I’m not sure what kind they are. I picked up sweet potatoes in the spring perported to be from a nearby farn. I figured if they were grown near my town, they should do well enough for me.
Sorry you’re struggling with clay. I’ve been growing mine in raised beds. I think I put in two parts compost, two parts peat moss, one part pearlite. I have one bed that was about a foot deep and it did ok. But the plants really seemed to love the two foot deep area. Second year growing sweet potatoes and first year giving them more depth.
What kind of amendments have you been adding? Are you noticing any progress towards better sweet potatoes?
We just built a bunch of 4x8 raised beds this year, but used them for other plants, so I’ll be doing sweet potatoes there next year for sure. We do a similar mixture as you, with 1/3 compost, 1/6 medium perlite, 1/6 large vermiculite, and 1/3 coco coir (environmentally friendly alternative to peat moss).
The clay soil area had some of the mixture above, plus local soil, plus amendments from last year.
Ooh. Good call on the coconut coir. I’d used it in the past but had issues finding it this year and heard certain types of peat moss were ok. I did a little more digging and it sounds like i should try to find a new source for that coconut cour
Very cool. I’ll have to book mark them for future reference. The gardening place I used to get it went out. Ither than that, I was only finding it at pet supply places.
I’m not sure what kind they are. I picked up sweet potatoes in the spring perported to be from a nearby farn. I figured if they were grown near my town, they should do well enough for me.
Sorry you’re struggling with clay. I’ve been growing mine in raised beds. I think I put in two parts compost, two parts peat moss, one part pearlite. I have one bed that was about a foot deep and it did ok. But the plants really seemed to love the two foot deep area. Second year growing sweet potatoes and first year giving them more depth.
What kind of amendments have you been adding? Are you noticing any progress towards better sweet potatoes?
We just built a bunch of 4x8 raised beds this year, but used them for other plants, so I’ll be doing sweet potatoes there next year for sure. We do a similar mixture as you, with 1/3 compost, 1/6 medium perlite, 1/6 large vermiculite, and 1/3 coco coir (environmentally friendly alternative to peat moss).
The clay soil area had some of the mixture above, plus local soil, plus amendments from last year.
Ooh. Good call on the coconut coir. I’d used it in the past but had issues finding it this year and heard certain types of peat moss were ok. I did a little more digging and it sounds like i should try to find a new source for that coconut cour
I got mine from True Leaf Market: https://trueleafmarket.com/products/minute-soil-compressed-coconut-coir-blocks-organic, because there was a bulk sale like 8 months ago. I ordered a huge pallet’s worth. If you want even more, I also worked with Coir America to set up a larger bulk shipment, but I ended up going with True Leaf Market.
Very cool. I’ll have to book mark them for future reference. The gardening place I used to get it went out. Ither than that, I was only finding it at pet supply places.