I got the nuts through a seed company ( possibly Burpee.com)
Jumbo Virginia Peanut Seeds and Plants, Vegetable Gardening at Burpee.com
Knowing I have a mole problem, and a squirrel problem, I had to outsmart them. I built a raised bed especially for the peanuts ( including a bottom) out of wood. This solved the mole issue. I used chicken wire to cover the newly planted peanuts, to keep the squirrels from digging up the freshly planted peanuts..
I planted them on May 25th ( then placed the chicken wire on top).
The plants started to emerge from the ground on June 1st
I periodically had to raise the chicken wire, as the plants grew, so the plant wouldn't get caught up in the chicken wire.
On june 22nd, I felt the plants were large enough to take the wire off, with no fear of the critters doing any damage.
On July 10th , the plants started to flower.
On august 31st, I was getting curious as to when they would be ready to harvest. I did some research on youtube, to find out that once the flower is pollinated, it then sends a shoot down from the flower to the soil. this shoot then ' boroughs' into the soil. At the end of this shoot, a peanut forms in time. I was in complete disbelief . I had never heard of such a thing. I figured it was like potatoes, and they just grew from the roots.
I went outside immediately, and sure enough, their were little shoots coming from the flowers, down to the soil.
What I noticed was, the plants got large enough, that they part of them were leaning over the side of the raised bed, sending shoots basically to nowhere. So , now being knowledgable about how the peanuts are formed, I placed a few planters ( field with soil) next to the raised bed to provide a place for the shoots hanging over the side to plant themselves.
On september 22nd, my curiosity got the best of me, i went outside, pulled up one of the shoots, and sure enough, there was a full sized peanut attached. Went back to the internet, and did more research, and basically it said when the plants start to die, you should pick the peanuts. Problem is, up here in NY, the cold weather was around the corner. I let the plants grow as long as I could before any freeze or frost would kill them anyway.
On October 12th , we harvested the peanuts. Probably got about 300 - 500 peanuts from about 30 or so plants. Most were completely formed, some were not.
Definitely a cool experience.
The only growing mistake I made, was not accounting for the plants to lean over the side of the planter. I was unaware of how the peanuts formed. Now that I know, I will either build a bigger planter to allow for the leaning plant, or just change locations.
The plants get about the size of a string bean plant ( the bush variety).
Hope this helped .
I kept pretty accurate records of my garden this year.
larry