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is Thompson &#038; Morgan&#8217;s best selling variety, producing smaller tubers with a lovely salmon-orange flesh.<br \/>\nRichly flavoured \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcO Henry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 has a slightly different, bushier habit than other varieties and produces it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tubers in a cluster which makes for easier harvesting.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sowingnewseeds.org.uk\/pdfs\/Growing%20Sweet%20Potatoes.pdf\">Read Growing Organic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The RHS have trialled several varieties of Sweet Potato. They picked a wet, sunless season so far but as the plants will be harvested during October (they need a long time in the ground) there is time for a good spurt of hot weather (I am an ever hopeful optimistic gardener). Normally these plants are difficult to grow successfully in Britain but for those who are a bit adventurous you may want to try this crop next year. If so&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/vegetables-herbs\/sweet-potato-trial\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vegetables-herbs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}