I ordered one Northern Sampler from Sandhill it should arrive around late May early June and a closeout sampler of some other Early varieties (90 days) that should arrive around late June. Since sweet potato is a warm weather crop and being in Zone 6a I never though to grow them. But the way Sandhill catalog explains it is with heat units. They explain that heat units are the average between daily high temperature (maximum) and the low temperature (minimum) minus 55 for an ideal 1200 heat units for early varieties. Say you have 90F during the day and low is 70F then you have 25 units of heat then I need ~50 days. So for me in late June to late August my temps are perfect. Based on that info I ordered some and I plan to grow them in a raised bed that is kept warming up until the slips arrival. So basically in 2 months I should get some sweet potatoes and that is great for early fall crop. Even if it does extend into Sept/October then the frost should kill the vines and still give me a good harvest. I should let people know how I do in the fall!
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Wendy
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