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Plums
Posted on March 1, 2009, by Ian Nathaniel, under Home and Family.
In the olden days it was thought that walnuts could only be grown as tall standard trees, but latterly there has been a move to produce them as bush trees and I had seen a number growing satisfactorily in gardens. Because the flowers of walnuts are so easily ruined by frost, it is vital to plant where they will have the maximum of protection in the spring. It only takes 2 degrees of frost to ruin the female flowers. Plant, preferably, in a nice well-drained soil with a fair lime content. Be sure to mulch the trees with compost after planting in a ring 3 feet wide. Buy grafted trees and plant one tree and no more (in a garden) early in the winter. Each March apply meat and bonemeal all over the soil where the walnuts are growing, at the rate of 2 oz. to the sq. yard.
The branches are thorny, the leaves arc small, while the little plums themselves suggest a wild fruit.
Don’t attempt to prune nuts severely in the winter or the wood the trees will bleed badly. Don’t prune the trees any time between Christmas and May. One of the big problems in connection with walnuts is that which concerns the male catkins. Very often these do not appear early enough in the life of a tree. Secondly, there are varieties which bear their male flowers long before the female. It is therefore a good thing to plant a pollinator which will produce plenty of male catkins.
For the first three years reduce the one-year-old leaders or end growths back by about half, making a cut to just above an outward pointing bud. After this period allow the bushes or trees to grow naturally, except to thin out the over-crowding branches sufficiently to let in the light and air and produce an evenly-shaped, well-balanced tree at the same time.
Pick the nuts the moment they start to fall and remove the husks. Then scrub them well with a nailbrush to remove any trace of fibre in the crevices of the shells. Dry them in a room where the temperature is about 50 F. and, if you like, place the nuts in a bleaching solution for about three minutes if you want to improve their appearance. Only well-scaled nuts may be bleached-those with a slight crack may be ruined. After bleaching, store the nuts in a cool place.
Unfortunately, walnut trees take years to bear, as a rule-though the provision of the pollinators does make cropping a certainty!
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