Reveal From Yesterday's Garden Test!
First, congratulations to @Squirrel Bait, @Zizy Mena, @Robert Cornell, and @Sh33la ItzMe
You all got it right!!
Well done!!
The Answer: Sweet Potato
Here is the photo I showed you yesterday as a little reminder.
All you saw here are the two tiny leaves starting to grow out of the potato. As you can see in the first photo above, we are looking at half of a sweet potato with three toothpicks stuck into it to prevent it from falling into the water.
Here is another shot from above.
As you can see, the leaves already got bigger, a third one is developing and the two other sprouts are getting along as well. Eventually, the potato will send roots into the water and the whole thing will be covered with sprouts.
They are called slips and when they are about 6 to 8 inches long and are looking strong, they can be broken off, set in water, and allowed to develop roots. Or they can be covered with some soil and get going in the garden.
I prefer to allow them to root first - they seem to have a better survival chance that way.
Here is a more mature plant growing from a potato I left in the ground last year.
You can see lots of leaves and if you look closely, you see that the newer leaves have the same dark burgundy color like the little ones in the garden test picture.
Here is a closer look at newer leaves.
You can see that the older leaves must have been tasty to some bug, but the new ones look just beautiful. Did you know that the leaves are delicious to eat? It is a good idea to decide which plant you want to grow for the greens and which ones for the tubers. If you pick the greens all the time, the tubers don't have a chance to develop much. Best to pick a couple to supply greens and the rest for grow some yummy potatoes.
Btw. many Americans will call this orange-fleshed sweet potato a yam. That was a business decision a long time ago. The marketers in the produce business decided to call the yellow-fleshed tubers sweet potatoes and the orange-fleshed ones yams.
True yams are a different species and I sure wished I could get my hands on some.
I hope that you enjoyed this #Grovid20 post and you all will join the movement to spread hope and positivity.
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