Great on the balcony all summer, sweet potatoes on the plate in autumn! Wormwood is a master of disguise – it looks like an ornamental plant, but in the meantime, you have edible tubers growing under the dirt. All you need is a large box, a little patience, and after the first few freezes, a surprise will come.
Sweet potatoes are a very pretty flower
Maybe you’ve seen them in the garden before and never thought about what’s hiding under the soil. The sweet potato bitch is such a little queen of pretense. While all summer it makes a show on balconies, terraces or in boxes with its lush, colorful leaves, a surprise awaits you under all the green splendor in autumn.
The sweet spot in the form of your own sweet potatoes does not represent a harvest that you will count by the kilo, but you will definitely find several tubers in the flowerpot, which are not only edible, but also extremely healthy. It’s actually a genius combination. First please the eye and then the stomach. So why not give it a try?
How to combine them so that it lives in the box?
Ivy grows like crazy, and its long tendrils can create ready-made waterfalls of leaves. She is beautiful by herself, but she looks best in company. When you plant it in one large flowerpot with classic geraniums, petunias or perhaps fanflowers or verbenas, you create a luxurious contrast.
But when betting, keep in mind that the dog is a bit selfish. It needs plenty of room for its roots and tubers, so give it some room a proper, deep chest and don’t forget about good drainage, because these beauties don’t need to stand in water.
Then what about them? That’s up to you. Just bake them or you can use them to make a light lunch like in this post.
Not a leaf like a leaf: Different shapes and wild colors
When you think of sweet potato, you think of that oblong, orange or purple tuber from the supermarket. But above ground, it’s a plant that you probably wouldn’t expect. Depending on the variety, you can have a ready-made colored mosaic in the box:
- Deep green and lime: Varieties like ‘Margarita’ they have bright light green, even neon leaves. It perfectly illuminates dark corners.
- Dark Magenta to Black: Maybe like this ‘Blackie’ it has deeply cut leaves, almost maple-shaped, and their color is so dark that any pink or red flower next to it literally glows.
- Tricolor Romance: There are also variegated species that mix green, white and pink colors on the leaves.
- In addition the vines are also blooming. Their flowers resemble the white flowers of a silkworm with a pink center.
When will it be time for the big autumn harvest?
You water all summer, enjoy the green jungle, and then autumn comes. How to know that the one has occurred right time pick up a shovel? The first morning frosts are a clue. Once the cold burns those beautiful leaves and they start to blacken and wilt, it’s time to act.
Carefully tip out the entire flower pot or box. Better to go for it with your hands or a blunt pin, because digging into the tuber with a sharp spade would be a terrible shame. You’ll be surprised how giant tubers one plant can produce in just a few months in a container!
When you pull the potatoes out of the dirt, they don’t have the right sweet flavor yet. They need more a short break in a dry, well-ventilated place. Let them dry for a few days first, for example somewhere at home near a radiator or in a warm kitchen. During that time, their skins will harden and the starches will begin to turn into sugars.
Only then clean them of dry clay and store them in a box. They don’t like a downright cold cellar like classic potatoes, they do best in the dark at room temperature around 15 °C. , but you can prepare them in many ways.
