In early March, I bought some organic potatoes from Whole Foods to use as seed potatoes.  I got 3 Yukon Golds and 2 sweet potatoes.  I believe I got Beauregards because the name amused me.

I left them on the table for a little while, allowing them to start sprouting before I planted them.  Chuck told me that he understood that sweet potatoes don’t get started the same way white potatoes do, so I looked it up and found out he was correct.    I’m finding the slip-starting process frustrating, though.  I got the green started on the top, but only one sprout grew with any vigor.  It is forming roots in a jar of water, now.  I went ahead and planted the potato with roots and teeny , tiny leaves remaining, just in case.  And the other bits of leaves are in water, but I don’t hold out much hope for them to do anything.  They’re just too small.

Here is my one, realistically hopeful sweet potato slip:

  It’s back in the water for another week or so or root creation.

I planted the Yukon Gold eyes on April 5.  There were 10 sprouting on the 3 potatoes and all of them went into the new bed I dug out between the asparagus and the last blueberry bush.  All 10 are doing nicely.  Irish potatoes are much easier than sweet potatoes.  Once they start sprouting, you just cut the chunk out  and stick it in the dirt.

I was told, ages ago by Boud, that potatoes are excellent for breaking up clay soil to start a bed for more particular plants.  I tried it in a place I wanted to expand a flowerbed and it worked beautifully.  I intend to expand the asparagus bed there next year.