I intended to eat this sweet potato.
But then I didn’t.
Then it started to sprout and thrive and I would have felt guilty eating it.
And I didn’t really want to eat it anyway.
So, recalling that in the past I had purchased a purple, leafy vine called sweet potato vine for my planters, and that when I dug it up out of my planters at the end of the season the root looked very much like a sweet potato, I decided I was going to re-purpose this sweet potato for my garden.
Brilliant. I know.
About 2 weeks ago, I chopped up the potato, leaving a few sprouts in each chunk, and planted it in a planter on my deck.
And then I waited.
A week had gone by and there was no indication that my experiment worked.
In talking with Uncle Brian and Papa about my craftiness when I was back in Kentucky this weekend, they weren’t so sure my plan would work because I had cut up the potato. Apparently, the sweet potato needs to remain whole to act as an energy source for the plant.
Oops.
Oh well. It wasn’t a major investment.
Imagine my delight when I saw these little suckers sprouting up out of the soil on Sunday evening.
Here they are 1 day later, Monday.
This is what they looked like today, 3 days later.
I’ll have a nice trailing vine in no time!
Judging by my level of vegetable gardening prowess, I would call this pure luck.
Good thing I didn’t eat that sweet potato. The universe had bigger plans for it.
While we’re on the topic of my deck container garden, I would like to take this opportunity to share an update on my pea plants.
This is day 13.
Time to stick ’em!
In parting, I would like to suggest that you chop up any sprouting vegetables in your kitchen and then promptly plant them in some soil and see what happens. While I may have lost out on some serious Vitamin A in neglecting to eat this sweet potato, I sure have learned some valuable gardening lessons and kept my kitchen from smelling funky.
Happy adventurous gardening.
Y’all come back,
Sugarlump
The Sugarlump 
Love it! and Sweet Potatoes. 🙂
thanks!
Looking good! I might have to come down and sample all of these veggies you are growing. 🙂
please do!
OH…now I know what I can try in that tree stump hubby just hollowed out for me! Uhm…do you know if sweet potatoes can handle pine tree stumps??? 🙂 (btw…just stuck a celery stub in the ground today that was sprouting. hope it grows!!! LOL)
I would say it’s worth a shot! 🙂
My mother almost always had a sweet potato sprouting in a jar of water on a windowsill when I was a child. I’ve done it off and on too–but had forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder–and the little trip through memory land. Gotta go–have to put a sweet potato in some water to get it started… MM
Isn’t it amazing? Several people have told me that was their houseplant growing up!
I remember my grandmother stuck toothpicks in the sweet potatoes to ‘hang’ them from the rim of the jar, half in and half out of the water 🙂
Yes! That’s exactly how Mom did it. Amazing.
🙂
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Your sweet potato plants look very healthy too. You for sure have a green thumb.
Thank you! It’s starting to take over my deck!
Great blog. Going to find something to plant
Thanks! Happy gardening 🙂
Imagine a world were everyone helps life flourish.
I love this post. I’m happy for you…it’s a great feeling.
I love experimenting with plants. I have been growing avocados from pits; I’m on my second one now.
http://sued51.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/as-the-avocado-grows/
Neat! I would love to learn how to do that. I will check out your post. Thanks for stopping by!
Cool!
Thanks! I have another one ready to launch so my deck may soon be covered completely in sweet potato plants!
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