I grew up eating this edible tuber. It is a type of yam. This is my first time growing it where I live (South Florida), and it's been an interesting experiment. I usually boil it with a little salt. It is healthy and delicious.

I got a starter from a friend, ate part of it, and put little pieces of it in a barrel. We are trying our hand at growing herbs and vegetables in our backyard, so growing name is part of that experiment.

The guinea yam is a vine, and the tubers grow big, so they need space. I recommend using a deep container because it is a pretty vine, but it also needs to be controlled. It wraps around EVERYTHING! It took about three months for the plant to sprout- I almost gave up on it and planted a grape tomato plant in the same container... not doing that again, though. The tomato plant grew mostly unobstructed, and yielded nice fruit, but now it is completely overshadowed by the vine. I had beginner's luck because the tomato plant was pretty much done with its fruit season. So, lesson learned: Keep it in its own container and don't plant anything else in that container. :)

Now I didn't realize that on this plant, tubers would actually grow on the vine. It may have been obvious for the usual gardeners, but this came as a surprise to me. I am going to take the ones that are on the vine and replant them. Let's see what happens! I will keep you posted.

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