| Project by MsDebbieP | posted 304 days ago | 945 views | 0 times favorited | 18 comments |  |
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July 20/12
Long, long ago,
in a garden
far, far away…
oh wait, it was MY garden!! ...
... I planted a hazelnut tree. I wasn’t told at the time (nor did I do any research to find out) that you need two hazelut trees/bushes in order to get any nuts.
Long ago, my neighbour also planted a hazelnut tree and, thus, our trees should have flourished. But, I have no idea what my neighbour has growing (nor does he) but it does not look like my hazelnut trees.
Since becoming a GardenTender, I have learned to do research to get at least a little bit of information on the requirements of different plants and trees in order to do my job at managing the garden space.
I learned that:- the hazeulnut is also known as a filbert
- they are actually bushes and can be pruned to create a tree shape
- they need two bushes/varieties in order to produce nuts
- the nuts are produced on one-year-old wood
And so, last year (or maybe it was two years ago) I purchased and planted two more bushes.
This spring, I clipped off the suckers and ground-level branches to create a tree shape for each of the bushes. The goal was to take the chainsaw to my original bush and clean it up but that didn’t happen. Maybe later in the season we will get it pruned, leaving just a few main branches.
A week ago I noticed seed husks growing on the new trees. And they are cute little things!!
On the bushes there are some husks that appear to have only one nut, some with two, and some with three.
Some branches have just one husk on them and others, as in the photo below, have multiples. This particular branch has a tiny, single husk at the top (not visible) plus the three that you can see. 
This year should also be a bumper crop for the English Chestnuts. Maybe we’ll have a nut gathering contest at the get-together in September! :)
UPDATE
(Post-get-together) The chestnuts were not ready at the time of the get-together but there is, indeed, a bumper crop.
Picture #3: part of our hazelnut harvest from our two little trees. (In the husks. Some had 5 in the cluster.)
Picture #4: Here are the nuts out of their husks.
Picture #5: the harvest: 1 cup of nuts (1/4 pound)
Not bad for 4’ high bushes.
Next I will dry the nuts and then I can “m—m-m-” eat them!
And next year there should be a lot more to harvest!
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
18 comments so far
Karson
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212 posts in 2017 days
posted 304 days ago
When I lived in NJ I planted a Hazelnut bush. I think I planted 2 and only 1 lived. but I had hazelnuts so maybe someone in the neighborhood also had a bush.
We used the canes for some purpose. Maybe the kids were using them to whip one another. but they were about 10’ long.
-- Karson retired in DE e-mail karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
jroot
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4812 posts in 1768 days
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posted 304 days ago
Well done, MsDebbieP. They are one of my favourite nuts. Hope they are ready when we come for the “Big Hurrah” in September. :)
-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown
MsDebbieP
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posted 304 days ago
I was thinking that I should be able to use the branches to make an arbour or something.
Yes, they should be ready for sharing in September. :)
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
mmh
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posted 303 days ago
Very Cool! I purchased two hazelnut “trees” to innoculate with truffle spore. I had them potted for several years until we moved to our new place that I recently planted them. I have no idea if the truffle spore took but they are now happily growing in the wooded area and I have also applied additional truffle spore just to make sure they take. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, one year not too far away, I will spy and harvest a truffle.
-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.
MsDebbieP
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posted 303 days ago
haha one year not too far away….
it will be exciting to read about your first truffle discovery
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
Bon
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posted 302 days ago
Hope you get a good bunch of nuts from your trees this year.I bet the squirrels can hardly wait. LOL
-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more
MsDebbieP
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posted 302 days ago
fortunately we don’t have a lot of squirrels in the area but I’m sure that will change as the production of nuts increases.. .sigh
but then – I’ll have more stories to tell in my blog!!
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
jroot
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posted 302 days ago
... and here I thought about bring a hostess gift for the big get-together in September … a nice breeding pair of squirrels right from the Rockwood area. Ah well, I guess I’ll have to rethink that idea. ;)
-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown
MsDebbieP
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posted 302 days ago
aren’t you thoughtful!!!
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
Radicalfarmergal
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posted 302 days ago
Congratulations on your upcoming hazelnut harvest this year, Debbie. Your tree looks great!
-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi
JAGWAH
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posted 297 days ago
Cool! I never saw Hazel nuts in the husk before, interesting.
-- Just A Guy With A Hammer
MsDebbieP
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posted 297 days ago
isn’t it??!! So pretty. :)
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
Greenthumb
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posted 289 days ago
Do you have to roast them to get that “crunchy” texture ?
Nice work, nice choice, nice gardens from 1 nut to another
-- but for one rose, love endures
MsDebbieP
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posted 289 days ago
:)
I’ll let you know, once I harvest them. As far as I know it’s just a matter of drying them.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
mmh
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posted 239 days ago
Congratulations and enjoy your harvest!
-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.
mmh
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300 posts in 1667 days
hardiness zone 7a
posted 239 days ago
The leaves of your hazelnut tree doesn’t look anything like mine.
-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.
MsDebbieP
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13902 posts in 2138 days
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posted 239 days ago
interesting … what doe yours look like?
google images
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
MsDebbieP
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13902 posts in 2138 days
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posted 235 days ago
I’ve harvested most of my English Chestnuts now. There are still some green pods on the ground that will crack open and provide a few more nuts but if I don’t get to them that will be ok. The foraging critters can have them.
I got a total of 5 cups of nuts (1.25 pounds). This isn’t close to the 9+ pounds that we picked up two years ago. I hope that the tree is not getting too old already. I’ve just started to reap its benefits!
I tried doing the baking soda trick with them to see if it would make it easy to get the nuts out of the outer shell but that didn’t work.. back to the cutting/baking process.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)