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The Front-Yard Farmer

Growing sweet potatoes in north Florida

NORTHWEST FLORIDA - It’s always a great gardening thrill and perhaps the easiest vegetable to grow in your home garden. A vegetable that loves our sandy soil, has few pest problems, needs little regular tending, thrives in our summer heat and is a favorite on the dinner table – sweet potatoes!

I first grew sweet potatoes in my front-yard garden a few years ago. In June I planted three rows of sweet potatoes, 20 plants in each row, in a garden plot that only gets about a half day of sun. Five months later I harvested about 100 pounds of the wonderfully sweet roots. I don’t remember ever eating sweet potatoes that were as rich with flavor. And oh what a tasty sweet potato pie we had on Thanksgiving Day!

According to the University of Florida Extension, the recommended varieties of sweet potatoes for Florida are Porto Rico, Georgia Red, Jewel, Centennial, Coastal Sweet, Boniato, Sumor, Beauregard, Vardaman. The Beauregard, or “Mississippi Red,” is a favorite of many local gardeners and is the one we liked best from the Victory Garden, where we also planted Vardaman, Centennial and Georgia Red sweet potatoes.

Don’t have much garden space? Try growing sweet potatoes in a large container.

If you can’t find sweet potatoes for planting locally, you can get the young plants from seed companies such as Burpee or Gurney’s.

For a complete list of vegetable planting dates for north Florida and recommended varieties of vegetables for the home garden, see our Vegetable Planting Guide.
 

Front-Yard Farmer Dennis Gilson grows a great variety of fruits and vegetables at his home in Niceville, Florida

Beauregard ("Mississippi Red") sweet potatoes fron our front-yard Victory garden in Niceville, Florida.