Food shortages are expected to begin impacting the US this summer. I encourage anyone
who has some space to at least have a small container garden or even plant some
edible veggies interspersed in your landscaping beds where they might not be
noticeable if you have a strict homeowners association.
Japanese Red or Purple Sweet Potatoes
(Creamy white inside)
Sweet potatoes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow at the lower elevations. However, I don't know how they grow Upcountry. They do need adequate water but are forgiving if they experience a dry spell due to lack of county water, rainfall or not having time to water.
Japanese Red and Garnet Starts
(aka slips)
One store bought sweet potato, placed in a container half filled with water, will produce
a lot of plant starts in a short period of time.
I've only grown sweet potatoes in containers and the recommendations in my sweet potato posts are for container growing. Use at least a 15 gallon capacity pot. I prefer fabric pots which are widely available now at very affordable prices. It's easier to reach into the potting soil in a fabric pot to find the tubers that are large enough to eat.
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Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes
(Purple inside)
I've had the best results with the variety known as Japanese Red or Japanese Purple.
They're available in markets just about everywhere. They're reddish purple on the outside and creamy white inside.
Stokes Purple is my second best recommendation. Second only because they have a limited distribution on Maui but can usually be found at Down to Earth, Whole Foods and probably other natural food stores. Sometimes they're just labeled as "Purple Sweet Potatoes".
They're purple inside and out.
Young Sweet Potato Leaves are Edible
In a food crisis it's best to give priority to calorie dense veggies unless you have a lot of growing space and adequate water. One of the very cool things about sweet potato plants is the young leaves are edible and can be used as a salad or cooked green.
There's also a looming fertilizer crisis. If that should impact Maui I have a few recommendations to add nutrients to the soil. If you cook fish/soft shellfish, save
the skins/shells and add them directly into the containers or compost them in
a separate container with some potting soil. If you poach or boil fish/shellfish
in water you can use the water for your plants.
If you eat eggs, save the shells. When dry they can be crushed and added to the potting soil.
The shells can be soaked in water for a few days and then used to water plants.
For more specific growing information check out my post about sweet potatoes.
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