Walnuts don't ripen well in most of Britain, tho' you may be OK in the southeast. Sweet Chestnut does ripen good nuts here though.

It's a long wait for it to bear, but Monkey-puzzle is also well worth thinking about. They're dioecious, so you'll need male and female trees.

Resin

I am aware of hazelnuts growing wild as far north as the south side of Loch Ness and have eaten a few. They were a good size. I also know of someone at Culloden who produced almonds within 4 years of growing from seed (Australian originating nuts have softer shells than European - oddly enough so do their prawns. You learn something new every day!!). Sweet chestnuts grow that far north too but the nuts are too small to be edible. Walnuts will grow and fruit a little further south. All in all, you have a good range to pick from in SE England. Old McDonald.

Hazel is native north to Orkney, so that's no problem anywhere in Britain.

Sweet Chestnut produces nuts worth eating about 4 years out of 5 up here in Newcastle, and I'd think it will be just as good north to the Moray Firth on sheltered lowland sites

Resin

Oh this is all excellent news! I was fearful that nothing much would ripen in Britian. I have to confess I'm not a fan of Walnuts, but I quite like Hazelnuts - they definitely seem to be a goer. Are those Almonds *outside* at Culloden Old McDonald or under glass? I can't believe it if they grow and set fruit outside! Wow!

If I get my skates on I might just get a bare root tree still this year. I think I'd really like to try Almonds - it'd go nicely with the Italian Garden theme I'm trying to create on the patio. If it fails I'll go for Hazelnuts.

Ta muchly eveyone!
Alcina

Alcina,

When I was living at home (as a lad in the 50s) we had a substantial almond tree in the garden (in Surrey) that produced nuts ever year, rain or shine. I believe the tree had been there for about 30 years.

I don't know anything about almond trees, but it might be worth making enquiries. This one had no special protection or treatment. Its main purpose in life was to support one end of the clothes line :)

Chris

If you get an almond, make sure it is a true almond, and not one of the peach x almond hybrids with pink flowers commonly sold as 'almonds' for ornamental planting

Resin

The almond tree was outdoors. We were on the Black Isle and could not repeat the results, but about 3 miles from the firth and at 600 feet, so a slightly harder climate - just beyond the limit for oilseed rape if that is any help. The trees survived OK but only one flowered and did not fruit. Where I am now they are currently in flower. Quite a pretty sight. Almonds grow quite readily from seed, try a few, it is a lot cheaper.

Resin, It is 50 years since I saw "Wor Jackie" put one away in the first minute, and I have seen them lose the final 3 times since. Can this be the year the Cup comes back? Old McDonald.
PS I was born in Ashington, as was Jackie, the Charltons, etc etc.

OOh...this is very exciting! (I'm easily pleased!) Much as I love growing things from seed I've ordered a bare root bush called:

ALMOND, ROBIN (Prunus dulcis Robijn).
A very ornamental fruiting variety which sets fruit 1-1.5ins (3-4cm) in size even in colder regions. Self-fertile, and suffers less from peach leaf curl than traditional varieties. Supplied bare rooted.

"Prunus dulcis" is a sweet almond (mmm tasty!!), I'm hoping the "set fruit" part means it's not just for flowers but produces edible goodies! :)

Um...when you say "grow quite readily from seed" would some (non-shelled!) almonds from Tescos work or are they likely to be too old and dry? Scarifying? (Ok...I'll go google!)

Alcina

Hazels are small and difficult to see to harvest but you should be able to get hold of the Kent cobnuts easily enough down there. They are the giant hazels that you may see in shops.

Almonds use to grow well in the street where I lived in North Wales. They always seemed to fruit despite the well known problem of frost killing the early blossom.

Walnuts and Monkey Puzzles are huge trees. Even the almond is going to grow quite tall. (Not in the same league though.)

I'd not try to grow from seed if I were you. Get one from a reliable surce that will do well in a pot. And get instructions for pruning etc.

While you are enjoying that, you can play around with seeds. There are all sorts of things that you might want to try. Just think:

Nuts!

Alcina, Buy them in the shell and plant whole. They might not germinate the first year, so give them at least through summer of 2006. I have to disagree with most of the last two posts from Weatherlawyer. Hazelnuts are plenty big enough to see - and to eat. I have grown and fruited them from seed. Almonds are a very small tree. I have never measured any, but would say I have not seen one more than 12 or 14 feet tall, and I have seen a very, very large number of them. I have grown quite a lot of almonds from seed too, and will be planting out maybe 20 or 30 selected from last year's sowing within the next few weeks. They are potted and so will move easily so long as they have water. It is, of course, normal that trees grow from seed, and there are two reasons why they are grafted onto another rootstock, one is to control their size and the second (eg where European grapes are grown on American rootstocks) is to combat problems. In the case of grapes it is Phytopthera. I have peaches here that have grown from seeds thrown out by people eating the fruit of another tree and they crop well - I have seen many such examples too in Australia. Quite interesting to see such things growing and fruiting in the roadside verges. Old McDonald.

Hi Hazza,

Here's to hoping!

Resin

Sweet! :) Still waiting for my bare root almond to arrive, but I'll mosey on down the nut aisle in Tescos! Actually...I wonder if you can still pick up those bagged mixed nuts that appear at Christmas - that way I can also get hazel nuts! I love growing things from seed, if they work, they work, if they don't - it's not like you've spent a great deal on mone on it! As for time...well...it's my hobby! :)

Alcina

Not what you want but have you thought of a lemon instead? All the nuts mentioned other than the almond would be way too big for a patio pot. In London you should be able to keep a lemon outside 10 months of the year. Mine's just gone back out from the porch and I didn't bring it in til Christmas. It's loaded with fruit and flowers at present. Another idea would be a fig which would enjoy being in a pot.

Our only lemon has been killed this past winter, and some oranges and tangerines have suffered a lot of damage. We had three nights of minus 6ºC and several at minus 5. These temperatures are not low by UK standards, although they are abnormally low for here. I would not chance a lemon out of doors when there is a risk of more than a couple of degrees of frost. The "orange" citruses will stand slightly more cold than lemons. We have lived in several places where oranges thrive and not lemons. Old McDonald.

I'd love a citrus tree, but I don't have anywhere I can bring it into over the winter. It won't survive outside. I'm toying also with Brown Turkey Fig, but my neighbour has several enormous fig trees which overhang my patio...so it's not like I have to grow my own! :)

Still waiting for the delivery of my almond...hmmmm :(

Alcina

Hi Alcina
I am currently growing pistachio and macadonia nuts from seed in London. the Macadamia nuts were obtained two years ago in Queensland Australia, and have survived in pots overwinter in my garage and are now outdoors. The pistachios were bought fresh from a Turkish shop locally last year and spent winter outdoors in pots and have just germinated.
Both the maccadamia and pistachio make attractive folliage pot plant, however I am doubtfull that they will ever become nut producing trees in our climate. Stuart

Hi is there anything special for these nuts to germinate?Any particular feature to look out for to buy?

I've planted two hazelnut trees - a straight one in my old garden (which is right next to my new garden), and a corkscrew one in a big container. They are lovely shrubs, but I've never yet had a single ripe nut off one - the squirrels always get there first.
However, this post has got me wanting to copy Alcina and grow an almond in a pot - do squirrels eat almonds?
Also, re lemon: I was given an ailing lemon treelet by friends who kept it in the conservatory all year round. I left it outside until November, and have overwintered it in my unheated utility room, a lean-to with lots of big windows - it's thriving! The first fruit is big and pale yellow and will soon be ready to meet its perfect destiny (G&T).

Squirrels!!! Noooo!!!! I didn't think of that! :( Mutter mumble....

The Almond tree arrived yesterday - it was about 6 feet tall!! Much larger than I expected and much larger than the pot I'd bought for it! I dug out my RHS book and pruned it accordingly to make a bush - so now it's about 4 feet tall with three laterals looking rather surprised! Why do your own plants never resemble the ones in the pictures?? I hope it survives Friday's predicted hard frost :(

I *love* pistachios! But it's the nuts I love so I'd really want it to set fruit. Do let us know if you ever get fruit! :)

Alcina

I have a pistachio tree in my garden in Harrow, Middlesex. It is the type that grows in California. It puts out red coloured leaves this time of year, but a frost will make them shrivel up, but they'll leaf again. Looks very dainty and pretty. It put out flowers one very hot summer but has never fruited. I still love it because it's so pretty. The young red first leaves turn a pretty green, and in the autumn it's the first tree to turn a beautiful red colour and then the leaves fall. It's in a sheltered sunny position and is now about 20 years old.

That sounds lovely, too... I need a bigger garden... How big does the pistachio tree get?

Fancy trying something a little different you could try monkey nuts (though more of a plant and the nuts grow underground) or to keep in 'aethetic and visual'harmony with your olive tree, thought about having a go at a pistacio nut tree (okay, its more of a bush)

YewTree

Sunflower's tree is probably Chinese Pistachio (Pistacia chinensis), which is a popular ornamental tree in the US, but has small seeds not worth eating. The true Pistachio (Pistacia vera) from Iran can't be grown in Britain.

Resin

I have grown almonds and pistachio's here in Derbyshire at 800 feet and apart from very cold years they bear fruit.

You can grow almond trees very easily from seed but they are not self fertile. I have a big one in my garden which has never produced nuts.

I also agree with a previous post suggesting to get the real almond tree, Prunus amygdalus communis, rather than the peach hybrid. The real almond tree is very hard and resists to winter temperatures to -15/20.
My parents have some in the northern east region of Italy where winters are colder and more snowy than in the UK.

Here in east anglia we grow good crops of walnuts, almonds hazels, and chestnuts. We do have to fight off the squirrels though.