Planting guide

When to plant sweet potato

Heat-loving vines that hide orange or purple tubers underground. In Melbourne it goes in Oct–Dec.

Start as: Seedling
Ready in: 14–21 wks
Spacing: 30 cm
Depth: 0 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Low
Effort: Some care
Frost-tender: Yes, plant after the last frost

When it goes in

● means sweet potato can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Melbourne	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Perth	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Adelaide	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Gold Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Newcastle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Canberra	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Central Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Geelong	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Wollongong	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Hobart	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Townsville	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Cairns	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Toowoomba	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Darwin	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Ballarat	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mandurah	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bendigo	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Launceston	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mackay	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Rockhampton	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bunbury	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mildura	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Wellington	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Christchurch	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
London	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Chicago	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Austin	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Toronto	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Johannesburg	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Singapore	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mumbai	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Paris	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant sweet potato

Grow slips by sprouting a tuber in water, or buy slips.
Plant slips on ridges of loose soil when warm.
Let vines sprawl; water in dry spells.
Dig before frost; cure tubers for a week.

Sweet Potato varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Beauregard Classicsweet · 16–21 wksOrange-fleshed, sweet; widely grown in Australia
Owairaka Red Adventurousheirloom · storage · 19–24 wksNZ kumara variety with red skin and creamy flesh
Okinawan Purple Adventurouscolourful · 17–24 wksPurple flesh and a creamy sweet flavour
Northern Star Classiccolourful · sweet · 17–21 wksPurple-skinned with white flesh; good yields
Eclipse Adventurouscolourful · 17–21 wksPurple-skinned, orange-fleshed sweet potato

Where to buy seedlings

Search on QP Seedlings Search on Amazon

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Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Bean, Marigold, Thyme

Sweet Potato by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Potato · Carrot · Beetroot · Radish · Turnip · Parsnip

Not sure sweet potato is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now