You may not have considered adding nut trees to your plot, but why not give them a try this year?
GIVE IT A GO!
Garden nut trees look good and with the right care can yield a generous and tasty harvest. Wild hazel trees (Corylus avellana) bear sweet, if rather small, nuts after winter flowering with wind pollinated catkins (male flowers) and inconspicuous female flowers on the weaker shoots. More than one tree is needed for cross pollination, but in most areas there are plenty of wild hazels that will provide the necessary pollen. Being native trees they support a wide range of wildlife from insects to birds. They will grow in almost any soil that is not waterlogged and not too shaded.
Good hazels with ornamental characteristics that aren’t too big include C. avellana ‘Contorta’ with twisted shoots and distorted foliage, and purple leaved C. avellana ‘Red Majestic’. Cobnuts are botanically hazels but carry larger nuts which protrude from the husk. ‘Butler’ and ‘Cosford’ are widely sold.
Plant in winter or early spring then shorten the trees to 45cm. In the following years shorten new growth to encourage many sideshoots but with an open centre where strong upright shoots have been removed. This keeps the tree small and productive. Gather nuts from as early as five years after planting. The traditional late summer pruning to keep the tree small and fruitful is called ‘brutting’, which could not be simpler, as side branches are snapped, but not completely broken off, about seven leaves. Nut trees last many years, with the occasional removal of some of the oldest shoots.
Filberts (C. maxima) have thin shelled nuts encased in their husks, and are grown in the same way as cobnuts. Good options include C. maxima ‘Purpurea’ has red leaves and nuts, green-leaved ‘Gunslebert’ and ‘Halle Giant’. Again cross pollination is needed so check with the supplier for good pollination pairs - the latter two cultivars pollinate each other
