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| Acorns on the oak tree. |
I was walking past a plant at the garden centre and its tag caught my attention. "Are You Nuts?" was the question posed. Naturally, I had to investigate. It turned out to be the name of a company that sells nut trees. A walnut! I have wanted to plant a walnut tree for ages and we have enough land that we can easily accommodate a large tree under which nothing will grow. In Ireland, only three nut trees are viable: hazelnut (we have two), chestnut (we have several), and walnut (we now have one). So we will be set - possibly in our lifetimes.
I walked out with the plant. It was only €5 and it was only a few inches tall. But I am happy to wait. I repotted it and it's in the nursery for several years to come. We plan to place it in the middle of the field above the new polytunnel with a fence around it so the donkeys don't eat it. As it grows bigger and bigger, nothing below it will grow except grass. No problem.
I've always loved a lone tree in the middle of a field. I have often wondered what the story was behind the lone trees of the world.
I'm hoping for hazelnuts this year as one is more than 5 years old and the other about 3. The chestnuts are still in pots but ready to be planted out this year, so it will be a few more years before they fruit. I was surprised to learn that all three nut trees have both male and female flowers. I always thought they needed one male, one female plant which is why we have two hazels not that I know if one is female and another male. The same goes for kiwis. In fact, I had noted last year that the older tree had both flowers and catkins, which I assumed was the male component.
Surprisingly, just this morning I found an oak tree we had planted a few years back had a few acorns for the first time. The squirrels in America loved the acorns and would squirrel them away every autumn. Squirrels are apparently great thieves of all nuts but sadly we don't have any -- squirrels that is. If we did, we'd likely share, although Alex did wage war with the clever squirrels when we lived in America.
So what does this have to do with wine? Nothing at all, except edible landscape. And nuts always go well with wine.
