Social Icons

July 2, 2011

Let's grow some peanuts

I always wanted to try growing some peanuts, even ordered the seeds a couple of years ago, but never got around to it. Recently I bought a bag of peanuts in the store and decided to try some out. For the peanuts to be "germinatable" they need to be raw, not roasted or processed in any way. Here's some raw peanuts from the bag, shelled:


I got some sixteen ounce Styrofoam cups, filled them with moistened potting mix to about two-thirds and placed peanuts on top:


Then covered with soil and watered:


Now I have to wait a week, maybe a couple of weeks for the peanuts to come up, while keeping the soil moist of course. Really, that's all to it.

When it comes to seeding, I do not obsess with it. Trust me, I used to, but not anymore. Nature will take care of it's children, and the children, aka seeds, are very resilient. I have volunteers in my garden all over the place. Whenever you leave a fruit on the ground, like a tomato or some Marigold heads, or radish pods, or been pods, etc. - they will seed themselves, it is inevitable. The only thing to pay attention to when it comes to seeding, is seeding in season and in conditions close to those of natural growing conditions.

Take these peanuts for example, naturally they should be seeded deeper than you would seed a tomato because peanut fruit is buried in the ground, and tomatoes simply fall on the ground. If in doubt, think how a plant would germinate in nature and try to imitate it. That's it. Happy seeding!

6 comments:

  1. That's a brilliant idea! Peanuts are, surprisingly, a bit of a favorite to grow here in Japan. I've never tried them, but I think it would be fun. What's the growing cycle like? Soil requirements?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Joan! Peanuts take a while to grow, from seed to harvest about 150 days, that's five months. That's why they need to be seeded in advance of warm weather which they like. Soil requirements are not too stringent, just your regular loose fertile soil with good drainage. If everything else was that easy! Thanks for visiting! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You may have trouble germinating your peanuts. Things like that are often treated to keep them from germinating, even when "raw". Garlic, onions, and potatoes are treated that way, for example.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I know, that's unfortuante. As if we need more chemicals in our food. But for a little cost of two peanuts, it's worth a try because you never know which produce was treated, so I might get lucky! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Where do you keep the cups? In an especially warm place?

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is "always" warm in Florida, so - no - no special place. But the reason I used the cups was to perform a germination experiment. What I've learned was that you can stick a peanut (un-shelled) into the ground and it would grow. Not only it would grow, but you cannot get rid of them. I have a bed where peanuts were growing last season, and this year they all came up by themselves and are taking over everything else. It is practically impossible to harvest all the peanuts from the ground, so you will always have a perpetual peanut bed.

    ReplyDelete

 

Florida Gardening

Florida Gardening Blog

Visitors from all over the world

Grow Your Own Food

Grow your own food, be independent, healthy and happy.