Easy-to-grow sweet potatoes boast a long, long shelf life

Of all garden vegetables, sweet potatoes are by far the best keeper. There are plenty of other respectable keepers, of course, like Irish potatoes and butternut squash, which often last until spring at our house. But sweet potatoes are the stars, staying firm and delicious for an entire year. We usually eat the last of the tuberous roots from the previous year about the time the new autumn crop is ready.

When I was a new gardener, I was told to handle sweet potatoes like eggs at harvest time. With that advice in mind, I always tote a cardboard box and newspapers to the garden and carefully wrap each root in paper before placing it gently in the box. Any damaged roots are set aside to use first.

I also set aside one perfect sweet potato, wrapped in newspaper and placed in a sack, for my next year's crop. (It's incredibly easy to start any number of plants from a single root, just by sticking a sweet potato root in a jar of water in early spring and taking cuttings from the sprouts.)

Like Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes should be stored in the dark. But while Irish potatoes keep best just above freezing, sweet potatoes like a warmer temperature. The perfect storage place for them ranges between 50 and 60 degrees. At my house, a basement closet under the stairs works just fine.

Don't rush sweet potatoes from the garden straight to their cool storage spot. For best keeping, they need a chance to just sit for about a week in a warmer spot, a process called "curing." Curing works best in a place that is not only warm (about 80 degrees), but humid, too.

Don't rush to sample the new crop. Unlike most vegetables, which are at their best when first harvested, fresh-dug sweet potatoes are usually a disappointment. The roots need time for their starches to convert to sugars.

Sweet potatoes are a powerhouse of nutrients and are also one of easiest vegetables you can grow. Undeterred by heat or drought, the vines make a dense ground cover that smothers weeds. My plants pretty much take care of themselves from the time they're set out in the garden in May until it's time for harvest.

Often thought of as a southern crop, sweet potatoes actually do surprisingly well in the upper Midwest. With some varieties that mature in as little as 90 days, there's plenty of time for the crop to mature in northern gardens.

Besides the traditional orange, sweet potatoes also come with yellow or white flesh. Some varieties have moist flesh, while others have a texture that is dry. What about yams? Although varieties with moist, deep orange roots are sometimes sold as yams, they're actually sweet potatoes, too.