Ann's Air Gardens

A Sweet Potato Slip

I love vines, especially edible ones. 

Leaves of the Ipomoea batatas are tender and sweet when young, but they do turn bitter if allowed to get much bigger than these.  The good news is that this vine will not only keep producing tender young edible leaves indefinitely, but pinching them back will make the plant spread out and become more attractive as well as more edible.  The edible leaves, moreover, are a rich source of lutein,  as well as Riboflavin and Vitamins A and C.

Ipomoea plants are easily propagated by stem cuttings.   

Extra nitrogen will encourage more leaves and discourage the formation of tuberous roots.  Red lines and/or yellowing leaves indicate nitrogen deficiency, unless you are dirt gardening and have tubers below the ground.  Then, of course, the yellowing leaves indicate they are ready for harvest.

As with cucumbers,  long hours of daylight interfere with the production of flowers.  That is one reason we seldom see sweet potatoes blossoming. 

More Goodies from my Window Sill Garden

This is a detail from a leaf of the Asia Red Amaranth described in this article:

My Article on Amaranth Tea

There, if you are so bold as to look, you will see me cup in hand enjoying my latest fortuitous accident. 

The Asia Red Amaranth Breakfast Nog was good and before I forget what went in there, a list is in order:

• Several sliced amaranth leaves
• Two leaves of sweet basil
• Two leaves of Thai basil
• Two sprigs of oregano
• The sliced top of one scallion

And here it is again: 

Such a pretty color!

This experiment came about after my brother, who like me grows basil in his kitchen, mentioned making tea from fresh basil leaves.

We both have wisdom wands (heat-safe blown glass straws with holes in the bottom to strain the liquid out of this kind of tea) so I ran to the kitchen to pick a few leaves and dropped them in boiling water to steep for five minutes, not expecting to be thrilled with the flavor.  But it was actually good and so pretty, too.    So this morning, wanting a healthy hot drink, I looked to see what else might be tasty and ready to pinch back. 

The Asia Red Amaranth cried out "Pick Me!"  So I did.  Since the red amaranth is not as tender as the green, I boiled it a few minutes instead of adding to the already hot water and just letting it steep.  Then I looked to see what else wanted to become breakfast.