Planting Peanuts

By Saturday morning the ground had dried up enough after the deluge from the week prior in order to plant some additional things in the garden.  One of the first things that Benjamin and I wanted to plant was two 30 foot rows of peanuts.  This will be our second year planting peanuts and we are excited about the crop.

The first thing that we did was to take some composted chicken litter and sawdust mix that a friend gave me and pour it on top of the two rows.  This will add some fertilizer as well as some organic matter to the soil and will help make the peanuts jump out of the soil once we plant it.

Composted chicken litter and sawdust

Then we used a shovel to turn the soil over, loosening it up.  Peanuts like to grow in soil that's not packed.  All the chicken litter and sawdust was buried where it will attract earthworms and provide soil structure and nutrients that the growing peanut plant will use.

While we're talking about earthworms, almost every shovelful of dirt contained a few of these guys. Earthworms are a welcome sight in the garden as their castings fertilize the soil and their tunnels aerate the soil.  

Earthworms in the peanut rows

We are planting Schronce's Deep Black peanuts again this year.  They are an heirloom variety developed by a gentleman from North Carolina. that produce a black peanut as opposed to the normal red skins that peanuts normally have.

Seed peanuts from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Peanuts that you use for seeds come shipped to you in the shell.  In order to plant peanuts, you must first remove the shells, just like you do when you eat them.  I cracked one open, so that you can see the black peanuts.

Schronce's Deep Black Peanuts - Ready to plant

Benjamin helped me plant them just like last year.  When planting peanuts, you plant them 8 inches apart and 2 inches deep.  I walked ahead with a stick, making a depression in the soil between 1 1/2 - 2 inches.  Benjamin followed me, shelling the peanuts and dropping on peanut into the hole and then lightly covering them.

Planting peanuts

In teaming up to plant the peanuts, we were able to get the work done in less than half the time it would have taken doing it by myself.  I had a good helper. Hopefully, working in the garden with Benjamin will instill into him the same love for the land that I have and he'll remember working alongside his Dad and they'll prove to be fond memories.

In approximately 110 days, we will dig up this rich soil, hopefully exposing a great harvest of peanuts.  Benjamin and I will just have to be patient until then.