Guest guest Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Hi, Audrey! That's really interesting stuff about the black walnut tree(s)! My parents had gardens every summer for years while I was growing up. We also moved fairly often. At one place, they had this huge space-- maybe acre--and one side was bordered by a wooded area--with a great, stately black walnut tree almost on the edge of their garden space. I remember vividly the first year they planted--and a certain row of tomato plants did very poorly. The leaves were all blighted and curled up, yellowing....Dad, a science teacher, and ever curious as to the " why " of things, soon learned that the tall walnut tree was the culprit. After that, my folks always planted the tomatoes on the farthest edge of the garden from that walnut tree. We had this almost visible " dead zone " that had to be planted with carefully-chosen vegetables, lest the walnut tree roots do a number on them! Growing up, we seemed to always live in places where black walnut trees grew. My siblings (and cousins) and I often took off to find places where we could find and pick wild black raspberries. We never, ever found any blackberries, however. Years later, I learned the reason for that: black RASPBERRIES will grow near walnut trees, but blackberries (which are different) will almost NEVER grow near walnut trees. Hmmm.... I've tested this out several times when I've been fortunate enough to find a wooded area to ramble in. Look up into the treetops and spot the distinctive " frond-like " leaves and branches of a black walnut tree, then look around in the lower brush and brambles around and near the base of that tree--most likely there will be black RASPBERRY canes--easy to spot, because the undersides of the leaves are a silvery color and the thorny canes almost resemble rose-bush branches.. The berries, of course, are green when budding, pinkish as they ripen, and then a deep dark black-purple when ripe. YUMMMMM! I didn't actually taste blackberries until I was an adult. My DH's grandmother used to go pick those (and DH helped, whenever he was visiting). She also gathered (or bought from someone who gathered them) hickory nuts. Interestingly, the hickory trees and blackberries seem to grow near each other in the wild. We never had any hickory trees on our wooded property, so that may be why, along with the plenteous walnut trees, that I never saw or tasted any blackberries as a youth. Plants are fascinating. I love reading magazines with articles about gardening (especially organic gardenting methods) and I love learning about the peculiar habits and growth characteristics of plants. I don't have a " real " garden where I live now, but I keep dreaming of getting to live in a place where a garden is feasible and sustainable! Have a great day! It's sunny (and chilly!) here today. --Laura B., in Illinois Tomato problems -- black walnut tree! Was favorite tomatoes to plant Posted by: " Audrey Snyder " AudeeBird audreylynnsnyder Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:33 pm ((PDT)) http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/qt/Black_Walnuts.htm I did not know this, interesting! Note it says that cutting down a black walnut tree doesn't work (unless you remove all of the roots, which... not really possible!) Audrey S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Isn't that fascinating? We had a great big black walnut tree in our yard growing up, and my sister and I used to gather the walnuts and put them in big grocery bags in our tree house. We had two rocks perfectly shaped to crack them. The problem was when the squirrels discovered our stash -- several times we caught them tipping the entire bags out so they could get their choice nuts! Audrey S. On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 9:25 AM, L.B. <elbee577 wrote: > > > Hi, Audrey! > That's really interesting stuff about the black walnut tree(s)! > > My parents had gardens every summer for years while I was growing up. > We also moved fairly often. At one place, they had this huge space-- maybe > > acre--and one side was bordered by a wooded area--with a great, stately > black walnut tree almost on the edge of their garden space. > > I remember vividly the first year they planted--and a certain row of tomato > plants > did very poorly. The leaves were all blighted and curled up, > yellowing....Dad, a > science teacher, and ever curious as to the " why " of things, soon learned > that > the tall walnut tree was the culprit. After that, my folks always planted > the > tomatoes on the farthest edge of the garden from that walnut tree. We had > this > almost visible " dead zone " that had to be planted with carefully-chosen > vegetables, > lest the walnut tree roots do a number on them! > > Growing up, we seemed to always live in places where black walnut trees > grew. > My siblings (and cousins) and I often took off to find places where we > could find > and pick wild black raspberries. We never, ever found any blackberries, > however. > Years later, I learned the reason for that: black RASPBERRIES will grow > near > walnut trees, but blackberries (which are different) will almost NEVER grow > near > walnut trees. Hmmm.... > > I've tested this out several times when I've been fortunate enough to find > a wooded > area to ramble in. Look up into the treetops and spot the distinctive > " frond-like " > leaves and branches of a black walnut tree, then look around in the lower > brush > and brambles around and near the base of that tree--most likely there will > be > black RASPBERRY canes--easy to spot, because the undersides of the leaves > are a silvery color and the thorny canes almost resemble rose-bush > branches.. > The berries, of course, are green when budding, pinkish as they ripen, and > then > a deep dark black-purple when ripe. YUMMMMM! > > I didn't actually taste blackberries until I was an adult. My DH's > grandmother used to > go pick those (and DH helped, whenever he was visiting). She also gathered > (or bought > from someone who gathered them) hickory nuts. Interestingly, the hickory > trees and > blackberries seem to grow near each other in the wild. We never had any > hickory > trees on our wooded property, so that may be why, along with the plenteous > walnut > trees, that I never saw or tasted any blackberries as a youth. > > Plants are fascinating. I love reading magazines with articles about > gardening (especially > organic gardenting methods) and I love learning about the peculiar habits > and growth > characteristics of plants. I don't have a " real " garden where I live now, > but I keep dreaming > of getting to live in a place where a garden is feasible and sustainable! > > Have a great day! It's sunny (and chilly!) here today. > > --Laura B., in Illinois > > > Tomato problems -- black walnut tree! Was favorite tomatoes to plant > Posted by: " Audrey Snyder " AudeeBird <AudeeBird%40gmail.com>audreylynnsnyder > Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:33 pm ((PDT)) > > http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/qt/Black_Walnuts.htm > > I did not know this, interesting! Note it says that cutting down a black > walnut tree doesn't work (unless you remove all of the roots, which... not > really possible!) > > Audrey S. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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