Garden update: Sweet potatoes

Hello world! It has been a while since I have posted anything. The garden is still going forward. Weather has been cooperating lately and its crazy that within one month we can go from ice storms to +25 deg Celsius. Today I'd like to share my attempt at growing sweet potatoes in my zone 5 garden. I am aware that they can be grown here but require warm temperatures and plenty of sunlight.

There are 3 varieties here, not sure of the specific names but the first 2 (left to right) I picked up at the local market and are your regular run of the mill sweet potatoes/yams. These are the most commonly grown in North America. Healthy and oh so tasty. The 3rd one was labelled as "Cuban" sweet potato. It's white fleshed and is very sweet. 4th is a purple fleshed variety labelled as "Chinese" sweet potato. Has an earthy yet sweetness to it. The last 2 I am unsure as to whether they will grow here but they are interesting to look at.

As you can see they readily produce roots in a jar of water. I basically used tooth picks to support them halfway submerged and after 2-3 weeks small roots began to emerge. Note, not all will root and may just begin to rot. Keep trying though! Oh and did I mention potatoes have a top and a bottom? You want them facing upright. Typically there is a notable root node/brown brown spot indicating the bottom. Although the 3rd one did grow upside down...

When the top growth reaches 6-10 inches or so, I let them go crazy because I forgot. Break them off the potato and place the stems in a new jar of water. Roots will emerge after a couple days. At this point ^^ you can plant them in soil. I will do an update once it is warm enough for them to go outside. Thanks for stopping by!!