Trench method for sweet potatoes?

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I've heard of people using a very easy method to plant sweet potatoes. They dig a trench ( I guess in the fall) and fill with leaves, then in the spring just plant the sweet potatoes in the trench.

Anyone done this? Do you dig in the fall and fill in the fall? How deep should the trench be? Thanks in advance

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), November 20, 2001

Answers

I think I read about that on this forum. And it was for any potato. This idea skipped digging the trench and just put about 6 inches of mulch on the ground, laid the potatoes on it and then covered with 6 more inches of mulch. I think more mulch may have added later as the potatoes grew. Apparently it worked great and there was no digging. Check the acrchives, I'm sure I read it on here somewhere. Stace

-- Stacey (stacey@lakesideinternet.com), November 20, 2001.

Ann, I asked about growing them last year, and there were some inovative answers on this forum, so you might find something in there that will work for you. I'm in Eastern Colorado, so cold, dry and windy here. Sweet potatoes need warm ground in order to flourish well. I tried planting in black plastic covered ground, and despite my covering the edges with soil, the wind picked it up, ripping the little starts out several times, and they didn't make it. Check the archives, and hope you can grow them, whereever you live. Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), November 20, 2001.

We do potatoes like that up here in northern PA. Have never had much luck with sweet potatoes but I will try again this coming spring. The trench method is really, really easy. Just do like mentioned...dig a trench...in spring or fall and then in the spring put in your seed potatos. Then cover them with mulch or old bedding from the goats pens. When you are ready to harvest your crop in the fall just lift back with your hands and dig up your bounty !!! It really is easy and you don't have them ruined by stabbing them with the potato fork looking for them. I think you will like doing it this way as we now never plant our the old way. Good Luck !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), November 21, 2001.

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