Sweet Potatoes - again
More of an update to remind me what to do and not to do for next year.
Several sweet potato slips have been planted out into large tubs. The original potato is still producing slips and they are growing quick. Because I haven't been cutting them off regularly several are now pushing 2 feet tall and so could be halved easily. 27 Slips taken so far from the one potato. It looks like I'll end up with over 50 slips by the time I've halved a few. The ones I've already cut up have all rooted.
The second potato is behaving totally different. Still in water and hasn't produced many roots, but lots of small slips.
All slips cut off have been placed in water with 100% of them rooting.
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| Sweet Potato slips 28th March 2017 |
The second potato was placed the "other way up" which I think is the top at the top, the first upside down. Two possibilities as to the difference which is one way up is far better (and it would appear upside down) or that the 2 are different varieties. Both from the same place, both called the same "American" sweet potato. The 2nd one also hasn't rotted from being in water.
The 3rd potato bought at the same time as the second and was planted in compost in the cold part of the greenhouse rotted, it was kept moist but never showed signs of growing. Simply too cold (although not actually cold), and just needed more heat.
I have placed a large tub in the green house and planted one slip a couple of weeks ago - it isn't dead but isn't growing much as I think the colder temp has slowed it down but it may be putting on a lot of root growth and I haven't looked.
I have placed 2 other very large tubs outside with a cloche over the top. One tub has 1 slip in and the other has 2 slips to see if there is a difference with crowding within a tub. One tub is a traditional plastic dustbin (not a wheelie bin but old style bin that used to have a lid. It took 2 wheel barrows of well rotted manure to fill it to 80%. The other tub is shorted but a good bit wide and took 1 and a half wheel barrows of manure.
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| 27th March 2017 |
I've placed these 2 together so they get watered the same. All 3 tubs so far have the same aged manure in them.
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| Potted around 14th March 2017 (date to be found) |
The greenhouse tub took about 1 wheel barrow load of manure. I'll measure it at some stage but I feel it maybe a tad small but I simply don't have the space for it.
I will also do another large tub in the Poly Tunnel when the seedlings that live in there go outside but this 4th tub will be full of acidic compost (when I've bought some)
The rest of the slips will be spread around the garden as and when space turns up. Some will be in wetter areas, windy areas and drier areas. Some will be in clay type soil and others good soil and some in pure manure in a dry area and I also have a wet purely manure area to try. One of the good soil areas I will add a load of acid compost as yet another difference.
I'm gonna put in a lot of effort with these this year and if they all fail....never again. Hopefully one or all will work, either way it will satisfy my curiosity as to whether I can or can't and whether it will be worth it. Then if I grow some I'll see whether they are worth selling on the market stall.
I'll keep planting them each week (ish) from now until the frosts are gone (mid may) - even then I'll have slips left over
One thing that is for sure is that the slips really want to grow and root well given warmth and at least some light. The window sill they live on is west facing and not exactly a bright place but it is over a radiator.
I can see by the size of the frogs that these are not last years young, they are much smaller, and I keep finding them all over the garden. I don't know how many of the young frogs from last year survived but judging by the number seen pottering around the garden there must be a couple of hundred. If I had to guess at the number of frogs, young and older, that live in and around the garden I think it must be 3 or 4 hundred because these ones in the pond are all too big to be last years or the years before. I only see a dozen or so of these larger ones in the garden on any week and only come across masses of smaller frogs so if you add up the 150 ish in the pond with the smaller ones in the garden I think there'll easily be 300 plus frogs.
