I'd obsessed for a while on getting the hay type tall growing peanut hybrids being called "tropical alfalfa" but failed.....which I now see as a good thing. I bought at Publix last week a 1.5 pound bag of live raw peanuts for $2.99 and today began planting them in the west bed that at LAST has damp soil. As I clear out pots and other detritus I will continue planting them throughout that bed. Since true peanuts are tall-growing, add nitrogen to the soil, and MIGHT be able to choke out weeds if planted closely enough, have leaves edible to my chickens and ducks, plus offer the bonus of home grown peanuts, I am excited about this experiment. I grew them in a small area in the kitchen garden some years ago so a friend's children could experience them.....they became a perennial presence in that area due to peanut pods being missed each harvest. My intent is to let the chickens in that bed this fall to pig out on the peanut plants plus any surviving weeds, knowing that the underground pods I don't harvest will be dormant underground until next spring, when they will germinate. If all goes well I will have a very large perennial peanut patch that will shade and improve my soil, feed me and my poultry, and bring dramatic color to a formerly drab bed when they bloom each year. I THINK the popular new yellow flowered "peanut grass" being sold and grown as a lawn alternative was bred from the edible peanut...I'm not sure but will look into that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut
No comments:
Post a Comment