I’d followed KVANN (Norwegian Seed Savers) member Per Hofsli on social media for some time for his interest in nut trees and I’d learned that he was even grafting for sale, not the easiest of genera to graft as the process needs warmth. I was therefore pleased to be given a tour of his garden in Asker (Oslo) on 20th August when I was in Oslo for KVANNs herb seminar at Linderud Gård. Although most are still young trees, it was truly impressive to see all the nut trees in his garden including many varieties of walnuts, heartnuts, buartnuts ( ), chestnut, hazel and almonds. However, most impressive was his amazing collection of fig varieties and my visit was perfectly timed to be able to sample some of the best tasting figs I’ve ever eaten, in particular one (Campaniere) that had a rich honey taste. He grows them in large pots and brings them in for the winter as outside they freeze back to the roots and don’t then manage to ripen by the autumn. There were also a number of varieties of aubergine and a wonderful “family” pear tree, to which he had grafted on 15 varieties!!! I came away with a dwarf walnut created by Lars Westergaard: Mini Multiflora #14, grafted by Per (thanks!), a variety I believe I saw when I visited Westergaard’s nursery in 2016: https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=6438 I didn’t take many pictures as it was raining a bit. I hope I will be able to revisit in 10 years to see how this place has developed :)
Per and part of the fig collection
The apricots were unfortunately not ripe….
Walnut with galls caused by one of the walnut gall mites, a tiny, sap-sucking insect that causes blister-like swellings on the upper surface of the leaves. They don’t hurt the trees.
A family pear tree on which Per had grafted several varieties.
Almonds
One of the aubergines
Fig tasting, Campaniere is at the bottom and had an incredible taste!
In the middle of July I was at the Åfallet Food Forest Festival in Sweden to give a talk about perennial vegetables (more about that in a separate post). There I met Göran Christiansson of the webshop NötTräd and Nötverket, the Swedish network for everyone who wants to contribute to making nuts a natural part of the Swedish food landscape and transforming the food system! He also has a podcast which was started in March this year and I agreed to do an interview with him on my experience with growing nuts next to the Trondheim Fjord. We sat down in one of the trial forest garden plots at Åfallet on a warm summer day surrounded by hazel trees. You can listen in to the conversation here: https://sites.libsyn.com/571825/stephen-barstow-edimentalscom-in-english
My first ripe walnut from Væres Venner Community Garden in Trondheim…the same year as I planted it! I should have removed it to allow the tree to gather strength. I didn’t notice the flowers, so was surprised to discover the walnut in the summer! It is one of the Loiko varieties developed by Dr. Loiko in Belarus…reckoned to be one of the world’s hardiest walnuts. The tree is only about 1m tall! Good to get confirmation in the first year that walnuts will ripen in our cold summers! I’ve had ripe Juglans mandschurica in my garden for almost 10 years, but previous attempts with Juglans regia have ended in failure (hardiness issues with young plants?)
The plantings at Væres Venner have been supported by KVANN (Norwegian Seed Savers), the first of a network of gardens being developed across Norway both to take care of the genetics of old varieties of Norwegian useful plants, but also, as is the case here, to show what food we could be growing locally! The possibility of growing nuts locally makes it more realistic to eat a locally grown mostly vegetarian climate-friendly diet. I have a dream of walnut and hazel plantations in my area replacing the ubiquitous grain fields. http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=23507
On my recent quick visit to my parents in Hampshire, UK, we did a walk from St Cross to Winchester along the River Itchen with Mum (89) and Dad (93) followed by a walk up St Catharine’s Hill on my own to do the mizmaze ;)
Video of Winchester from St. Catharine’s Hill:
Gingko tree at St Cross
Hayricks (scythed meadows)
Hayricks are good habitat for Kestrels (tårnfalk)
Kestrel tree and St Catharine’s Hill
Kestrel (tårnfalk)
Hogweed
Water forgetmenot
Watercress
Bulrushes (cattails)
Water mint and watercress
Gunnera in a Winchester park
Walnut tree
Walnuts (I already have Sorbus aria from Winchester in my garden and it’s proved hardy, so I’ll try Winchester walnut too)
Walnut
The mizmaze (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizmaze)
View over Winchester and the Cathedral
Winchester is a green town!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
