I got seed from the Going To Seed seed swap. Thanks Lowell and Judith and whoever else shared…
I don’t know anything about peanuts.
Anyway, I never let ignorance prevent me from trying to grow something, and I’ll know better if I ever try again.
I can tell you what little I know about peanuts from trying to grow them the past few years.
They seem to want full sun, and a fair amount of water. One year, I tried growing them in full sun and only watering them once a week: they died quickly. Another year, I tried growing them in full shade and watering them three times a week: they grew nice and big and flowered and everything, but they didn’t finish maturing their seeds in time to be able to replant them the next year. I think they needed more sun.
So this year, I’m planning to try them in partial sun, in a swale, with water three times a week.
The year I had better success, I planted them about a foot apart, and that seemed about right for how big they got.
I don’t know if they can tolerate transplanting or not. I direct sowed mine. Hopefully someone else will have an answer to that.
If I’m remembering correctly, I believe all my peanuts died with the first hard freeze, but tolerated the mild frosts before that.
The ones I tried didn’t outcompete any weeds because I kept the bed weeded, and I didn’t sow much of anything in with them as a polyculture because I was trying to give them the best chance of success.
I gave mine about 190 frost-free days to mature their seeds, and they didn’t quite manage it in time; I think they needed another 20 days or so. I think this was most likely due to them having been grown in the shade, because they were supposed to need about 180 frost-free days.
I hope there’s someone who knows a lot more about peanuts who can give you more ideas! 
Same questions! I’ve seen someone starting them in peat pellets and then bury deeply—thoughts on this method? Similar to hilling.. I have a pod in the Warm Season Mix and I was wondering about starting indoors to make sure it had a long enough season.
I have “Sherck composit peanuts” and have this copied down for them… “Direct seeded. After the last frost, sow two seeds 2” deep every 8" in rows 36" apart. Mound peanuts as the plants flower."
I’m going to try them this year. Also just trying and not doing too much research or worry. They’ll work or they won’t.
They love water, especially when they begin to form pegs, about a week or two after first flowering. Before this time they’re decently drought tolerant. They send a deep tap root down first thing. I find water stress later on also reduces pod fill.
They love sun, but can manage to produce in part sun. I’ve had them grown under mimosa trees for some shade protection, and one year they were covered by watermelon vines. They gave a decent crop. Like Emily said, I think it takes longer for them to mature in part sun.
They take about 5-7 days to germinate in hot and wet weather. Otherwise they can hang out under the ground for awhile before coming up. You could plant them before your last frost. As long as they don’t freeze in the ground they will be fine.
I space mine about 4 inches apart in rows about 3 ft apart. Sometimes I double row 8 inches apart. They can be packed in, especially the smaller, earlier maturing varieties, but given the space can become very large plants. I think John Sherck gives them about a foot per seed.
I would say they are intolerant of frost, but this typically is never an issue for me so I don’t have experience.
They can be transplanted. I have done this with fine success. Use larger size plugs or seed blocks because they grow quickly.
They can tolerate weeds, but I think it delays pod maturity and reduced yield. If the weed is not shading them out they will be okay.
Hilling is recommended but not essential for varieties that produce mostly at the base of the plant.
I’m going to plant some in a garden box close to the house where I can keep an eye on them. For this first generation I’ll water them to get enough production for the 2nd generation.
Another set will be planted in the test area. Not sure exactly how that’s going to work.
I tried a couple plants a few years back and they didn’t seem to mind clay soil, minimal water and heat, but they didn’t produce. Flowers, but no fruit.
From what I can tell.
At end of season a bit of frost won’t hurt as long as the plant is still alive. That might be handy in a short season climate. Tolerate spring frost, not likely.
I’ve never started them to transplant but have moved young plants when I decided I didn’t like where they were, worked fine.
They can get pretty big and bushy; I go about a min of 8 inches, 18 inches between rows. They need room to put down the pegs, which can spread out a bit. Fewer bigger plants make bigger nuts and more per shell.
Depends on what you have for weeds. A little bit of creeping Charlie or purslane or an occasional dandelion doesn’t seem to hurt. Tall weeds, smothering weeds or perennial grasses probably won’t work.
I’ve never paid attention to germination time but not long I don’t think. Depends on soil temp and moisture I suspect.
Wow, that seems like a long time, but I know there are long season varieties. I guess mine mature from direct planting to harvest in around 100 days, maybe a little more. I wait for it to get warm before I plant and by late summer flowering has stopped, pegs have been the ground in the ground awhile and the foliage is declining. I leave them a bit longer unless I want to plant something else or unless it turns cooler and or damper. Cool and damp risks rotting, warm and damp risks sprouting.
they need warmth and water to grow, not just sun.
they are OK with transplantation. it helps early development of the plant.
after flowering, they grow stems from just under the flowers into the ground and this is were the nuts will appear. So they need the ground to be reasonably penetrable , soft, otherwise they abort the nut production. this is why they recommend mounding them a little bit after flowering. Not too much because some flowers grow very low.
I grew them last year in a big pot and in the ground and only the potted ones produced nut (more heat and softer ground)
I grew peanuts for the first time last year. Put them directly in the ground mid May when frost danger passed and when the soil warmed up. I think they can tolerate a bit of frost at the end of the season, but I am not sure about the beginning.
I heard they are not really keen on transplanting, but I don’t really know. For me the easiest approach is to sow them directly. If you want to get a head start, I would put them in toilet paper rolls, and then transplant them with rolls so that the roots are not disturbed.
They produce pods gradually, and I am sure you might get at least first pods to mature in your short-season conditions.
I hilled mine 2 times last season and I was surprised with the results. I sowed 30-ish diverse peanuts and got around 1 kg of clean peanuts. I didn’t water them at all, they got only occassional rain throughout the season, and they survived 6 weeks in June and July without any rain.
When sorhgum grew bigger next to peanuts, they were in the shade for one part of the season, but I didn’t interview them to be able to tell if they like full sun or a bit of shade 
I put aside a nice quantity to replant, and added some new varieties into the mix for this year! Others were roasted and eaten 
I have my favourites, but I am not selecting for flavour yet.
I hope they will be a success for you 
I’m interested in everything that “you can’t grow it here”, but maybe I’ll leave peanuts for others in Europe to test and diversify before trialling it here. Maybe if @marcela_v or someone else can select some of the earliest to flower, then I could try the next year. It does seem that it wouldn’t be completely impossible to breed here even it would need black mulch and cloth to get started with.
I will pay attention this year for early flowering of I remember with all the projects going on
