Even a small garden offers its owner attractive design options - there is plenty of space for many plants. But what if a hobby gardener wants to cultivate a walnut tree? On average, walnuts grow up to 25 meters high and are often very wide - the crown diameter reaches up to 15 meters. With such dimensions it is logically utopian to keep a walnut in a small garden. Fortunately, there are still ways to realize the dream of a walnut tree in the green oasis. We will briefly introduce these options to you in our article.
Which walnut tree is suitable for a small garden?
Dwarf walnut tree varieties such as 'Europa', which only grow to around 3.5 meters high and still produce walnuts, are suitable for a small garden. A smaller, classic variety is the 'Weinsberger Walnut' with a crown width of 7-8 meters.
Dwarf varieties of walnuts as an optimal solution
To give a walnut tree in a small garden the chance to fully develop, you must not rely on “conventional” walnuts.
Note: Uninformed hobby gardeners sometimes try to use force to keep a walnut tree small by radically cutting it regularly. However, this leads to unhe althy growth and a short life expectancy of the tree.
There are now also dwarf varieties of walnut trees. These are special breeds that are refined on weak rootstocks. As a result, only the smallest trees grow from them, which you can easily plant even in a small garden.
Good news: Even dwarf varieties of walnut trees give you what you probably want to keep such a tree for: walnuts.
Dwarf variety 'Europa' in portrait
One of these dwarf walnut varieties is called 'Europa'. It only grows to about 3.5 meters tall - which is impressively low compared to normal walnut trees.
'Europe' has the ability to set fruit laterally, which in turn is associated with fairly high yield potential. The walnut dwarf develops large, oval-shaped nuts that are very easy to open. You can expect your first returns after just two to three years. This is actually a significant advantage over conventionally growing walnut trees, where the very first harvest usually takes much longer to arrive.
‘Weinsberger Walnut’ as a small “classic” walnut
If your garden is not so small that you have to use a dwarf variety, there is also the option of planting a relatively small "classic" variety: As far as we know, the 'Weinsberger Walnut' is the version with the least amount of space required. Its crown reaches a diameter of seven to eight meters.
