I've been dithering about when to harvest the sweet potatoes we planted from slips last June. I kept reading articles, and couldn't get up the gumption to destroy the beautiful vines, which grew happily and prolifically through the hot summer. My decision that today would be the day came not from something I'd read, but because I was in a bad mood, and I've found that digging and other kinds of heavy garden work are excellent therapy for bad moods. Anyway, they obviously were ready to be harvested as some had reached quite a large size.
Here's one of the articles I found about harvesting sweet potatoes. I started to use a spading fork as suggested in the article, but was concerned that I'd damage the potatoes with its tines, so I used a trowel instead. After I pulled out the vines, I scraped away with the side of the trowel at the base of each root until I saw the top of a potato; then I used the pointed end to dig it out.
The potatoes will have to "cure" for a while before we can try eating them, but I definitely consider this year's sweet potato experiment a success and will try them again next year. The only thing I think I'll do differently is plant them earlier- in May rather than late June.
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