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The common walnut is a large, long-lived, broad-crowned deciduous tree, grown for its nuts and as a handsome shade tree. It has smooth, silver-grey bark that becomes furrowed with age and big leaves made up of five to seven oval leaflets, which smell sharply aromatic when crushed. Male catkins and tiny female flowers open in late spring, and the nuts ripen in autumn inside a thick green husk that splits to release them. It comes into leaf late, tolerates most soils and needs a great deal of room: this is a tree for a large garden, orchard or field.
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As a precaution, keep it out of reach of children and pets.
Prune only between midsummer and early autumn. A walnut cut in late winter or spring bleeds sap heavily from the wounds for weeks, which weakens it. It needs very little pruning in any case: remove dead, damaged and crossing branches and leave the rest.
A grafted, named variety usually starts within four to six years of planting. A tree grown from a nut can take ten to twenty years, and the quality of its nuts is unpredictable.
One tree carries both male catkins and female flowers, but they often open at different times, so pollination by its own pollen is unreliable. The wind carries pollen a long way, and a second walnut nearby improves the crop. Some varieties, such as 'Broadview', are self-fertile.
In autumn, when the green husks split and the nuts fall. Gather them every day or two, pull off the remains of the husk, brush the shells clean and dry the nuts in a single layer in an airy place. Wear gloves: the husks stain skin dark brown for days.
Late frost. The new shoots, catkins and flowers are tender, and a frost after growth starts kills them back and costs that year's crop. The tree reshoots. Avoid frost pockets and choose a variety that comes into leaf late.
It is difficult. The dense crown casts heavy shade, the roots dry the soil, and the tree releases a substance called juglone that stunts some plants growing near it, notably tomatoes, potatoes and apple trees. Grass and spring bulbs usually cope.
No. Even the more compact grafted varieties become substantial trees, and a seedling walnut can exceed 20m with a crown just as wide. Plant it well away from buildings and boundaries.
Squirrels, mostly, along with crows and other birds, often before the nuts are ripe. On a large tree there is little you can do except collect fallen nuts promptly.
