A friendly trade

**jlxian** · 05-02-2005, 09:21 AM

A gardening friend of mine called me yesterday and said "Do you want some walnut trees?" Of course I said yes; just as someone in the FV has as their signature, if it is free, its for me (sorry I can't remember who it is)!

She had dug up from her flower beds 5 or 6 sprouted walnuts with nearly 12" seedlings. So in trade, I dug up a hollyhock seedling, and a couple of ferns that had escaped their bed in my front yard. I couldn't get her to take anything else from my gardens. Although I did get her to take a small girls bicycle that my daughter had outgrown. Her pre-school aged granddaughter will think it is dandy, I'm sure, especially after grandpa cleans it up and paints it.

We planted the walnut seedlings directly into our garden so we can keep an eye on them and keep them watered. Hopefully they will survive and maybe in the fall we can transplant them to a permanent location.

I love trades like this!

**britbunny** · 05-02-2005, 09:46 AM

**PrairieRose** · 05-02-2005, 10:45 AM

Oh I love them too. We do that every chance we get. WTG on your trees!

**forestdale** · 05-02-2005, 03:41 PM

What a fabulous trade! I'd love to grow walnuts. I have a macadamia tree in my back yard but it's many years away from bearing any nuts.

I adore walnuts! I hope you have lots of nuts in future years.

**jlxian** · 05-05-2005, 03:29 PM

Originally posted by forestdale
What a fabulous trade! I'd love to grow walnuts. I have a macadamia tree in my back yard but it's many years away from bearing any nuts.

I adore walnuts! I hope you have lots of nuts in future years.

I hope so too!

We meant to plant walnuts and pecans when we first moved here 15 years ago..... I so wish we had done it then.

**lacyj** · 05-05-2005, 09:16 PM

Be sure to plant the walnuts away from anything else you want to grow. There is something in walnut leaves that keeps anything from growing. I think it's the tannin. Don't use the leaves in compost either.
I got 6 pecan nuts at the farmers market, 12 years ago and the trees are 20 feet tall, now. Out of the 6 nuts, three survived and are producing. I got about 2 coffee cans full, of nuts, last year. They mature at about 25 years old.

**jlxian** · 05-06-2005, 09:27 AM

Originally posted by lacyj
Be sure to plant the walnuts away from anything else you want to grow. There is something in walnut leaves that keeps anything from growing. I think it's the tannin. Don't use the leaves in compost either.
I got 6 pecan nuts at the farmers market, 12 years ago and the trees are 20 feet tall, now. Out of the 6 nuts, three survived and are producing. I got about 2 coffee cans full, of nuts, last year. They mature at about 25 years old.

Thanks for the reminder about the toxicity of walnuts. I knew this, but had some temporary amnesia about it apparently. We put the trees in our small garden until they are a little bigger, so I will need to be careful what I plant near them this season -- or it may be better if I just avoid that area altogether this year.

You had wonderful luck with your pecans! Fantastic!