Grow Your Own Magazine

Does someone know when Hazelnuts should be ripe - and is there a good way of telling?
Thanks

hi Caroline - I believe that hazelnuts are usually ready mid September. Do you have your own tree or are you talking generally? dexterdog

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

dexterdog, I've got a hazel hedge which this year has a good number of nuts on it. The Squirrels have just started to eat them so I was hoping that I could harvest the rest before they pinched the lot .

I've opened a couple and they have full, very white nuts in them, they taste ok but I'm not sure if they are still unripe or just fresh .

Hi Caroline, am very interested in your hazel hedge. How long ago did you plant it and how long before it started fruiting.

Regards, bramble.

Hi Caroline - sorry, got info out of HFW book Cook on the wild side - I dont know any more than that! dexterdog

__________________
Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Hello Bramble, I think Hazel usually takes about 5 years before it will fruit. The nuts are usually ripe around Sept - Oct. Certainly not ripe around here yet.But certainly expecting to get plenty for Haloween - the traditional time for feasting on them. I should know more about this. I grew up in a house called Hazelwood - yeah - because of all the Hazels. I suppose we all leave our childhoods behind.

If you let them turn a light Straw colour & pick them then ans then store somewhere cool the'll be ready in a few weeks or so. What you can do is bury a large clay pot in the ground & put them in there & cover over with a tile or something similar they'll keep til christmas - it's what squirrels do but without the pot !

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Hi Alice, thanks for that. I would to give them a try. Hope the name brought back happy memories.

Sorry Bramble, we have just move into the house/garden so no real idea. I would guess that the hedge is a good 10 years old though.

NTG thanks for that, when you say light straw colour are you talking about the covering leaves of the shell itself?

Yes Caroline, they have a sort of leafy husk & this & the shell go a sort of straw colour.

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Many thanks.
Here's hoping I get some left.

The squirrels round here are scoffing them like mad. There's piles of shells on the pavement under a tree down the road from me. Makes a great crunchy noise when you walk past. In my garden they're chucking them everywhere

I suspect that we may get a hard winter this year FHG judging by the berries & friuts around that have been nibbled.

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/