Do you remember this post where Kerri worried about her sweet potatoes wilting?

My Sweet Potatoes are Wilting and have Yellow Leaves!

Good news. Kerri kept growing and ended up with a nice yield:

She writes in a recent email:

“Thank you so much for your help! I’m super excited to grow my second crop! Last year, I planted the slips on June 3 and harvested on October 8. I planted 11 slips in a 4×4 bed. (Of course the vines spilled outside the bed, making 18” of awesome soil on all sides of that bed! But there were no potatoes outside the 4×4 bed.)

The potatoes were delicious and we ate them all during the fall. On Christmas day, we mashed the final bit for the family dinner. The little ones were pretty great mashed. :)

Anyway, here are my questions for you:

1. Why are some so huge and some so little? I thought it might have been too many slips in too small a space, thus crowding the potatoes, but I watched your recent video and you planted a TON of slips together. Then I thought it might have been that I harvested too early, but I had a couple of super huge potatoes and I’m afraid they would have been monsters if I waited.

2. When should I plant my sweet potatoes this year? Is early June a good time? I think in the past you told me you usually harvest in November. If I plant them in late March, can I harvest earlier? (and maybe plant a second bed in June or July for fall!)

3. Will sweet potatoes grow in sandy soil? Maybe I can put them in the sand with some weeds and organic material and let them be some of the living roots in the ground like the Natural Farmer shared.

I appreciate your help and expertise in everything gardening! I’m voraciously reading your Compost Everything book right now. I am desperately trying to turn some sand into soil! :D

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I love being able to answer the majority of my gardening questions by using the search bar on your site.”

Thank you, Kerri, I appreciate it.

Let me take the questions one at a time.

Why are some sweet potatoes huge and others little?

Short answer:

This is just the way sweet potatoes grow.

Long answer:

We’re used to seeing sweet potatoes in similar sizes stacked up in supermarket displays. Farmers don’t want huge potatoes or tiny ones, so those are culled.

The USDA breaks sweet potatoes into different grades.

For example, “U.S. Extra #1” sweet potato rules are:

When should I plant my sweet potatoes?

Will sweet potatoes grow in sandy soil?