When to plant hazelnuts in London

Why these dates

Plant dormant. Hazel flowers in the depths of winter, releasing pollen from catkins on bare wood, so the crop is decided months before anything else in the garden has woken up.

The bush is fully hardy, but midwinter flowering means a hard freeze during pollen release can reduce the crop even though nothing visible is damaged.

Hazelnuts are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in London is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.

London sits in zone 9a, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 4, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.

See every crop timed for London →