How to Plant & Grow Peanuts

Make an organic compost ahead of time in a compost bin near your garden. Use green, nitrogen-rich items such as grass clippings, weeds, leaves, vegetable scraps and coffee grounds, and brown carbon-rich items like newspaper, pine needles, dead leaves or sawdust.

Mix 2 to 4 inches of organic compost into the soil, and work it in 6 inches deep to create a nourishing environment.

Plant four seeds 1 1/2 inches into each mound of soil, 18 inches apart. Leave the shell on the seeds or remove the shells, which allows the seeds to germinate faster. Throw out any seeds with a cracked red seed coat, which means you have a dead seed. Space each peanut row 24 inches apart.

Water the peanut plants with 1 to 2 inches of water each week using a garden hose, and ensure the water goes deeply into the soil. Over- or underwatering creates unhealthy peanut plants, producing a small crop of peanuts.

Heap a 6-inch mound of soil around each peanut plant when they grow 12 inches tall, then add 3 to 5 inches of compost around each plant. The mound and compost help keep an even temperature for the soil and the soil moist. The compost also controls weed growth.

Pull up the peanut plants with the peanuts attached in the fall when the first frost occurs. Look for the leaves beginning to change to yellow.

Dry your peanuts on the plant for one to two weeks in a room with good ventilation, remove the pods, and continue drying them in shallow containers for two to three more weeks in a warm area with less than 60 percent humidity.

Roast your dried peanuts in the shell on cookie sheets in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13 to 18 minutes. If you shell the peanuts first, test how long they take to roast using a small batch, since the roasting time will be less than with the shells on.