Peanut to be precise.
I am marvellously excited about my little peanut jungle here, but to be honest, until I read about them in the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I had no idea how they grew. In a dusty recess of my mind there was a vague image of some sort of large and twisted peanut tree in Africa, complete with a plump grey elephant pulling down the topmost branches with its trunk.
Well my image was a teeny bit off, and I must admit to being mildly surprised to learn that peanuts grow underground.
Who would have thunk it?
When I saw the peanut plant and its fabulous potential for the letter N (because P is for Pomegranate), I couldn't not take one home with me. But... I admit to being a tad suspicious and am of the opinion that it's a touch late to be planting it now. I'm pretty sure that the beginning of summer would have been more appropriate.
But appropriateness be damned, this little nutbag is in the ground.
Now I could blather on about peanuts liking lovely loose soil, or about how the peanut is formed by flower stalk pushing itself into the ground, but seeing as until a month or two ago I was under the impression they grew on trees, I am perhaps not quite yet a person who should be talking about growing peanuts. But my absolute favourite ABC presenter Jerry Coleby-Williams is, and you can see what he says about them here.
Presumably he is not working under the peanut tree assumption like myself.
Wish it luck.
ps I really wanted to say appropriacy instead of appropriateness, but it seems there are mixed opinions over the legitimacy of the former as a word. Sounds way better though.
38 comments:
Your peanut tree looks mighty fine...again, I will say it Ali, you are so adventurous in your gardening exploits...I am looking forward to your next letter very much...x
Hi Ali, what an enjoyable as well as informative post this is. I didn't know how peanuts grew. Not only did I also believe they grew on trees, if I would have thought about it, probably would have thunk there was also a salted variety of tree. cheers, catmint
I knew that they grow under ground. I remember somebody telling me that they grew them once. The plant looks very pretty. How much peanuts you get from one plant?
I grew some peanut plants for the last two years just for the heck of it. I only had three plants the first year, and only one survived the second year. They actually produced very few peanuts, but it was really interesting to grow them. They were a major investment in time/space in the garden, but it was worth it.
I was surprised by the appearance of the plant, as I thought it was quite attractive. The leaves just catch your eye with their pleasing appearance.
Good luck with yours!
WOh Little Ali! I love you. You are so brave and honest. I thunk you is marvelous.
Hi Ali; Of course (not wishing to sound too much of smart-arse here), if you had know that the peanut is also called the groundnut, you would perhaps not have been quite so surprised to learn about its growing habits... (This is of course where groundnut oil comes from).
One day you must publish a "grand vista" photo of your plot for us (taken from your helicopter). You have so many different varieties of exotic plant in your portfolio that I am imagining a garden of about 5 hectares, perhaps with a safari park at one end with elephants browsing amongst the luxuriant flora...) Or did I get that wrong, perhaps??
I love growing peanuts (and also goober peas). I don't often allot them space in my garden, though. These photos of healthy legumes are a pleasure to look at -- so glad that N is for (pea)nut!
Yes to the elephant Mark, but other than that it's just a normal houseblock :p. I have been thinking for a while how to map out and photograph my garden beds for Mud Pie, I just can't think of a good way to do it yet. I have things growing in so many different places, and there are so many weeds I don't want to show off!
Hazel, what you thunk of me means the virtual world to me :)
Veggie PAK I agree that they are a nice looking plant, have you stopped growing them now? I am thinking that next summer I might buy some peanuts from the health food store and try growing them from seed, that would be fun I think.
vtlarica I am pretty sure the tag said up to 55 peanuts to one plant, lol, I'll be very happy if I get one!
Catmint I am so glad we are together in our peanut tree vision, I think it proves our fabulously imaginative minds.
And Suzanne, you always have such lovely things to say... I think we all see other areas as exotic, the idea of your plums, (the ones you fly around the garden flapping your wings at) sound fabulously exotic, I can't wait to get my hands on a tropical dwarf variety!
Eliza, a goober pea?! Oh I so want that! A goober pea!!!
Ali; Can't you get Bob the Builder to lend you his "cherry-picker" [aka extending hydraulic platform hoist] so that you can take some aerial pictures?
I remember discovering when I was 12 that peanuts came in a shell, not just a plastic packet.. I was amazed! :p
Love your blog Ali!
:Mark he'll be here again next week, and up on the roof, I'll suggest he take some photos while he's up there... after he's done the other garden beds of got ready for him of course. And done the new roof, the part that I'll think about paying him for :p
Hi Kat, thank you! Sneaky little things those peanuts, I can't wait to see if I can actually manage to rustle up a few.
Hmmm. Now that you mention it, I've never really given any thought to how peanuts grow. How very fun to be growing your own!
Hi Teresa, I am teaching my boys early so they grow up with a full knowledge of the peanut growth cycle... perhaps it will serve them in good stead as some sort of conversation starter one day!
Hi Ali,
Nice peanut plant, and aren't the leaves beautiful? I most certainly do wish it luck for the future, although looking at how healthy it is, I don't think luck will enter into it!
Take care....Gary
Nice healthy looking peanuts you have there, and you are very adventurous to plant them. My Dad used to plant them when I was a kid and we pulled and boiled those lovely nuts in the garden itself, so fresh and juicy!
Your little peanut plant looks so happy already!
I never take tooooo much notice of the "correct" time to plant things. (Especially with our crazy weather)! I'm sure this one will thrive under your care ;)
If it decides to get a bit precious, it'll have sorted itself out by the next year.
Cheers :D
Thanks Susan :) I am not much of a stickler to planting at the right time either, and some things have worked for me while others haven't. Lol, but a lot doesn't grow under my care anyway!
p3chandan, if I do get any peanuts I'll have to ask you how you prepared them, I have no idea myself!
And thanks Gary, the leaves are very pretty, and today I noticed that it had one new little yellow flower on it, so I mustn't have disturbed it too much when I planted it out. Bring on the Nobby's!
I still have self sown ones that pop up each year, they take a *long* time to grow and are ready when the plant starts to go yellow. As long as they aren't roasted you could try planting ones from a health food shop, but you would be better to save a few in the shells and use tham as your seeds... just break open the outer hard shell and pop them in at the beginning of summer. I've done a blog on BLF before about peanuts and how to harvest them.
Oh thanks Donna, I went to look for your blog post but couldn't find it. I searched for Donna and peanuts, although I really wanted to try Donna and nuts :p.
Would you send me a link to your post?
Think 'Donna' + 'Nuts' would just take you to my profile lol... here's the link, hope your first day at school went as smoothly as mine (mind you I had a total meltdown last Monday as it was my last 'mummy day').
http://brisbanelocalfood.ning.com/profiles/blogs/peanut-experiment
Thanks Donna, I'll go and take a look at it now.
Luka was so excited about school, and had a great day. I did too, but I have to admit to shedding a few (read a lot) tears. Just didn't let my little boy see them :)
I'm glad your little man's day went smoothly.
Love your 26 days!... I planted peanuts also a couple of years ago-I had no idea they grew underground also!
Thanks Rebecca! Isn't it funny that we didn't know this. Have I ever mentioned that I used to think that there was such a thing as pineapple trees?!
.. was Pondering your Peanut Post, rather tickled my fancy to try growing some, so I asked Mr Google for some more info. Thought this comment from a peanut farming site was of noted interest ..
"Harvested plants are usually allowed to dry for several days before being shelled and roasted. This is because raw peanuts (taken straight from the ground) contain a very mild toxin. To eliminate it, peanuts are dried as the final stage of the production process to prepare them for consumption".
Might be handy to keep that in mind (although am a tad curious as to exactly what effect that "mild toxin" might actaully have...)
MrsQ, I had no idea... you'd think they might mention that on the plastic tag, wouldn't you?!
I will be careful not to feed them to the children without drying and roasting them first, and if further research suggests the mild toxin might be fun I'll give it a go ;)
have you ever heard about packaging peanuts? just wnna ask though...
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