Garden designer Andrew Fisher Tomlin goes nuts over Christmas. In these days of grow your own there is nothing more appropriate at this time of year than to think about planting some nut trees in your garden. Do it this month and you'll have your own supply of Christmas nuts next year.
What
must be the easiest to grow but little seen in the UK is the
almond. The common
almond Prunus dulcis is the tree
that you need to pick. Coming originally from Iran it produces the
sweetest nuts, especially after a hot summer. There is a bitter
almond but that can be pretty dangerous as it contains cyanide
which is removed before consumption. In California they produce so
many almonds that they have the largest managed pollination event
in the world, sometimes even importing Australian bees to help out
but you should do alright with our own British bees and to bees on
the safe side you can install a bee box.
Not
a favourite of mine but probably the most extensively grown in the
UK is the hazelnut. As I write this the cobnut season in Kent has
just finished. These are the royalty of the hazelnut world but its
quite easy to grow your own supply using the common hazel Corylus avellana. There are a number
of special varieties used in commercial production and. If you can
get your hands on one, I once tried the varieties "England" and
"Kent Cob" which
were far superior to the nuts you'll get from your local
supermarket.
What
is a favourite of mine though is Walnuts. Truly worth growing if
only to save yourself money but especially because you can make
your own pickled walnuts. The black walnut Juglans nigra is the best known but
there are many other species to choose from. This tree may take up
to 10 years to produce the first nuts so its worth getting ahead
and planting a 2 or 3 year old tree and, if you're lucky, there
won't be too much of a wait. A relative of mine got nuts from a 4
year old tree. What's really great about them is they don't mind
wet summers and are also very hardy through droughts - recognise
our summers here? To really benefit from a walnut tree I urge you
to pickle the walnuts when they are green and fall off the tree.
Wear marigolds though because they'll stain your hands for weeks
afterwards. There is nothing better!
The one tree we can't grow here is the Brazil nut tree. Despite its name most of our Brazil nuts come from Bolivia. A very complicated pollination involving exotic flowers and bees leads to this iconic nut that has been threatened for many years now. The trees can grow to 45m and can be as old as a thousand years and the seeds or nuts are contained in large fruit up to 6 inches long. I hope you'll appreciate the trouble that farmers go to next time you open your Quality Street.
Although we can't have our own Brazils, there are lots of other nuts we can easily grow in our own gardens. So next time you are thinking about planting a tree, or growing some fruit, give a thought to the lonely nut trees and plant something for the future.
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