Early Orders Boost Success; Now Grow Sweet Potatoes Almost Anywhere!

With the first two mailings of our Seeds ‘n Such 2020 Early Spring and Spring Catalogs now complete, we hope that you have received your copy and are ready to make your selections soon and get seeds reserved for the varieties you want to grow. While early seed orders help insure your personal choice of varieties and get you bonus free seeds (see catalog front cover}; early orders and fulfillment of shipping date requests are a must when ordering our sweet potato and onion live transplants. Timing of shipments is critical for live plants and boosts transplanting success, so order as soon as possible.

“Sweet potatoes have long been a favorite in the South, but with new earlier varieties constantly being developed, they can now be grown anywhere, even Maine, Montana and Minnesota,” says veteran distinguished seedsman J. Wayne Hilton, founder and owner of Seeds ‘n Such. Northern gardening of sweet potatoes is also now more successful through the utilization of live transplants being grown at the farm of our contract grower in Tennessee, which are shipped at proper planting times to get a head start on production.

“Our certified, freshly dug and packed sweet potato plants are shipped directly from our growing station in Tennessee,” Hilton says, “These cold-sensitive plants cannot be shipped from Tennessee before April 15. Please do not order if you require delivery before April 15. We will ship your plants after April 15, just as soon as the weather has sufficiently warmed in your area. Similarly, we cannot ship sweet potato plants anywhere after June 5, as it is too hot. We can ship to any state except Alaska and Hawaii, with special requirements for California shipments. We cannot ship to foreign countries or U.S. possessions.”

Hilton notes that all orders are accompanied with detailed growing instructions and prize-winning recipes. “With new early varieties and the same old fabulous taste, there is now no excuse not to grow sweet potatoes anywhere!,” Hilton exclaims, “We do suggest if you live in the extreme North that you cover your rows 2 to 3 weeks before your plants arrive with our Red Mulch Film (see catalog page 85) to warm the soil and aid growth.”

You will find sweet potato plant variety availability, pricing and additional ordering and cultural information on page 65 of our catalog. There are nine different varieties of transplants offered and several collections to meet specific grower needs. Prices are figured on the number of plants per variety with a minimum of 12 plants per variety, and fantastic volume discounts are available.

Early orders are also essential for our onion and scallion transplants on page 50 of the catalog, but for a different reason. These transplants are quite cold-tolerant and can be planted out in the winter, so we begin shipping our onions and scallions about mid-January and continue through May 20. For those wanting to get that early start on the 2020 garden, now is the time to order onion and scallion plants.

“Our nursery ships at the proper planting time for your location, using USPS Priority Mail so our field-grown plants are guaranteed to arrive safely,” says Hilton, “We ship to all the U.S. except Alaska and Hawaii. Sorry no shipments to foreign countries or U.S. territories.

“We sell our onion and shallot plants by the bunch, containing 50 to 75 plants, depending on plant size,” he noted, “The minimum order is only one bunch of any variety. But you can mix and match any of our varieties as you wish to get a better price! All orders come with detailed growing instructions.

“We classify Onions by the amount of daylight they need to mature,” Hilton concluded, “Long-Day types require many more daylight hours, and should be grown only in the North. Short-Day types require fewer hours and are suited for the South. We like the Day-Neutral or Intermediate-Day types that do well anywhere!”