(Sweet Potato)

Use Tui Potato Fertiliser before planting and as a side dressing during the season to encourage good growth and Tuber development.

Plant 10cm deep and 40cm apart. As the vines grow, the stems will try to put down new roots where they touch the soil. You want to avoid this, so lift foliage regularly to encourage tuber growth and not leaf growth.

Kumara can be grown in containers. Pots need to be at least 30cm deep and will require plenty of water through the summer to ensure good sized tubers.

Kumara is usually trouble-free in the home garden but don’t plant it in the same spot twice.

SOME PEOPLE SAY – Plant in free draining loose soil with a hard pan about a foot under the surface. If you don’t have a clay pan under the soil, bury some thing like corrugated iron, a foot under the soil to act as a hard pan. If there is no hard pan, and you have fertile soil, the tops will go for miles and you’ll get no kumara.

HARVEST – Once leaves start to die down or  turn yellow in the autumn. Dig them up and leave them on top of the soil to dry for a few days before storing.