| Name: | Juglans Regia (Walnut) |
| Planted: | 6 July 2012 (winter) |
| Purchased: | Bundanoon Bloomery as bare root stock. |
| Pruning: | Minimal (for our purposes, at least). Apparently best done in early autumn. |
| Further Info: | Wikipedia, Austnuts, RHS. |
Walnut tree soon after planting.
March 2013
I have great hopes for this little tree that we planted in the winter of 2012. It’s still only tiny, but will hopefully one day tower over the back lot.
Our walnut tree in March 2013, eleven months after planting.
Our walnut tree arrived last autumn as a “bare root” delivery, with instructions to get it into the ground ASAP, before the roots dried out. As I was busy all day, it lay around until evening, and I had to plant it in the dark (somewhat crookedly and not necessarily at the right depth – the ambient starlight leaving the hole pitch black).
Not the best planned start for something that is intended to outlive us all and take up a sizeable portion of our property, but thus far it seems to have forgiven me. After a worryingly late spring start (almost last off the blocks in the leafing stakes), it has done very well. Still at something of an angle (which I’ve convinced myself is an endearing feature), it has added some height, and considerably bulked out in the trunk.
Assuming there isn’t solid rock half a metre down (a distinct possibility), then I am hopeful this tree will one day tower 25 metres over the property. I gather I’ve got seven years to wait before it will give us any nuts, and probably a similar time until it provides a useful amount of shade for a garden bench, but I am already very fond of it.
November 2014
Our walnut tree doing well. November 2014.
A little pruning last year (particularly one large offshoot near the base) and a recent application of pine mulch has turned the walnut tree into one of the most presentable features on our still very empty back lot. Hopefully it will be big enough to provide us with some usable shade in a couple of year’s time.