You missed the window for white (Irish) potatoes - or reds or any other potato that's not a sweet potato. You can plant sweet slips now. Russets and reds need late winter, early spring planting.

Do the sweet potatoes handle the heat, or some shade is better? What kind of container do you use, or just in the ground?

I grew sweet potatoes in containers, one is a sunken kiddie pool, the other is a half whiskey barrel. The pool was in full sun, the barrel had shade. The plant in the pool made a ton of tubers, the one in the barrel didn't. They love sun. You might notice that people who landscape with ornamental SP's have them in sun and they're gorgeous. Memo to self: Go get some!