Every sports season you can hear teams and their fans chanting the most hopeful phrase, “We’re #1!” Well, in North Carolina there may not be a lot of shouting about it, but Sweetpotatoes are #1, and have been since 1971!

Sweetpotatoes are one of our favorite vegetables to grow in school gardens for a variety of reasons. They are planted in May and harvested in September and October producing a low input, zero-maintenance crop and naturally keeping weeds at bay during the summer when most schools are out of session. They are also a highly nutritious crop exploding with healthy carotenoids and fiber. But most of all, kids LOVE to harvest them, a process we call, ‘digging for buried treasure.’

Though it is an easy crop to grow, some advance planning is critical to success in the school garden. Ordering slips, or sweetpotato starts, is often done in January and February and delivered sometime in May. In some areas of NC, it may be difficult to find slips (a cutting without roots that is planted directly into the garden soil) at local garden centers. 

We’ve done some legwork to identify some sweetpotato farmers in NC that will sell slips to schools. It’s important to note that many farms have a 1,000 slip minimum so finding some other schools or groups to share the slips with and split the cost would be ideal (we suggest plant spacing on 1 slip per square foot in the garden). The farms listed below sell the sweetpotato variety, Covington, the sweetpotato that you will find in the grocery store. If you’re not sure about the quantity to order please contact us and we can guide you through that calculation.

If you would like more information on how to get started growing sweetpotatoes in your school garden please contact us so we can help you get off to a great start.

NC Sweetpotato Slips 

This is not an exhaustive list, we are glad to add to it if you know of a farm in your area that will sell to schools.

• Leggett Farming Partnership, Nashville, NC
  • Website: leggettfarming.com
  • Phone: 252-467-2776
  • Note: 1000 slip minimum 
• Sullivan Farms, Lucama, NC
  • Websites: sullivanfarmsinc.com & mid-stateproduce.com
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Phone: 252-205-7586
  • Contact person: Katie Sullivan
  • Note: May be willing to sell less than 1000
• Chatham Farm & Home , Pittsboro, NC
  • Website: chathamfarmsupply.com 
  • Phone: 919-542-3353
  • Contact person: Melinda Fitzgerald
  • Note: Click on deliveries to see if there is a drop point near you
• Vick Family Farms, Wilson, NC
  • Website: vickfamilyfarms.com
  • Phone: 252-291-8880
  • Contact person: Grayson Wells
  • Note: 1000 slip minimum 
• Jones Family Farms, Bailey, NC 
  • Website: jonesfarmsnc.com
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Phone: 252-235-3248
  • Contact person: Jessica Jones Williams
  • Note: 1000 slip minimum

Sweetpotato Spelling Lesson

Yes! Sweetpotato is one word. No, autocorrect does not recognize it. Help normalize the one word spelling by using it in your classroom. Learn more about this spelling that has been used by industry, academia and other countries for more than 30 years.