How to grow glorious sweet potato vines.

You may be surprised to learn just how quickly and easily you can grow stunning Sweet Potato Plants and Vines.
 
Sweet potato grows quickly and has a wonderful bright green ornamental leaf. It can be used for ground cover, to add splashes of color to spots in your garden, and they look amazing in hanging baskets.
 
There are two ways to get your plants started. You can propagate the cuttings in water or soil.
 
Take an organic sweet potato and cut the top off.  You need to make sure you have an organic sweet potato as it will have been sprayed otherwise to retard shooting. You’ll need about10-12 cms (4-5 inches) of sweet potato in your piece.
 
Push two wooden skewers through the sweet potato piece at right angles, high enough to let the cut base sit in a jar of water.  Place the jar in a warm position, it won’t shoot unless it’s warm, and keep the water topped up so the end of the piece never dries out.  You’ll need to change the water too if it becomes murky, to keep it healthy.
 
You should start to see roots growing from the base and skin of the sweet potato piece and then new green shoots will appear from the top. This might take about 4 weeks.
 
You can also cover your Sweet Potato in potting soil and water regularly. Just lay a small whole sweet potato in an aluminium baking tray and cover with potting soil.  Keep the soil moist and place the tray in a warm position.
 
When the new shoots are about 10cms long (4 inches) cut them with a clean pair of scissors from the sweet potato piece and place them in a glass of warm water in a slightly shaded area for about a week.  They’ll be ready to plant when the roots are about 6cms long (3 inches).