Wednesday 26 August 2015

Growing Peanuts In My Garden

After I have harvested the sweet potatoes leaves, the big round earthen pot with its soil has been left as it was because I have not thought of what to plant yet.

One morning while watering my plants, an idea came to me. Maybe I could try planting peanuts in this pot. I have tried growing peanuts in the ground before and the harvest was very good. So I searched in my refrigerator and found some store bought peanuts and soaked them for a few hours. I then used a stick to poke holes in the soil and in each hole, I dropped in 2 peanuts and lightly covered up the holes.
After daily watering and keeping the soil moist, the peanuts started to sprout.
 Peanuts belong to the Legume family. Scientific name is Arachis Hypogaea.
Peanuts grow well in light sandy soil.
Peanuts need warm weather to grow well and yield good harvest.

Peanuts need about 4 to 5 months for the legumes to ripen.
The leaves of peanuts have 4 leaflets.
If it is harvested too early, the seeds in the legume will not be well formed.
 With the extra peanuts I also planted them in this medium sized pot.
The harvest from this pot was totally nil!
Looking out for the first bloom.

Finally, the first blooms appeared! The flower is bright golden yellow.
Once pollinated, and after the flowers have faded, the elongated flower stalk with a slightly swollen tip, grow downward and pushed into the soil to develop into legume pods.
The peanut branches are growing taller and longer until they started to droop over the pot. The pot is not big enough for the fruiting of legume pods.
 Normally the branches will fall onto the ground for the flower stalk to push into the soil. But due to lack of space, they are drooping over the side of the pot.
For those flower stalks which were unable to touch the soil, they formed legume pods outside as shown in this photo.  
Each legume pod will normally contains from 1 to 4 seeds.
The peanut patch were getting really untidy but I need to wait until 5 months to harvest.
Reached 5 months, hoping to get some harvest. I gently loosened the soil and pulled out plant by plant. Even though the legume pods may not be very big, I did have a small amount of harvest. At least my time and effort were not wasted.
Peanuts and its many uses:-
  • Peanuts can be eaten raw.
  • Peanuts as salted peanuts, peanut candy bars, peanut butter, peanut butter cookies, roasted shelled peanuts, deep fried shelled peanuts.
  • Boiled peanuts with the shell in brine.
  • Peanut oil for cooking.
  • Dry roasted peanut with the shell and etc.
I managed to get this amount from the harvest, enough for hubby and myself. I boiled these in brine and eat them as snack while watching the TV.
Anything home grown always taste sweeter.
Now as for you, dear brothers
who are waiting for the Lord's return, be patient,
like a farmer who waits until the autumn
for his precious harvest to ripen.
Yes, be patient.
And take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
(James 5:7-8, TLB)

52 comments:

  1. 5 months ah? a friend told me have to harvest in 90 days wor or else peanuts will rot or something. Ya 2-3 weeks back i was in the wet market saw one uncle selling the roots. Bought some and made soup. Sweet.

    wahhhh so many peanuts leh you harvest. Hmmm...now i think i will plant too kekeke...hopefully will get good harvest. Thanks sifu

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    Replies
    1. If you have ground space, then it is better to plant in the raised bed on the ground. Boiling peanut root soup is good for children to grow tall - claimed by elderly ladies. I prefer peanut soup because not easy to wash the roots....I am so lazy la!

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    2. just soak quickly will get rid of the soil. So U and I have heard the same story., FA SAN GAN.

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  2. This is amazing, you are amazing, Nancy!!

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    1. Thank you, Angie, God's creation is amazing!

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  3. Nancy, I am so amazed! I have never thought of anyone planting peanuts. You did rather well, That was quite a harvest!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Phong Hong, I was told that planting peanuts will improve the quality of the soil!

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  4. Wow, if there's anything plants i not sure of, will ask you... hehe...

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    1. Hi Sharon, I can only help with whatever I know. I am still learning.

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  5. Hi Nancy, wow... love your homegrown peanuts, Good harvest. I love boiled peanuts too or peanuts soup with lotus roots.

    Happy gardening. Best regards.
    Amelia

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    Replies
    1. Hi Amelia, I too love boiled peanuts and oh yes, I also love peanut soup with lotus roots.

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  6. I love this post! Can see 5 months (of your hard work hehe) of growth just by comfortably scrolling down.

    I've been wanting to plant peanuts too actually. Need to make my small-eater kids tall. But have to go look for fresh peanuts.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Stacy, it is very easy to grow peanuts. It is claimed that peanut root soup help our children grow tall!

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  7. I am so impressed what a great harvest from one pot. I don't think it is warm enough here but I would love to have a go at growing them.

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    1. It will be fun to have a go and try planting to see if they yield any harvest. Wait for the warmer months.

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  8. Wow! Now I am thinking of growing peanuts! A fruitful harvest. You have good green fingers. I wish to visit you some day and browsing through your garden.

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    1. Thank you, Rose. Actually, my garden cannot be compared to those beautiful garden. It is just a very simple garden with some plants doing well and some not doing well. My garden is like the yoyo...ups and downs...

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  9. What a bountiful harvest. Am so impressed. Can see that you are very keen in gardening. One of my favourite is groundnut soup with pork ribs. The other day I boil groundnut soup & the groundnut I bought was so big.

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    1. Thank you, Irene. There are big and small groundnuts. For soup I prefer the smaller ones, but for boiling or roasting for snacks, I prefer the bigger ones. Peanut soup with pork rib is one of my favourite soup too!

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  10. What a good harvest! You make it sound so easy to grow peanuts and you are so patient to take photographs progressively.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mun, I enjoy gardening and watching their progress. Actually growing peanuts is really easy.

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  11. Nancy, that is a bountiful harvest!!! You amaze me in your knowledge of gardening. Your photos are lovely! Thank you so much for sharing. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Linda. I enjoy gardening and I learn through my experience with the plants.

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  12. First time I've seen how peanuts grow. Way cool.

    Have a fabulous day Nancy. ☺

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sandee, I am just having fun as I experience with the plants.

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  13. Replies
    1. Thank you, William. They are lovely even though they may be small!

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  14. Very nice job, Nancy, I was never clear on how the peanuts were grown. And now...I know!
    ~

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  15. Your penauts are wonderfulk and healthy. You are very flexible gardener

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    1. Thank you, Gosia. I am just enjoying experimenting with the plants in my garden and hopefully to see the fruit.

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  16. Good job growing peanuts. When the kids were small, I grew peanuts right in the garden just to show them where peanuts came from It was actually fun and easy and educational.

    Hugs,
    JB

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    Replies
    1. Hi Julia, learning with practical lesson or hands on experience is more fun, easier to understand and remembers well!

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  17. I never seen how they are grown so you made me learn something new today))

    Tanya
    www.StripesNVibes.com
    BlogLovin

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  18. this is so cool I must try, thanks for the tip

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    Replies
    1. Hi Rebecca, I hope you will have fun and receive a bountiful harvest.

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  19. Wonderful! I would never have thought of growing them in a pot!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Rose, the bigger the pot the better. Have a wonderful day!

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  20. Wahhhhh...not bad wor!! Got organic peanuts to eat... so what did you do with them? Steam or boil soup? Either way also nice!!

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    1. Ha ha...its just enough for 2 old folks, so I just boil them with their skin on...no fuss mah...eat as lam fah san...

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. excellent blog. I linked this post to mine.


    "Why do yo want them?"
    "Didn't you know, peanut root soup will may a preadolescence child grow tall."

    I went to the member who grew them.
    " This is exactly why I grew them for my small son."

    Then I heard from my sister in law who was a teacher. She heard the pupils have a ditty for a short teacher.

    "Fa San Gan aka peanut root,
    Fa San Gan,
    Ah Ma mei bei ni Fa San Gan." your mum did not feed you peanut root soup.

    http://annkitsuet-chinchan.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/peanut-roots.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ann. So kind of you to link my post to yours. I like your blog too, very interesting.

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  23. Peanuts, something that I eat, but never give too much thought to. Tom The Backroads Traveller

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tom, I love to eat peanuts too. I also love to grow peanuts in my garden.

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  24. Seems so easy to plant at the home turf.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Thomas, peanuts are very easy to grow, no fuss.

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  25. I would to try planting peanuts. Thanks for sharing this Nancy!

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    Replies
    1. Hello Lei, growing peanuts is very easy. Happy sowing!

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