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The Constant Gardner Blog Index
June 21, 2007
They're alive, they're alive

I went out in the garden today and discovered leaves on my sweet potatoes. I silently cheered. It was early and I did not want to wake my neighbors.

Sweet potatoes are my "something new" in the vegetable garden this year. We ordered a selection from a catalog, and when they arrived about two weeks ago – later than I would have liked – they looked a little bedraggled.

But I had promised readers of my Sunday column I would attempt sweet potatoes, so I put them in.

This is a lot of work. You are supposed to make a mound of soil 8 inches high, and my mound had to be about 35 feet long. I did this by hauling in compost and mixing it with the soil. Then I had carefully put in some fairly dry and sick looking sprouts.

The first week they did nothing, but now I have leaves. We may get sweet potatoes yet.

Nancy put the leftover plants in containers. I haven't checked how they are doing.

Posted at 05:18 PM

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Tom Atwell has written the Maine Gardener column in the Maine Sunday Telegram since the spring of 2004. He has worked at the Press Herald/Sunday Telegram since 1974, about the same time he started gardening with any seriousness.

He gardens with his wife, Nancy. She not only is the better gardener of the pair, but also knows the botanical names of plants. They have two grown children and three grandchildren.

Tom was born in Skowhegan, grew up in Farmington and graduated from the University of Maine with a BA in journalism. His goal each year is to have continuous compost from his three compost bins, continuous bloom in his low-maintenance garden and more fruits and vegetables on his family table than the garden pests eat in the field.



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