Growing Ginger and Sweet Potatoes

I have finally given up on my Luffas this year. The vigorous climbing plants produced a lot of leaves and took over half of the polytunnel but have now succumbed to mould so there’s no saving them. I had one finger sized luffa but that’s gone all soft and squidgy too. The earwigs have the upper hand this year, arrogantly looking at me with their pincers raised and ready for action. Next year I’ll get one step ahead of them.  Every year I like to try something new, sometimes I get a crop, sometimes I don’t. Next year I will be growing two plants that I am sure the wiggies won’t find as they are both root crops. My first is ginger.

Growing Ginger

Ginger root is available from a lot of shops and I will be taking a few pieces that have small growing tips or nodes on them. It’s advisable to get organic roots that haven’t been sprayed to stop them sprouting so if I can’t find any I might need to buy root specially produced from a grower as the results might be better. Whichever I get it’ll just be a case of planting them in shallow pots (the roots grow sideways) and either having them in the house on the windowsill or in the tunnel. They like it warm, frost free, away from strong winds  and not too sunny so the early ones will be fine on my windowsill for now and it’ll be an excuse for me to tell people to close the back door when they come in.

 Sweet pototoes

My next new crop might need a bit more attention put on it.  For years now I have been wanting to grow sweet potatoes but thought they were too fragile to grow in Ireland. I really don’t think they are and I am sure I can get a bucket full for next year. 

How to grow sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes grow in popularity every year. They are a delicious addition to the kitchen garden and not too difficult to grow.  There are actually a lot of varieties to choose from but the supermarkets tend to give us the same ones.  I’m going to be growing mine from shop bought ones again, carefully choosing ones that have been grown without chemicals and hopefully without growth inhibitors.

Sweet potatoes are traditionally grown in warmer climates but I’m not going to let the deter me although if they don’t work I’ll be buying thet hardier types from the growers.

What are sweet potatoes?

Despite its name the sweet potato is not a potato at all. This tasty root vegetable is a member of the Ipomoea family; the same genus as the popular flowering climber ‘Morning Glory’. You will certainly notice the family resemblance from their pretty trumpet shaped flowers and vigorous spreading growth habit. The leaves and tips of young shoots can be cooked as a spinach substitute so they are pretty versatile.

Sweet potato slips

Sweet potatoes are grown slightly differently to our regular spuds. Unlike normal potatoes, sweet ones are grown from ‘slips’. These are the long shoots that have been removed from ‘chitted’ sweet potato tubers. ‘Slips’ either have no roots or very little ones. The roots will grow once the ‘slip’ has been planted. When you buy from growers you will get the bare rooted slips wrapped up in paper. They will be very limp but perk up again after being in water overnight. You could even start rooting them in the water too, which is what I am planning to do.

Sweet potato plants are not hardy so I will grow them on in the windowsill or tunnel for a few weeks until they are established. Warm, humid conditions will quickly encourage the slips to produce roots so I will be better to be patient and leave the growing until the frost have gone next spring. They can be planted out in containers to grow on in the tunnel.

The long stems need plenty of space as they have a vigorous growth habit. In milder areas or sheltered spots in the garden they are well worth trying outdoors, planted through a sheet of black polythene to warm the soil and suppress weed growth. They could be covered with fleece or plastic cloches - you’ll be amazed the difference that this will make to the temperature.

The plants prefer an acid or neutral soil so we are ideally suited here for growing them.  They will go well with my other plants I plan to grow in the future, tea and tobacco.