Dig wide. To avoid cutting into the sweet potatoes, use a gardening fork or shovel to gently loosen the soil in an 18-inch-wide circle around the crown of the plants. Once the soil is loose, it should ...

Dig carefully. Use a gardening fork or shovel to gently loosen the soil beneath the tubers and lift the potatoes by their stems. If the potatoes are hard to pull, use the shovel to lever them out of ...