Trial & Error: Sweet Potatoes

A few months ago I ran across this post on how to grow your own sweet potatoes. Everything looked easy enough, and store bought sweet potatoes aren’t too expensive, so I bookmarked the site for use later.

About a month or so ago I found myself in Columbus at Whole Foods, so I decided to pick up an organic sweet potato or two (since the post did, after all, mention that they should be organic). I came home with two beautiful sweet potatoes, and I was just sure that this was going to work and that by the end of the garden season I’d have a nice pile of the home grown variety.

I’m here to tell you that what you see above? That’s the month-long progress my potatoes have made. Which is to say: none. They’ve shriveled up a bit, and look like they’re on their way to Decompositionville. But there’s not a single slip to be found on them. I think it’s safe to say this little experiment of mine has failed. I’m not sure if I tucked the container in the grow box with the heat mat if that would help. Maybe our house is just too cold for a sweet potato?

The irony here is that my non-organic baking potatoes from Meijer are sprouting all on their own without my intervention. So perhaps, instead of sweet potatoes, I’ll just build myself a potato tower out of wire and we’ll grow regular potatoes instead.