That quote is from a children’s book and for some reason I think it was about a turnip. Well, this ain’t no turnip.
I planted two tiny little ornamental sweet potato vines on either side of my deck as a fill-in around some new rose bushes. Mind you, I have planted sweet potato vines in my front beds before, which get plenty of water and a sun/shade mix, and they have always been beautiful, but nothing like this. Maybe 3-4 foot-lengths on each vine, but not these monster lengths of 10-12′ vines crawling around the legs of the tables, chairs, swing and BBQ pit.
When I went to the CHA tradeshow at the end of July, they had begun to creep on the edge of the deck and looked beautiful, very charming even. My hubby, who had strict instructions to water frequently, did a great job on the front of the house. When I came home, you could tell that my flowers never knew I left. The back was a different story.
My potted periwinkles were a lovely shade of brown. The hanging baskets were dead as a hammer. One of my new rose bushes had disappeared. Larry admitted that he had not been as diligent in watering the back as he had the front. That’s ok. The back yard is pretty much a place to store the travel trailer and house my two great pups, who have giant-size feet and like to trample flowers.
I don’t know if it was the lack of water or the 100°+ temperatures with heat indexes up to 115° that made this transformation, but that vine had consumed half our deck in a little more than a week. 
I had to take lots of photos and am happy to report that the vine is now under control after Larry cut almost 3/4 of it. It no longer even touches the deck and the rose bush that was lost has reappeared.
Memphis is famous for hot temps in the summer with horrid humidity. I’ve lived in this area most of my life and know that when you plant a garden, you need to be prepared to water a lot, harvest mid-summer and then watch everything, including the countryside, turn brown in August unless you like high water bills. This summer has seemed hotter than usual, and earlier this week, when the temperature dropped to 96°, the weatherman called it a cold front. The scary part was, it seemed like one.
We always plant a garden under black plastic which keeps the weeds at bay, requires much less water and generally produces well. This year has been different. We planted the garden on time, it looked great and was beginning to produce well when the deer and squash bugs invaded. We have been in this house for 23 years and have never had trouble with deer. New houses taking up their foraging grounds have pushed them into residential areas. Our tomatoes were stripped to the ground, and our cucumbers and squash withered on the vines. The only thing still producing is okra, which loves hot weather and the deer obviously don’t eat. I guess the texture makes their tongues itch. I know it does a number on my hands when I pick it. The brown haze that usually hits mid-August has not appeared and everything is still lush and green. It’s been a very unusual growing season here.
If only those sweet potatoes were not just ornamental. I could plant the whole back acre in them, never water and just sit back and harvest my crop. Heck, I could be the Sweet Potato Queen!
Have a great weekend. I promise to get back to creative subjects next week.
Tags: hot weather, sweet potato
