A fun, easy, colorful crop for sweet tooths!
April 1 is the traditional day to plant chocolate M&M’s—just as St. Patrick’s Day is the traditional day to plant peas. If you plant this cacao bean crop too late in the summer, it will melt! Here’s how to plant, grow, and harvest this sweet crop. Kids love it!
The last time we planted M&M’s was back in 2014. It was just an experimental crop at the time, but we’ve decided to add it to our garden plan this season! Frankly, we’ve had a tough year, so this seemed like a fun, colorful crop to add to the mix.
Of course, M&M’s is a hybrid crop, carefully cultivated by cacao bean growers. (Cacao beans are the seeds of the cacao tree.) This means that you’ll never know if the same color that you plant will grow the same color harvest. In other words, you could plant a red M&M seed, but it will grow yellow and red M&M’s. That’s just part of the fun and surprise of this delightful crop. The taste is always the same, whatever the color (though some will debate that fact).
Recommended Varieties
Recently, a few new varieties of M&M’s have appeared on the market. For home gardeners, we recommend:
- ‘Peanut’: produces larger M&M’s with a peanuty flavor; heat- and drought-tolerant
- ‘Dark Chocolate’: shade-tolerant variety with a deeper flavor
- ‘Minis’: dwarf variety that grows well in containers
- ‘Smarties’: cold-tolerant, recommended for Canadian gardeners
Growing Tips
Over the years, we’ve also gained some valuable learning from readers. Here are our top five tips which we hope you’ll find useful:
- Soil acidity can affect the color of your M&M’s. As with hydrangeas, acidic soil produces blue M&M’s, while alkaline soil produces red ones. Always take a soil test before planting!
- Keep safe from pests, especially the Easter bunny (and maybe your family members).
- If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you might get W&W’s.
- Use non-GMO seeds or you could end up with Skittles or Reese’s Pieces.
- Be careful not to eat the seeds while planting; they’re delicious!
Please add your own tips below so we can all grow M&M’s successfully!
After you watch this video, why not try our online Almanac Garden Planner for free here.
Benedict Vanheems
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The idea of growing M&Ms in the garden is just plain silly. If you really want to grow something sweet in your garden you should try something more practical. After all threat of frost is past, I plant Cheerios, and by September I will have a fine crop of doughnuts.
Seriously, I very much enjoyed the video, it was very well done.
What a wonderful job you did with this video. One would actually believe it could be done, with all the information the gardener gives as he explains how to grow them. I knew it couldn't be done, but didn't think of this as an April fools trick until he said they had to be planted on April 1. Again, great job!
I write to compliment you on your witty article. I appreciate your humour and well-timed submission to the day's playfulness.
Well done, Editors! Well done!
Delightful video, and so timely! I laughed out loud, just love the concept! And the gentleman's pumpkin seed idea was great, too! Hooray for the Almanac, every day is fun and interesting. Happy April Fool's Day!
i find if you use a insulated greenhouse , you can grow them year round . winter crop is the best , they come out like ice wine... good vid , thanks ;)
Rather than growing M&M's I find it easier to grown personalized pumpkin seeds for my grandchildren. Before planting I have each grandchild write their name and a simple design on "their special pumpkin seed." I plant the seeds and low and behold as they grow the name of the child and their design magically appear on the pumpkins. My grandkids are amazed to see their name and art work on a pumpkin and their smile says it all.
Yes, this really works but there is a catch. I keep the actual art work seeds to give to them when they are older. I plant my plain old pumpkin seeds with not art work and when the pumpkins appear I take a screwdriver and gently scrape into the pumpkin peel to create each child's name and their art work. As the pumpkins grow, so do the names and art work. I just hope that my grandkids catch onto my ploy before they become Picasso's because my screwdriver drawing is very limited!
There was no mention of the type of fertilizer that should be used to grow M&M's. I'm just guessing, but it would probably be a fertilizer with a high sugar content. Would appreciate a clarification of the best fertilizer to use, I don't want to disappoint my grandson's with a poor M&M crop. Enjoyed the video. Thank you!
Ah, very good point! Indeed, you’re on the right track. Feed once a week with organic sugar. Also, you can keep any slugs away with crushed Skittles.
I saw this video amoungst several serious how to videos and I thought...really? I was in a drs office, a psychologist at that!! I thought maybe it could be some kind of cocoa plant and actually came home and googled it! I didn't catch on when he said they had to be planted April 1st! However, when the harvested M&Ms had the trade mark stamp on them, I finally figured it out! Duh!! I was really hoping there was a plant that made fruit that tasted like chocolate! What a dork! I am really very intelligent, (trying to convince myself after this!) but thought it was not real M&Ms and just some odd veggie. Jeesh! Got me good! I'm getting my 16 yr old grandson and my hubby! I'll let you all know how it went! Lol!!!!
You made our day! Love your comment--and so honest, too! Ha ha. Hope you got your hubby or grandson to bite.
