WEBVTT
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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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 So now, we're going to
talk about sweet potatoes

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and why you should
be growing them.

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One of the reasons is
because this tuber is

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one of the healthiest tubers.

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And the second
reason, the greens

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from the sweet potato, they're
like the top of the food chain

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when it comes to leafy greens.

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They have more antioxidants.

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They have more
vitamins, folic acid.

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And in our culture,
we don't eat them.

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We throw them away.

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But all of these
are edible, and it

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could be one of the
most healthiest thing

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in your garden.

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That's why you
should be growing it.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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I'm going to show
you how to plant

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these are a bunch of different
ways because you can.

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You can plant them from the
spuds that are growing on them,

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you can plant them from
the vines that are growing,

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and you can cut the potato
up and start from there.

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I'm sure in school, you guys
probably did this experiment

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where you put toothpicks
in the sweet potato,

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and then you put it in the jar
and watched it grow like this.

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But what they never told us
was to put this in the ground.

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You can see, a day or so ago,
we put this in some water,

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and it had no green on it.

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Now, if you look
closely, you can

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see that there has been green
leaves that are coming up

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just from a day in the water.

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So what will happen
to this potato

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with all of these
spuds growing on it?

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If you put this in the ground
just like it is, it will grow,

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and what will happen is this
will decompose in the ground.

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But all of this will
give you new growth.

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Also, another way you can do
it, You can see the green here.

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You can plant these.

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So that you can put these
straight in the soil.

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Same thing, you
can-- if you want,

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you can put this whole
thing in the ground,

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and it might even
get more spuds on it.

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But also, the vines, if you see
these nodes, these get roots.

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So literally, I can cut this.

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And you can put these in water,
and they'll start rooting.

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You can even put them in soil,
and they will start rooting.

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And you can plant
these in the ground.

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And also you can--

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when you do get some potatoes
that are ready to harvest,

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you can leave a
couple in the ground.

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But even if I take this
off, this will grow,

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and you will have a ton of
sweet potatoes from this.

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You see it has-- it's
rooted-- it has roots on it.

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This was the base
that it came off,

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so there were other
sweet potatoes

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attached to this sweet potato.

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And it's ready to go already.

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It's there.

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The thing I love about
this is since it's a tuber,

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it's growing underground,
so you literally

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can plant on top of this.

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What I do, I plant
sunflowers, I plant corn,

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and different green
vegetables on top of these

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since they're in the ground.

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And a lot of times,
those other things

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that you're planting
on top, the roots,

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they don't go down
that far to disrupt

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the growth of the sweet potato.

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And then what you also
get is the leafy greens.

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It becomes a cover
crop for the soil,

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which that protects the soil.

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So that's another reason
that you should plant these.

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And you can see here where
this has been out for--

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I don't know-- maybe
five, six days,

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and you can see that
it's still growing.

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So I could cut this up and take
these vines and put them in,

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but-- or I could just do this.

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I want to show you how
easy this is, and these

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are going to multiply.

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Same thing with this,
it's this simple.

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They're resilient, and they
will keep coming back forever.

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The kind of soil that
sweet potatoes prefer

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is like a lonely,
looser, rich soil.

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And you want it, too.

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You don't want to really
have them in a clay soil

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because it's harder for them to
grow, and it's harder for you

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to get them.

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But if you have a nice,
loamy soil like this,

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it's butter because you can just
move the soil with your hand,

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and you can find sweet potatoes.

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And here, we generally
plant in the summer, and you

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can harvest them in the
winter because we always--

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there's always a crop
around Thanksgiving time

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of sweet potatoes.

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It's best to plant these
in either a potato sack,

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and you can find a
potato sack online,

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or I've even put them in--

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I've doubled coffee
bags, you know,

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the bags that you buy,
the big, you know,

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50 pound bags of coffee.

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You can get those because
they throw them away.

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So you just double them
up and put them in soil

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and then put these in there.

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And I just happen to have
an example under here

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that I can show you.

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So a lot of roasters, they have
these, and it's waste for them.

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So if you go to towns
like LA now or Seattle,

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there's thousands of these.

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And what a lot of people--
what a lot of gardeners

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use these for, they use them
for ground cover in their garden

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or they'll use them for weed
cloth to block weeds out,

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and these break
down into the soil.

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It's good.

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So what I do for--

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I've done for potatoes,
I'll double these,

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and I'll fill them with soil.

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And then I roll it
down where I have--

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like this, so it's not so big.

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And then I'll drop
the soil in here,

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and I'll put the
potatoes in here.

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So when they're ready,
you can just cut this,

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or you can open the bottom and
the potatoes just fall out.

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And my thing is I
don't waste anything.

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So this is a resource.

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It's not trash.

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So let's recap.

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There are a ton of ways
to plant sweet potatoes.

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To give them a head
start, it's a good idea

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to put them in water
until they sprout.

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Once they've sprouted, you
can cut off the sprouts

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and plant them, or you can
even throw the whole thing

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in the ground.

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Another way is to cut the
vine off an existent plant,

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put it in water until
the node sprout,

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and then put that in the ground.

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One of my favorite
ways to grow them

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is to fill an old
coffee bag with soil

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and use that as a container.

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But whether planting in
the ground or using a bag,

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make sure they have
nice, loamy soil

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so the tubers don't
have to fight to thrive.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Standard knowledge is that it
takes you three to four months

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to grow potatoes to this size.

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I think it depends on where
you're at, what kind of climate

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you're in, and what kind of
soil because it's varied vastly

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for me, from four
months to six months

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to grow these kind of potatoes.

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This is one of the plants also
that sometimes when it's ready,

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it will shoulder, and that
means, like onions and garlic

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and beets and things
like that, they

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shoulder when they're ready.

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Shouldering is a
way that plants--

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some plants, some root crops--

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they tell you that they're
ready because onions literally

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will come out of the ground.

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Carrots, they shoulder.

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They'll come out of
the ground and tell you

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that they're ready.

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Beets, they do it.

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Garlic does it.

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And a lot of times, like
this, a sweet potato

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will be just like this,
on top of the soil.

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It will come out like
that, and you-- let's--

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see that?

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That's how they grow.

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With sweet potatoes,
to harvest them,

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another thing is the leaves go
brown, and they get a flower.

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So after that flower
dies back, that's

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kind of when you know
there's tubers underground.

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And you shouldn't
dig them all up.

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You should search and say,
OK, what can I find in here?

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Because there is going to be
these red roots that you're

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going to see above ground, and
that's how you know a tuber

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is under there like this one.

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So you can tell the color of
the leaves start changing,

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but you can also
see there's still

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a lot of green leaves on
this particular sweet potato.

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And what-- for home gardeners,
what I would suggest you

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guys do is get a gardening fork.

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And if you keep your soil
nice like this and conditioned

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and you have a lot of compost
and a lot of organic matter,

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first of all, you're going
to get bigger potatoes

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because the potatoes don't
have to fight against the soil.

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But you're also going to be
able to dig with your hands

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to start.

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And so once you
notice the roots,

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once you notice the leaves
changing, I dig around.

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And then, like, this
potato was on top.

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And once you--
they usually don't

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grow only one potato attached.

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They usually have a group
of potatoes attached.

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So you want to take the big
ones and put the small ones back

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into the ground.

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That way, they keep
growing for you.

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When you come back
later on, you can

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go to the part of the vine
that is in the ground.

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And then you dig around,
and you see-- and you can--

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you start to feel it.

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And just like this, bam.

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And that's how, in home
gardens, that you find them.

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But like I was saying with
the potato sack method or bag

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method, when the leaves
start changing and dying back

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and you can just cut that back,
and they'll just fall out.

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And you don't have to do
all the work like this.

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You don't have to
get your nails dirty.

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Mani, pedi, please.

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Depending on where
you live, it typically

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takes about four months
for sweet potatoes

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to reach maturity, and
there are a bunch of ways

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you can tell they're ready.

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The first is to look for changes
in the color of the leaf.

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Once they go yellow, it's a
good sign that they're ready.

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Another way is
when they shoulder,

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and you can see the top
of the potato popping out

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of the ground by the
base of the vine.

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You can also tell
a potato is mature

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when you see the little red
roots coming out of the soil.

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When harvesting, take only
the biggest ones off the vine.

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Let the smaller ones
continue growing,

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and then come back
for them later.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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