Holy Cow 11 Pounds
By fishtiger58
@fishtiger58 (29820)
Momence, Illinois
November 1, 2017 9:27am CST
My husband loves to garden. He loves his flowers but he loves his vegetable garden more and spends a lot of time tending to it. He is a fan of just about any vegetable. I must admit I wasn't a fan of vegetables when I was growing up, what kid is, but since being with him I have expanded my horizons.
Every spring we try to grow a vegetable we have never grown before. We have tried cauliflower and broccoli. They both came out ok. We have tried just about every melon known to man but for some odd reason we can't seem to grow those. Maybe our rich Illinois soil is not good for those although we do have some pumpkin farms in our area.
This spring we decided to grow sweet potatoes. I absolutely love sweet potatoes. We put them in the ground and they did very well. I believe my husband said the one plant we had was sending out runners. They tried to take over the garden.
At one point during the growing season the sweet potatoes were popping out of the ground so my hubby put more soil over them.
We also learned that you don't harvest sweet potatoes until after the first frost. So yesterday was the day. I was shocked by what we got from one plant.
11 pounds of sweet potatoes. Some way bigger than my hand. He said a couple of the runners had very small potatoes but the main plant produced a mind boggling 11 pounds. I have put them in the refrigerator after we cleaned them to use this Thanksgiving. I will be having 20 family members here that day.
So all in all it was a most productive growing season for us. We will be planting sweet potatoes next spring.
22 people like this
23 responses
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
We cooked on yesterday after he harvested them it was delicious.
4 people like this
@LadyDuck (472060)
• Switzerland
1 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 I have to dig out some potatoes, they are coming out of the ground.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
@LadyDuck The sweet potatoes were too.
3 people like this
@andriaperry (117146)
• Anniston, Alabama
1 Nov 17
Potatoes is one thing I have not tried to grow, maybe I will try. That is very good from one plant.
4 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
When my hubby brought them in yesterday I was shocked.
3 people like this
@rebelann (112983)
• El Paso, Texas
1 Nov 17
I wonder how you'd store some of that for the spring and summer @fishtiger58 ok, maybe not this crop but if you guys get a really big crop.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
We both had no idea it would produce like this pretty darn amazing.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
@rebelann Sweet potatoes last a long time, but refrigeration I would suppose.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
Thanks Alfredo I was so pleased.
1 person likes this
@amadeo (111938)
• United States
1 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 great and you deserve it.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342145)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 I have them planted now. Also honeydew melons, capsicum and parsley.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (342145)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 That's a shame. I guess the fruit isn't ripe enough to continue ripening on its own accord?
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
2 Nov 17
Melons give us the blues we can't seem to grow them.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
1 Nov 17
All those sweet potatoes in time for Thanksgiving.
2 people like this
@Shellyann36 (11384)
• United States
16 Nov 17
Sweet potatoes are one of my favorites and they are so healthy for you. Those potatoes look amazing. Enjoy them.
1 person likes this
@Shellyann36 (11384)
• United States
21 Jun 19
@rebelann Raised beds are the bomb but require a bit of work to get them built and filled with good soil and then keeping the soil in good health. It is a lot of work!
1 person likes this
@rebelann (112983)
• El Paso, Texas
22 Jun 19
Oh dang, that's not something I want to have to start at my age @Shellyann36 Thanks for that bit of info, maybe I'll rethink the whole raised bed idea, I'm not as strong as I was when I was in my late 50s.
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
2 Nov 17
I like mine with butter and brown sugar delicious
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
5 Nov 17
@SIMPLYD Yup but sweeter is better lol.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137602)
• United States
8 Nov 17
Congratulations, tiger! You can tell your husband that he can move the runners into a nice neat row if he wants. Lifting them and moving them is easy, even if they have started to root to the ground. Just lift them off the ground and move them where you want them to grow.
Those runners will produce full sized potatoes, just like the main plant if you water them and they get full sun.
Uhm... normally, potatoes aren't kept in the fridge after harvesting, unless they have been damaged when they were dug up. You just need to keep them in a dim to dark room without letting them get wet or touch dirt.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137602)
• United States
9 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 That is a good place for them. We keep ours in a drawer in the kitchen until we are ready to use them.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Nov 17
Yea I think hubby put them in the basement. I will try to remember that about the runners we are so going to grow those again.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
15 Nov 17
@DaddyEvil I am going to cook most of them on Thanksgiving.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121729)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Nov 17
That's one amazing yield from one plant! Must have super soil up there in Illinois! Just to clarify, you don't live near a nuclear power plant, do you? haha just kidding! Great job on the gardening!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121729)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 That's pretty cool. I would have guessed Iowa or Nebraska for top producers of crops. Although Florida has a mostly sandy, limestone-based soil, the area south of Lake Okechobee has extremely fertile black muck that makes Florida one of the leading sugar producers in the world.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
20 Nov 17
@moffittjc One would think so but nope it's Illinois. I live in a small town surrounded by corn and soy bean fields.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
15 Nov 17
Illinois is known for their rich black soil. We are the leading producers of soy bean and close to the top for corn. My garden has nice rich black soil.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
Heck yea give it a try that is if you like them. We cooked one yesterday and it was delicious.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (247184)
• United States
1 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 I love them!!! Will give it a try.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
@DianneN Awesome I hope you have much success.
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
2 Nov 17
we usually have sweet desserts of sweet potatoes here, which we call 'camote'. oftentimes, the farting activity follows when we eat more camote. 
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
3 Nov 17
@fishtiger58 we can also prepare sweets from those sweet potatoes. deep frying them with brown sugar and putting them in sticks is nice.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
3 Nov 17
@ridingbet Oh now that's interesting, sounds really good.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
2 Nov 17
Some people make pies out of sweet potatoes here but I just like them baked with butter and brown sugar.
1 person likes this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
2 Nov 17
that was really big.
Sweet potato is also common in our place, we call them "kamote". They come with different variety and color like purple, white, orange and yellow. But my favorite among them is the orange type because it is sweeter and tastier.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
2 Nov 17
Mine are orange inside I love them baked with butter and brown sugar.
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
3 Nov 17
We have the same preference of sweet potato
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
It really is, I was so surprised when he pulled them up yesterday.
1 person likes this
@m_audrey6788 (58472)
• Germany
1 Nov 17
Nice harvest! I don`t eat sweet potatoes but it sure looks great! 
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
1 Nov 17
I love them and we cooked one yesterday to see how they were, delicious.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (182204)
• United States
9 Nov 17
That is a lot of sweet potatoes. I saw a guy on TV with a pumpkin that weighed over 2,000 pounds! Pie anyone??? lol. I think it was going to be on display somewhere.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
12 Nov 17
wow that's a huge pumpkin, I would cook those seeds for sure.
@BelleStarr (61101)
• United States
8 Nov 17
Wow, that is a lot of sweet taters, I love them myself but I have never grown any.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Nov 17
I was pretty amazed we got so much from one plant, we are going to grow those again.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
15 Nov 17
I hope so too, we did cook one and it was really good.
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
4 Nov 17
wow...what a harvest ... and it's great that you can share them with your family at thanksgiving...
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
5 Nov 17
Thanks yup we have more than enough for sure.
1 person likes this
