The Walnut harvest is in full flow. every time I go into the garden I fill my pockets with the latest windfalls. Many them crack when they hit the concrete under the tree. The header picture for the blog was taken from under the tree so you get an idea of its location in he garden. These broken one are either eaten by me as I pick them up, fed to the chickens or to Boris who takes delight in crunching them open. The squirrels have also found them but unlike last year they have left it late. the result is that they are making more ripe nuts fall out of the tree than they are eating.
The rest of them I bring indoors to dry. I am going to have to start giving them away as we have far to many for even me to eat.
A nice surprise yesterday, a copy of Monty Don's new book The Ivington Diaries arrived in the post, I had pre-ordered it from Amazon and it was only published on Monday. I have already read all the way up to March. The book is a collection of extracts from his diary from when the move to Ivington. I enjoy Monty's writing, I recently read 'The Jewel Garden' in which he deals with the periods of depression that he suffers from, this struck a note with me as it is something that afflicts me. I am of course extremely jealous of Monty's garden, I wish I had a plot that required 20 tons of Mushroom compost a year as a mulch! His writing style makes you feel you not only know his garden but also feel as if you are a friend he is talking too.
Gary, walnut trees remind me of my grandparents who had one in the garden, my grandmother used to pickle them. I have noticed that for the second year running the sweet chestnuts are poor, they don't seem to get very big - must need a warmer summer than we have had.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes Sylvia
Thanks for the tip on Monty Don's book - love his writing, and I didn't know about the new book, so thanks.
ReplyDeleteLooks the same here. but we haven't any squirrels around. I could need an advise about how to dry them the best way. How do you do? Mine often ends up mouldy /gittan
ReplyDeleteHi Gittan,
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit of an experiment for me this being the biggest harvest we have had. I have put them all in wooden trays and placed them on our boiler. Hopefully the warmth will dry them off. Do you find the skins turn your fingers brown? Mine look like I am a very heavy smoker.
Gary
You're so lucky to have a garden large enough for a walnut tree. I was considering scrumping some at Lacock Abbey at the weekend, but the branches were too high. Probably just as well!
ReplyDeleteYes, they do have that effect on the fingers - it happened to my friend a couple of months ago when we were trying to identify them on our previous visit.
Hi,VP,
ReplyDeleteTo be honest if we hadn't got the Walnut we wouldn't have the house. The people we bought from wanted to chop it down to extend the house, but it has a Tree Preservation order (TPO) on it and weren't allowed to touch it so they moved.
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteYou may not have Monty Dons garden, but you share a writing style that make the reader feel personally involved.
Paul, Thanks for that, I do try.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your advise. Oh yeas, my fingers looks awful! My harvest will also bee the biggest ever. I was amazed to see that many nuts laying on the ground today, Who's going to eat all those? Hope you'll have a great weekend / gittan
ReplyDeleteGary - have you read Monty Don's My Roots? I'm interested in knowing whether there's a lot of overlap between that and The Ivington Diaries
ReplyDelete