I'm thinking about adding some sweet potatoes to the garden this year, but I'm a little overwhelmed with information. Anyone ever had any luck doing this?

Can I buy slips for a reasonable price or is better to start my own? Is it too late to start my own? When do you plant them?

I'm located in Houston

Never planted them but they sure are good! That's what I had for supper tonight.

I've never done it the "right" way, probably, because I don't know what that is and I've always had access to cuttings of the vines when I wanted to grow them. I just buried 3 nodes with one node above the soil and watered.

But being that you harvest them in the fall I would think you still have time in Houston.

I'm assuming pretty similar to potatoes. Don't over-water. Wait until the vines flower and then die. Wait until they are dead dead, and then dig out.

They grow really pretty chartreuse ground cover vines all around the tree in my front yard during the summer. Gardener guy across the street told me what they were and I've pulled a few up to look at them but never eaten them.

I've bought slips and also grown my own from a grocery store potato. Both will do the job, so I would lean towards just starting your own slips, but this year you might just buy them so you can get them in the ground soon.

They are easy to grow. Nothing like a regular potato, keep them in the ground until you are fixing to get the first frost of the year, or if it is a late frost you can dig them up anytime in the fall. You will need to give them a couple of weeks in storage after you dig them to develop their sugars for best flavor.

The vines will peg into the ground and produce small tubers wherever they root along the vine, so when you're harvesting make sure to dig where they have rooted along the vine. Fun crop to grow if you have the room for them, the vines can get an bit unruly.

They'll take over all the space you give them try to contain them the best you can or you'll have way more area committed to them than you planned