Yams & Somebody Ate my Plant!

The night before our last trip to Kauai I cleaned out the fridge and cupboards of any foods that I thought might go bad while we were away. Nobody wants to come home to a stinky surprise :) As I was cleaning I noticed one of my yams was beginning to root. The following  morning, before our flight I quickly planted the yam under a inch or so of soil in a large pot. When we returned 10 days later I was delighted to see a tiny sprout!

Over the next 4 months the yam grew into a big beautiful vine with lots of green leaves. We even enjoyed some of the leaves cooked, they taste similar to spinach. Recently we've had a few frosts here in San Diego, the vine wasn't looking it's best, so 2 weeks ago I decided it was time to harvest.

Harvesting yams is easy when you plant them in a pot...just tip it over.

I scooped the soil back into the pot and added some compost. I then replanted a healthy looking slip that had quite a few leaves along with a couple of smaller yams. I'd seen yams grown from slips before and wanted to give it a try.

This is how my little yam plant looked for a week or so until...somebody ate it! This plant was right underneath my clothes line...believe me when I say I see it every day :) I'm kinda irritated about this...

somebody ate my plant. Hopefully it'll make it but, it looks a little sad now.

I cooked up some delicious roasted yams with my harvest.  I'm going to plant more again soon. They grow into a beautiful vine that's great to eat...both the leaves and "roots".

Happy Gardening All!
Aloha :)

---