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Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Nut House

We have a hazelnut tree in our front yard. It is one of the trees that was here when we moved here 17 or so years ago. Hazelnut's sprout readily from the base and send off all kinds of suckers if you let them. If they are cut down they sprout up again over and over. Over the years we've made it into a living room of sorts - you can walk in and sit on the little bench, and in the summer you are almost completely enclosed in green leaves and bark.


Last night it snowed and The Nut House, as we fondly call it, was quite magical looking with the lights and the snowflakes, it's hard to catch it on camera. 


The sticks you cut from the hazelnut are useful for all kinds of things. They used to use them for hoop skirts and I've found them useful for temporary fencing or a trellis to grow plants on. They are very flexible so if you use them immediately, you can curve them into pleasing shapes.


This little fence was part of our Halloween setup, convenient since fall is a good time to cut back all the branches and suckers you do not want on your tree.

Of course the hazelnut tree will produce nuts if you let it flower and fruit - however, we've found that the squirrels eat them as soon as they are good to eat and we're lucky if we can gather just a few to enjoy while we are out enjoying the yard.
The snow is just a temporary setback for my bulbs, sure is a different picture than from just a week ago.

2 comments:

  1. How can I make something like this for the edge of my garden that borders onto my sidewalk? This would fit in very nice with my rustic country garden, but I don't know how you did it. This photo (of yours) shows exactly what I would like to do for edging my garden: http://curioustangles.blogspot.com/2011/02/nut-house.html

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    1. I cut branches from the hazelnut tree, you could use any green flexible tree that has long straight branches, maybe willow would work?. I pushed the thick ends into the ground every 6 inches or so. Then i bent over one top at a time so that it skipped the branch beside itself, and is tied down to the next branch end. i chose to leave them at different heights because I thought it looked more rustic, but you could even it up. You can tie the fence in more places where each branch intersects, that makes it more steady. Experiment, because I learned there really is no wrong way to do it. I'm sure it will look charming.

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