Kitchen Garden

WALNUTS

I don’t know why walnuts are associated with Christmas, as they are at their best when ‘wet’, in October. Chances are that the walnuts on a Christmas table will have come from California rather than from a British or European tree. Which suggests that, with enough space in the garden, it might be a good idea to have some home-grown nuts in future.

Marshalls are offering two varieties of walnut tree, to be delivered around the end of the year. Both are two-year-old trees, self-fertile and about four feet tall. They will apparently start producing nuts after three years. The cheaper one (£27) is the common walnut which grows to a height of up to 100 feet. The other variety, Broadview, which is more manageable for a small garden or orchard, costs £47 and has a maximum height of 16 feet.

Broadview comes late into leaf and so should not suffer from frost, to which walnut trees are very sensitive.

Do not plant anything else near the tree or beneath its spread, as its roots release a poison which can affect other plants. Fallen leaves should be burned, not composted.

Once the young tree is established, there is little to do except perhaps to give it a feed of bone meal in spring. When the fruits appear, you can decide whether to pick the green husks in July, before the shells have formed, or leave them for harvesting nuts in autumn.

The green husks should be pricked – Mrs Beeton advises use of a silver fork – before being soaked in brine and pickled in spiced vinegar. If left until autumn, the kernels of the nuts should have a skin which is wet and easily removed. Most importantly, wear gloves when the husks are opened, as they produce a stain so strong that it is used to dye fabrics, wood and even hair.

It is a bit of a mystery, remembering the old rhyme, why a walnut tree, together with a woman and a dog, should be better for being beaten.

But any further speculation on this point is better left unmade.