My Sweet Potato Fail

Let me cut to the chase, I failed. A young neighbor consulting on this year's edibles suggested adding sweet potatoes to the menu. Sounded good to me. Searched for varieties suited for my planting zone, chose two types, ordered the slips, and into containers they went 90+ days ago. 

Let me revisit a phrase, "into containers".  Say it with me, "into containers".

Now somehow when I started looking into growing sweet potatoes, I never searched best sweet potatoes for growing--yep--in containers.  

Turns out there is a bushing type suited for--in containers. Where was this unknown known when I needed it? 

Unfortunately, I had visions of the plant being trained onto my fence so my neighbor could watch an explosion of twisting, sprawling vines. And of course from time to time I would call out for her to watch the growth.

No, no explosion of twisting, sprawling vines. A fizzling more accurately. Stringy vines, all under 30" long.

Yet with great gusto I rolled the container in my wheelbarrow over to the neighbors' back yard as if I were a Roman emperor entering the city triumphantly.

Oh, whither laurel crown and ground covered with rose petals.

Yes, I brought a small garden fork so she could dig out the buried loot while her brother watched. Of course I did.

Slowly she probed the soil while I tipped the container into the wheelbarrow and she slowly digging, slowly, digging, slowly--nada! Na-Da! 

"Well, there is a second container with a different type, but I guess I'm not so good at growing sweet potatoes."

"You can't say that yet," she kindly observed. "There's a second one."

Is there anything sweeter than the sweetness of children?

In my heart of hearts I doubt much will be different with the second attempt, but I don't know for sure. But I am sure I will slink back over in a month with the container sans fanfare.

Maybe with a little brown paper sack of freshly cut lavender. A distraction, a pittance. 

The gist of this post all along was getting the question right from the get-go. Not after the fact.

Lesson learned? Maybe.