Sweet Potato/Yam update

So, for those of you who care (and, let's face it, so I remember what I did when I try again next year!), I've planted two of my most beautiful yam sprouts today. I've read you either need to snap the sprouts off the potato and let them grow their own roots, or you just plant the whole potato in the ground. So I've done one of each, and will do more as they grow a bit. I've found a great little spot in my yard, south facing and covered by a huge overhang. I'm hoping it will be extra warm and extra sheltered and maybe I'll get something out of it? We'll see! Here are a few pictures to show what I did today:

So here's the whole potato method just before I planted it. Isn't it beautiful? I'm no expert, though, so I hope it lives!

And here' the sprout. Now, I've read that you snap off the sprout, then put it in water to grow roots. But some of my sprouts grew low enought that they were also submerged in the water the potato sat in, so they grew roots of their own right off the bat even though they were also growing out of the potato. Haha, look at the shadow of my hand in this one! The sun was bright enough outside I didn't even notice it before!

So I planted both of these in some mushroom manure dirt, then set a drip line on them to give them a good start, then covered the surrounding area with lawn clippings to keep them moist. Cross your fingers it works well! I really hope to get something, although I suspect my growing season just won't be long enough. It's already the middle of June, but with the way the weather's been I don't think I could have planted them any sooner. Maybe next year we'll have an earlier spring for better results?!

And that's the finished product. A little hard to see, but let's try and remember that I put the whole potato in the front and the sprout in the back!