I like the idea of crop rotation... but inter-planting one root crop with another seems risky. That garlic looks very healthy, don't know how the rapidly-growing sweet potatoes might impact the final bulb development. Judging by the plant spacing, it also seems that more than minor root damage would be done to the sweet potato roots, when the garlic was dug.

Nothing above should be interpreted as saying that it can't be done... just that it may not have been tried yet. Keep us posted.

Agree with risky/problematic. I think you'd be looking at both root damage and bulk formation issues for the garlic but possible early stunting and garlic harvest damage for the sweets. Just aren't two crops one would normally consider for interplanting. They sure won't benefit in any way.

Dave

Not looking for a benefit other than getting more out of the same bed, I got Garlic growing without sweets in-between so I will be able to compare them, I hope their harvest times are far enough apart to not impact them

I think there is such a thing as asking for too much more out of the same bed.. and planting sweet potatoes with the garlic would be one of those things.

The potential crowding of roots, and underdevelopment... and also, you kind of want your garlic to go a bit dry for harvesting, and at the same time you are wanting to keep those sweet potatoes moist for their development.

nice looking garlic. i think you will be shading the sweets.

Because I live in S Florida, this may not be relevant, but ...my sweet potatoes grow a lot of leaves and it seems that they would grow over your garlic greens in no time. Since it takes so long for sweet potato tubers to develop I don't think that would be the issue so much as the extensive root system that the sweet potatoes develop. Who knows though?

"I think there is such a thing as asking for too much more out of the same bed"

Strongly agree. Especially when the very different spacing, water, and nutrient needs isn't considered carefully. Don't know the dimensions of that bed in the photo but it is already intensively planted with just the garlic.

Dave

What was the outcome of your experiment?

I need a nice ridge for the sweet potatoes. Where in garlic land is there room for that?

FWIW, I grow my sweet potatoes in those big black felt grow bags - you want at least the 20 gallon size. They do really well in them and it leaves me room in the garden beds for other things.

Alliums

Garlic, onions, chives, and other members of the allium family are great sweet potato companion plants. Alliums help sweet potatoes thrive by attracting pollinators, repelling sweet potato pests such as bean weevils and sweet potato flea beetles, and improving the health of sweet potato plants by deterring root-knot nematodes.

Companion planting and interplanting are different things. Planting sweet potatoes in proximity to garlic may have benefits. But planting sweet potatoes in with garlic can create issues for both the sweet potatoes and garlic.

Steve, if you still post here do you recall the SP outcome of 5 years ago? I plant in similar conditions (not with garlic) but with more space between the original rows.

steve has not posted in 5 years.

Planting sweet potatoes involves several steps. Start by preparing a sunny garden bed with loose, well-drained soil. Cut healthy sweet potato slips from mature tubers and allow them to cure for a few days. Plant the slips in the prepared bed, spacing them apart, and water regularly. Harvest sweet potatoes when the foliage starts to die back.

" Cut healthy sweet potato slips from mature tubers and allow them to cure for a few days."

Cure???

That sounds more like advice for planting regular cut-up seed potatoes. Those get harvested when the foliage dies back. My sweet potato foliage doesn't die back until frost.

You always have to wonder about a new PRO with a phone number that lists as a telemarketer spammer number. No spam link this time though. Data harvester perhaps?