Sweet Potato Ipomoea Erato Orange

How to grow

Outdoors: If grown outdoors, sweet potatoes need moisture-retentive, free-draining soil, in a sheltered, sunny position (they are particularly happy in organic rich sand).

• Prepare the ground as necessary.
• Use black polythene, to warm the soil and suppress weed growth. Lay the polythene over the soil several weeks before planting, from late March or April as the soil starts to warm up.
• Grow the plants on in a bright, frost-free position in the greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill, until late May until early June, potting on as necessary.
• ‘Harden off’ before planting outdoors, in slits through the polythene.
• Cover with cloches or fleece – the temperature lift makes all the difference.

Indoors: Grow sweet potatoes in a glasshouse in large tubs, growing-bags or the glasshouse border, transplanting from the pots once they have produced plenty of roots.

• The foliage can be trained up string, canes or trellis. Any good growing medium is satisfactory, including peat-free types.
• Sweet potatoes crop best at temperatures between 21-26°C (70-80°F).
• Keep greenhouse plants well-watered and feed every other week with a high-potassium liquid feed.
• Overwinter plants in a frost-free greenhouse or windowsill.

Please allow us 3-5 working days to dispatch your order. Pre-ordered items will be sent as soon as possible after the date quoted and we'll generally ship your entire order with your pre-ordered items. When your order is dispatched, we'll send you another email with details of how to track it.

Most orders are sent on a fully-tracked courier service with Yodel. To avoid perishable items being stuck at depots and deteriorating, no signature is required, and our courier is asked to leave your order in a safe place on your property.

We'll send a tracking link when we dispatch your order, so you know when its due to arrive. Please note, once delivered we cannot be held responsible for loss or theft from your property. If you have any specific delivery instructions, please let us know - there's an option to enter a short message for the courier at the checkout.

Smaller, lighter, single-item orders may be sent through the post with Royal Mail - in which case no tracking is available.

Our experienced nursery team will always send your plants nursery fresh in the perfect condition to thrive when you plant them, so although most plants are very tough and will not be affected by all but the most extreme frosts or heatwaves, we avoid dispatching the most perishable plants if extreme weather is forecast, or over Bank Holiday weekends.

Please note, we cannot guarantee delivery on a certain day or time. Delivery to outlying postcode areas may take 1-2 days longer, dependent on your location.