How to Grow Peanuts in a Home Garden

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If you’ve ever wondered how to grow peanuts or why the average home gardener would even want to, you’re in the right place—and you’re in for a treat. Peanuts are easy to grow, tasty, and protein-packed. What’s more, they’re not only good for you, but they’re also good for your soil. Much more than a garden novelty, peanuts are practical and prolific. They can be eaten fresh out of the pod, pounded into peanut butter, or otherwise preserved for the long haul. Best of all, individual plants can yield as many as 40 to 50 pods each. In this article you’ll learn all about how to grow peanuts.

Hailing from South America, the peanut (Arachis hypogaea) isn’t technically a nut like pecans or walnuts, but instead, peanuts are legumes like peas or beans which develop as seeds inside pods. If you live in a warm climate with a long growing season, you’re well-positioned to grow your own peanuts, since it can take four or five months for peanut plants to fully mature. Live somewhere with a shorter growing season? That’s OK. Some types, like Early Spanish and Valencia, develop more quickly than others, and there are ways to compensate for fewer frost-free days, too.

From tomatoes to turnips—and most other crops, including peanuts—homegrown simply tastes better! For a crisp, slightly starchy taste, you can eat freshly harvested peanuts raw. You can also dry them for longterm storage or play with different flavor profiles and roast them. Growing peanuts in the home garden can also improve your soil. That’s because bacteria living on the peanut plant’s root nodules are able to pull