Sweet Potatoes in the North
 

Yes, it can and is being done. And I'm coordinating a workshop on it, to be delivered by the guru in the North, Ken Allan. If anyone in the area is interested in attending or getting Ken's book, give me a buzz.

What I am looking for are variety recommendations. I have the only remaining SP variety bred by AgCanada, Georgia Jet (not the USDA one but a MUCH better strain apparently), Japanese, Korean Purple, 2 really rare/unusual NZ ones and was thinking about Nancy Hall, Hannah and the ubiquitous Beauregard.

Any feedback is gratefully received!!

Jennifer, trying to figure out how to bribe Glenn Drowns or David Pendergrass into sending seed tubers in the fall. Phytosanitaries from my end are a given.

I have Ken Allan's book and last fall, purchased GJ's and Nancy Hall stock from Mr. Allan. Will be attempting to grow SP's for the first time this year.

Like his book says, Nancy Hall produce slips readily. I have a GJ and a Nancy Hall that have been producing slips all winter long in my kitchen. But have you seen the Nancy Hall? They are certainly not what I would call an attractive potato.

I would be very interested in a workshop, TY (work schedule permitting) . Do you a date in mind?

It'll be a multi-part deal ($50 with book, $35 if you already have it).

I've arranged sessions to be delivered on Sunday afternoons to accommodate out-of-towners and farm/school schedules. In short:

March 18: Slip production how-tos, land selection and prep, variety selection and tuber sales (from Ken), though a few of us are also doing a bulk order of slip stuff from Greg Wingate in NB. (location of session to be confirmed)

May 27 (rain date June 3): on the land (Inverary ON, where I farm but not my patch likely), land prep including plastic mulch skin (my term) application tricks, assessment of good and bad slips, planting out, general q and a on growing and trouble shooting

fall: harvesting and curing and storing

January 2008: some kind of Slow Food convivium to sample all the varieties folks grew, share stored seed tubers and have a general mid-winter perk-up at the farm. Andrea and I plan to roast the SPs in her AGA and over the wood stove fire. Oh, yummmmm. And if I know this group, there'll be some seed sharing too. Well, I'll be sharing with them.:roll:

Only 10 participants, so everyone should be able to really interact with Ken. Lovely, lovely man.

Let me know if you are interested.

Jennifer, who knows that Nancy Hall is grown for her taste not her looks ;)

AARRRGGGHHH, Sunday March 18th could prove to be difficult for me. It's one of those days that I would have to be 4 people in order to make it to all the places I'm expected to be. :(

I'll PM you later on today or over the weekend when I've had a bit more time to think this through.

TY

Just let me take this opportunity to thank CdnTomato for organizing this Workshop.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself this afternoon, and I even got to learn some stuff :dizzy:
We even managed time during the Tea Break and after the workshop was over, to discuss Tomatoville!! :arrow:

I got reacquainted with someone I met over 10 years ago. I met some lovely people with similar interests. And I can't wait til Part 2 of this 4 part series..:D

And Jennifer is a Peach..Even if she thinks she's just a Tomato;)

Ohhh... please give a taste report, if possible.

*Uh...sorry, just realised that the roasting is in autumn. Of course. DUH! I can wait that long, though. No problem. :)

I have been planning to grow sweet potato at my place for some years now but always chickened out, when seed sowing time (and otherwise extremely busy time) came around. Might succeed this time. :)

Actually Spatzbear, we did have a taste test, but from the lecturer's own stock. The varieties he brought were Beauregard (one home raised, one commercial) , Georgia Jet (one from 2006 stock, one from 2005), Korean Purple and Toka Toka.

My preferences were Korean Purple, Beauregard (home grown), GJ and TokaToka in that order. But as I recall, half the room had similar preferences and the other half of the group was the exact opposite? I never thought to make note of what the final tally was for each variety. Maybe Jennifer did?

spatz...when is the time to start sweet potatoes here?

Does anybody else have any recommendations on sweet potato varieties? This is my first year trying and i'm all excited to read that Sand Hill will send out single slips - that's uber helpful in my small community garden plot!