As I prepared my raised vegetable beds for fall by removing tired plants, I hesitated at one plant.  It looked a bit like a short vine I had planted elsewhere that had not thrived.  Did I forget and plant one in this vegetable bed too?  Well, time to clear the bed regardless!   I pulled the plant out and noticed some weird nodules hanging among the roots.  Wait, are those peanuts?!  Yes, much to my surprise, a dozen peanuts dangled from the mystery plant!  I had grown a peanut plant!

My first thought was “I didn't know we could grow peanuts in California!”  But then I realized that we can grow so much in Northern California so why not?  My second thought was “How did the peanuts get in my vegetable bed?”  Well, there was no mystery there as I spotted a Western scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica) hopping down the path.  Scrub jays are known for hiding their food for later retrieval.  My former neighbor used to feed peanuts to the scrub jays and so we used to find peanut shells buried all over the yard.  Although we've had different neighbors for a few years now, someone in the neighborhood must be feeding the birds raw peanuts in the shell.  It never occurred to me, however, that the peanuts could actually sprout and grow.

It turns out that my raised vegetable bed supplied the perfect environment for the peanut plant to grow.  Although peanuts are from South America, they do well in many of California's climate zones.  The sunny raised bed provided warm soil temperatures, regular irrigation, and deep, loose soil for the “pegs” that form the peanut pods.  Peanut plants take 4-5 months to reach maturity and, because I thought the plant was something else, I didn't disturb it during the growing season.  For more information about growing peanuts, see the the UC Master Gardeners of Inyo and Mono Counties blog, “The Backyard Gardener,” which has an article “Grow Your Own Peanuts” (Feb. 9, 2022) by Jan Rhoades at https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=51534.

I left the plant outside to show my husband when he returned home.  This was a mistake.  In less than an hour, the plant was stripped of the peanuts as a smug blue jay hopped about.  I wonder if I will find more peanut plants in the yard next year?