Looking to plant some sweet potatoes, but aren't quite sure where to start? Growing sweet potatoes can actually be quite fun, no matter your skill level as a gardener. In this article, organic gardening expert Logan Hailey walks through how to plant, grow, and care for sweet potato in your garden this season! They’re not potatoes, nor are they yams: Sweet potatoes are a highly versatile yet misunderstood garden vegetable. These nutritious fiber and carb-rich roots are renowned for their “superfood” health benefits and delectably creamy sweet texture when cooked. Though they are somewhat shrouded in mystery (are they like potatoes? are they tubers? why do they start from “slips”?), these relatives of Morning Glories are intriguing and straightforward to grow. Sweet potatoes are beautiful plants with edible roots and nutritious greens that will vine through your garden, climb a trellis, and even hang out indoors as a trailing houseplant. If you’ve been dying to try out a rainbow array of sweet potato varieties unavailable in stores, or you just want to add diversity to your summer garden, this warm-weather root crop is a joy to grow and eat. Let’s dig into how to plant, grow, and care for the most delicious sweet potatoes you’ve ever tasted! History and Cultivation As one of the oldest root vegetables in the world, the earliest records of sweet potato cultivation date back to 750 BC. With their ability to cure and store for up to a year, the carb-rich smooth flesh has been an important energy source for Latin American cultures. In the modern day, they are cultivated throughout the U.S., with about 50% being commercially grown in North Carolina. These heat-loving plants can be grown in zones 5-9 as annual vegetables, however they are only perennial in zones 10-11. Here’s everything you need to know about the history and cultivation of this scrumptious vibrant root. Defining Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are not potatoes or yams, but rather a tropical root vegetable. They are perennial vegetables (herbaceous perennial vines to be exact) most commonly grown as an annual vegetable in temperate gardens. The popular orange-fleshed vegetables are often mistakenly called tubers or potatoes, but they are in fact root vegetables that grow from the enlarged tips of winding stems beneath the surface of the soil. As a member of the Morning Glory (Convulvaceae family), sweet potatoes are related to bindweed, morning glory varieties, water spinach, and the wood rose. They thrive in warm, tropical climates, however farmers and gardeners have adapted their growing methods to produce them in temperate northern regions as well. Most varieties require 90 to 150 days, or at least 4 or 5 completely frost-free months to produce full-size roots. Sweet potatoes are a humble and underappreciated “superfood”. The nutrient-dense vibrant flesh can be creamy white, yellow, purple, or orange-tinted. The fibrous orange, tan, or purple skins are rich in beta carotene and antioxidants. Their pale to dark green edible leaves are often used as a salad green in hot southern summers. When the leaves die back and the roots are ready to be harvested, the entire plant is pulled and sweet potatoes are removed from their underground stems to be prepared for curing and storage. Where Do Sweet Potatoes Originate? Like potatoes, sweet potatoes hail from Central and South America, where they have been a staple in indigenous food cuisines for millenia. Ancient records of their cultivation show origins in Peru around 750 BC, however newfound archaeological records also reveal sweet potato relatives growing as early as 2500-1850 BC in Polynesia. Due to the resemblance between the Polynesian word for sweet potato kuumala and the Quechuan/Andean native word cumal, anthropologists speculate that the orange tubers traveled over the Pacific from the west coast of South America long before historians initially thought. Needless to say, by the time European conquistadors arrived in Central America in the 15th century, sweet potatoes (called camote) were a well established crop and staple food in the cuisines of Peru, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, and the Philippines. Samples were taken back to Spain and Belgium to attempt small scale cultivation. Captain James Cook also picked up the root vegetable in Polynesia in the late 1700s and contributed these genetics to the ever growing germplasm of sweet potato breeding projects back in London. The tropical vines were never widely successful in northern Europe without their ideal hot, moist native conditions. However, when they were introduced to American colonists in the mid 1600s, the crop finally took off as a staple crop in the American south. Not a Potato, Not a Yam The name “sweet potato” is full of linguistic and botanical confusions. To start with, sweet potatoes aren’t actually potatoes at all. While regular potatoes are members of the Solanaceae family (along with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant), sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family, Convulvavaceae. Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) were first confused with regular potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) when Christopher Columbus brought the orange-fleshed roots back to Spain in the 1500s. Europeans called them potatoes due to the similar rounded shape and starchy texture. Further confusion arose when the native Caribbean Taino word for sweet potato (batata) was confused with the Italian word for Solanaceous potatoes (patatas). To make matters more confusing, they later became conflated with African Yams. Though they are often mislabeled or used interchangeably on supermarket shelves, true yams (Dioscorea batatas) are completely unrelated. The tropical yam vine is native to Africa and has black or brown thick bark-like skin and a tan flesh with nutty flavor and slippery or sticky texture. They are not sweet like a sweet potato, and instead used for making doughs, breads, thick porridges, and different types of custards. True yams can grow over 7 feet long and even weigh up to 150 pounds! Sweet potatoes are far humbler, typically averaging 4 to 6” in length and weighing about 4 to 6 ounces (however, the Guinness Book of World Records documented an exceptional 81 pound sweet potato grown by a gardener in Spain)! Nonetheless, the American sweet potato is best enjoyed at a moderate size when its tender, dry, sweet flesh can shine in the kitchen. Propagation Sweet potatoes are not typically grown from seed. Instead, they are propagated vegetatively via pieces of stems called “slips”. Slips are available from seed companies and nurseries in the spring. These shoots are technically rootable cuttings that are grown from mature plants and shipped to farmers and gardeners around the country. You can certainly grow your own slips, but the quickest way to get started is to order certified planting material from a reputable source and skip to the propagation steps below. Making Slips Sweet potato slips are essentially sprouts that are snipped from the lush growth of a mature Ipomoea batatas plant. With the proper setup, you can grow your own slips from a root that you already have in your kitchen. In your home, you can produce slips in two main ways: Use toothpicks to suspend half of a root in a jar of water and allow it to sprout over the course of 5-8 weeks. Provide warmth with a seedling heat mat and keep the water fresh. Plant a root in a shallow tray of soil, keep it moist, and wait 2-3 weeks for sprouts to grow. Either way, be sure to start with an organic sweet potato of the variety you wish to grow. The slips will be exact replicas of the parent plant. Selecting certified organic is also important because conventional store bought sweet potatoes may be treated with sprout inhibitors or pesticides that could impede this process. When the sweet potato has grown plenty of new sprouts with green leaves, it’s time to cut your slips: Once sprouts have grown 5-6” long, you can cut them off the plant. Take the green sprouts and submerge them in water for 3-5 days. You may need to switch out the water a few times to keep it fresh. When the roots on your cuttings have grown a few inches long, they are ready to be planted in trays or directly in the garden. The soil-grown slip route is the quickest way to produce slips. This is how commercial producers grow the slips that are shipped to you from seed companies. One mature sweet potato can grow 10-12 slips that can each be rooted into a new plant. Propagation From Slips The easiest way to grow sweet potatoes is by leaving the slip-starting to the experts. Order your slips in early spring and select the shipping date recommended for your zip code. When they arrive, they may appear wilted, pale, or dried out. Don’t worry, this is a normal part of the shipping process! Just like bare root strawberry crowns, sweet potato slips are pretty resilient and will readily bounce back once planted. They may or may not have roots, but as long as the stems are still green, they should produce viable plants. Ideally, Plant Slips Right Away Begin by unbundling the slips and misting their roots with water. Keep them protected in the shade as you prepare your garden beds with the instructions below. The soil must be at least 60-65° before planting slips, so be sure to use a soil thermometer to check the temperature. If it is still too cool, use a method below to hold your slips until the garden soil has warmed. If Planting is Delayed, Soak or Bury the Slips Sometimes the weather or life’s schedules are not in your favor. If you can’t plant your slips immediately upon arrival, you have two options for holding them until your garden beds are ready: Whichever method you choose, just be sure that the slips do not dry out or get exposed to intense conditions. They should be kept at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, and safe from wind or pesky rodents. Planting Planting sweet potatoes is a fun and intriguing garden project for children and adults alike. They are unique from other plants because they are grown from slips rather than from tubers (like true potatoes) or from seeds like other vegetables. They require warm soil, so don’t plan to get these babies in the ground until late spring or early summer in northern climates. Usually the best time is at least one month after the last spring frost date. Use a soil probe to ensure that the soil temperature is above 60°F. You may want to heat the soil with black plastic for 2-3 weeks before planting. Alternatively, you can build raised beds that will warm faster in the spring. You can also opt to plant your sweet potatoes in containers, if you don’t have much space.

With little care and attention, hardy kiwi vines produce hundreds of pounds of small, fuzzless kiwis each year. They thrive in climates too cold for fuzzy-skinned kiwi vines, and they’re an excellent fruiting vine for gardens. Read on with PNW gardener Jerad Bryant, and you’ll soon have unlimited supplies of fresh kiwi fruit! One reason to love fruit is for nostalgia’s sake. As a kid, my mother would slice kiwi fruit with lunch. Whenever I bite into it, the tropical flavor catapults me back to those warm, fuzzy feelings I felt as a child. Kiwis are available at most grocery stores. Why buy them when you can grow them for free? Growing them at home allows for unlimited fruit on a perennial vine. With a ‘Prolific’ hardy plant in the backyard, you’ll never have to spend money on kiwi fruit again. When growing this vine, plan to prune, maintain, and limit its growth. Hardy kiwis are vigorous spreaders in the garden and benefit from maintenance similar to that of grapevines. What Is It? Hardy kiwi vines grow fruit with a similar flavor to those you find at the grocery store, although hardy kiwis are much smaller and fuzzless. They taste superb in fruit salads, smoothies, and preserves. They’re also the best kiwi for fresh eating with their edible skins. All kiwi vines share the genus Actinidia, and the hardy kiwi’s scientific name is Actinidia arguta. ‘Prolific’ is a self-fertile hardy kiwi that grows more compact than other kiwi species. This type excels in home gardens, as it can squeeze into small spaces and climb trellises. It doesn’t need a male plant to pollinate itself. Why are there male and female kiwi plants? Most kiwis are dioecious, meaning that each plant is entirely male or entirely female and that each produces flowers that match its sex. ‘Prolific’ stands out amongst other kiwis because it grows both male and female flowers. It pollinates other female varieties with its pollen. Rather than wasting space on a male pollinator kiwi that doesn’t produce fruit, plant a ‘Prolific’ hardy kiwi, and you’ll have garden space for other fruits and veggies. Native Area All kiwi species originate from eastern Asia and prefer growing in temperate and subtropical climates that match their home. In their native range, winters are cool, moist, and humid, while summers are warm, sunny, and humid. In wild forests, hardy kiwis climb on trees with their reaching tendrils. They use other plants for support to launch themselves into the canopy. Wild vines reach anywhere from 40-100 feet tall! As they grow, they twine themselves around other plants and become woody over time. This creates a strong, wooden base for hardy kiwi plants so they can climb higher and higher each year. Nowadays, hardy kiwi vines grow across the globe in temperate and subtropical zones. They require some chill hours in the winter and a long growing season, and they thrive throughout North America from New York to Oregon. Some species invade local forests on the East Coast where they escape cultivation. Avoid contributing to its invasive spread by harvesting all the fruit, and avoid planting this vine close to forests and natural areas. Characteristics ‘Prolific’ hardy kiwi vines sprout climbing new growth that turns woody with age. Much like how grapevines grow, these fruiting plants rely on other woody shrubs and trees for structure. They can support themselves. However, their growth and fruit production won’t be as optimal as when they have support from other structures. Hardy kiwi vines sprout round light-green leaves with whitish undersides. They create flowers that are creamy white, and they fade to a yellowish-brown color while the season progresses. ‘Prolific’ fruit is greenish-purplish and tastes like a mix of bananas, melons, and strawberries. When growing ‘Prolific’ vines, consider that they spread less vigorously than other varieties. They climb at least six or seven feet, so plant it onto an arbor, trellis, or archway for best results. Propagation ‘Prolific’ hardy kiwi is a specific variety, so propagate it with cuttings to retain the variety’s growing and fruiting characteristics. Growing hardy kiwi vines from seeds is a fun activity, but it leads to new plants that differ genetically from their ‘Prolific’ parent plant. Try sprouting seeds for a growing experiment, or take cuttings for reliable reproduction.

Are you looking for a late-season blooming wildflower to brighten up your landscape? The blue mistflower blooms in late summer and early fall with soft pastel purples and blues. In this article, flower-gardening enthusiast Liessa Bowen introduces the blue mistflower and how you can successfully grow your own! Wildflowers come in all shapes and sizes. Their bright colors create a rainbow of hues throughout the growing season. Not only do flowers beautify your landscape, but a variety of wildlife, including birds, bees, and butterflies, all benefit from wildflowers and use them as a food source. When your spring and summer flowers have stopped blooming, you may be wondering how you can fill in the gaps. Fortunately, there are many late summer and fall-blooming plants to help your garden look great until the first frost. Blue mistflower is a reliable late-season bloomer with spectacular pale purplish-blue flowers that are sure to enchant. Blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) is a member of the sunflower family. This perennial wildflower comes back year after year with its showy, pollinator-friendly display. Don’t confuse it with the annual floss flower (Ageratum) commonly sold by garden centers as bedding plants. While they look very similar, these are two completely different species. Do you have a spacious rain garden, live near a wetland edge, or even experience occasional flooding? If so, you know it can be challenging to find plants that love wet environments. Luckily, blue mistflower is easy to grow, especially in a moist part of your landscape, where there is plenty of space to form an attractive colony. Now, let’s dig right in and learn all about the blue mistflower and what it needs to thrive. Plant Natural History The blue mistflower is a member of the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to the central and eastern United States, with the exception of New England. This wildflower inhabits meadows and grasslands, floodplains, streamsides, and roadside ditches. It is primarily adapted to moist soils and in favorable conditions, where it forms weedy stands and competes with less aggressive vegetation. There are just a few other Conoclinium species native to North America, and these have very limited ranges in the far southwestern United States. You’ll find these more heat-loving species primarily in the desert southwest and into Central America. Characteristics Blue mistflower is a medium-sized herbaceous perennial. It develops several vertical stems and grows to three feet tall. Each stem is lined with opposite, bright green leaves with serrated edges. The leaves have a slightly crinkly texture, allowing you to easily distinguish them from other leafy vegetation before they begin flowering. Most people grow blue mistflower for their beautiful, pale bluish-purple flowers. The broadly rounded clusters of flowers bloom in late summer and early fall. Each flower appears as a fluffy mass, and all together, these showy blooms have a soft and fuzzy appearance. In favorable conditions, these plants spread quickly by both rhizomes and self-seeding. Solid boundaries, deep shade, and drier soil will limit their spread. Propagation Blue mistflower is very easy to propagate. The quickest and most versatile propagation method is stem cuttings. It also grows readily from seed and mature clumps are easily divided in the spring or fall. How to Grow If you can provide a sunny or partially sunny habitat with consistently moist soil, you’re ready to grow blue mistflowers. Your greatest challenge will likely be keeping your plants contained. If you provide good growing conditions, they can spread quickly. Maintenance Blue mistflower is a medium-maintenance plant. They grow fast and spread quickly to form large stands of vegetation. Your biggest maintenance task will be keeping your plants from spreading too much. Thin them regularly by removing unwanted seedlings and dividing larger colonies. Deadhead spent flowers to help control aggressive self-seeding.