Sweet potatoes aren’t only a decorative plant. According to the Bavarian State Research Center for Viticulture and Horticulture (LWG) the sweet potato is becoming more important as a vegetable in Germany.
Not only amateur hobby gardeners like the sweet potato they are also more readily available in the better supermarkets. Almost all the sweet potatoes for vegetable use are imported. But organic farmers in Bavaria cultivate the sweet potato too. The farmers value the vegetable because they are healthy, strong and easy to cultivate.
The decorative varieties of the sweet potato have been sold as garden plants for about ten years. Since the plants aren’t winter hardy the tubers can be harvested when the beds are prepared for winter.