I always wanted to grow peanuts (Arachis hypogaea). I gave it a go once when I was in highschool, and we had early (February) frosts that killed them all. I haven't tried growing peanuts gain since then.
This past summer I decided to give growing peanuts another go. I am told that you can buy raw peanuts and plant them, but I don't remember the last time I saw raw peanuts for sale so I bought seeds of a variety called 'Virginia Bunch'.
The seeds were very expensive, and didn't have a lot in the packet. Unfortunately most were broken when the packet was sent to me. Still, there were a few good seeds in there, so I planted them and gave it a go.
The plants grew well, looked like any other legume, and had unremarkable small yellow flowers. The flowers died, as they should, and then the flower stems buried the forming fruits. Each peanut pod is the fruit of the peanut plant, that has been buried by the plant itself.
 |
| Home grown peanut |
The kids and I pulled up the plants after the frosts killed them. hey hadn't died down completely, but we have had a lot of rain and I was worried that they may rot if I left them in the soil for too long.
The kids and I ate some of the peanuts. They tasted great. They tasted like peanut but almost creamy.
I was a bit disappointed by the small size of the crop, but they didn't have a great season and the plants were largely shaded. I think in a normal summer each plant would have produced more peanuts.
 |
| One peanut plant with its peanuts |
I would like to grow peanuts again, so have saved some seeds from this lot. I would love to grow other varieties if possible, so will keep an eye out at health food stores to see if they ever offer raw peanuts for sale.
I grew them a couple of years ago, thinking of trying again and giving them a bit more attention, as much for fun as for the “crop”
ReplyDeleteI don't think my climate is all that ideal for peanuts. They tasted good and the kids enjoyed them, so I think I will keep trying to grow them as a novelty crop.
ReplyDeleteI know there are a lot of interesting peanut varieties. Some grow 5 nuts per pod, others are tiny but meant to taste better, some have red and white candy stripes on each seed.
I have no idea how many varieties of peanut there are in Australia. Hopefully I can track down some of the more interesting ones and give them a try.
I purchased some last week from a roadside store at a petrol station in Maryborough, Queensland. It looks to be a 500g bag of in the shell raw peanuts still with some volcanic red dust on them. They taste like earthy peas... a very different taste to roasted ones and I think I like them better.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to plant some but need to research planting for my subtropical area. Apparently we have lots of farms that grow peanuts as a cash crop in-between sugar cane