Want to grow sweet potatoes in your garden, greenhouse or even in a pot on your balcony? You’ve come to the right place! Growing sweet potatoes is easy and fun, and you’ll be rewarded with a bountiful harvest of tasty tubers. In this guide, you’ll discover how to grow sweet potatoes from cutting to harvest – and everything in between.
What is a sweet potato plant?
The sweet potato plant (also known as batata) grows into an exuberant climbing plant with edible tubers. Unlike regular potatoes, batatas do not belong to the nightshade family. This makes them a nice addition to your vegetable garden , greenhouse or balcony project.
How do you start growing sweet potatoes?
You can't plant sweet potatoes from seed. They are propagated by cuttings or 'slips'. You can easily make them yourself:
-
Place an organic sweet potato in a glass of water.
After 2–3 weeks, shoots will grow.
Cut these off when they are 15cm and place them in water until they form roots.
After a few days you can plant out these sweet potato cuttings .
Want to save time? You can buy sweet potato cuttings as planting material directly from us!
There are sweet potato varieties with orange , yellow and white tubers . The orange ones have the highest carotenoid content and have become the most popular variety. But all sweet potatoes are generally very nutritious, especially if you also use the leaves and shoots. Sweet potatoes literally feed your brain and are good for your intestines.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a plant that produces more food per square foot than the humble sweet potato, so it's definitely worth growing.
View our sweet potato planting stock
