Hazel guild
The backbone of a small forest garden: a hazel on the edge, soft fruit at its foot, comfrey and white clover to feed the soil, and nectar-rich flowers for the foragers.
The guild's plates
Introduction
The hazel guild is a shrub guild, designed for an edge or a part-shaded corner of the garden. The hazel (Corylus avellana) forms the upper layer, redcurrant and blackcurrant the shrub layer, comfrey and lemon balm the herbaceous layer, white clover the carpet. It is the basic building block of the edible forest garden described by Martin Crawford (Creating a Forest Garden, 2010) and, earlier, by Mollison (1988) and Hemenway (2009).
Background
The hazel is an edge shrub that accepts part shade and asks for a deep soil. Its catkins release their pollen in the middle of winter and its pollination is by wind, not by insects: two compatible varieties are planted to get a crop. Under its light canopy, redcurrant and blackcurrant precisely enjoy the coolness and part shade (RHS growing guides). Comfrey provides a potassium-rich biomass to cut and lay as mulch (Lawrence Hills, Comfrey, 1976; Garden Organic). White clover fixes nitrogen thanks to its Rhizobium bacteria and covers the soil. Borage, phacelia and lemon balm do not pollinate the hazel: they feed bees and bumblebees for the soft fruit and draw in hoverflies, whose larvae eat aphids.
Who this guide is for
Gardeners with an edge, a hedge or a part-shaded corner who want to set up a lasting production of nuts and soft fruit there, without heavy upkeep.
Why it matters
A hazel lives for decades and gives nuts, pruning wood and light shade. Surrounded by companions, it yields staggered harvests (soft fruit in summer, hazelnuts in autumn), a soil covered and mulched on the spot (nitrogen-fixing clover, comfrey leaves cut as mulch), and a refuge for foragers and beneficials. It is a system that asks for little once established.
What to understand before starting
- A spot in sun or part shade, a deep, rich, rather cool soil: the hazel tolerates a lot, but fruits better without prolonged summer drought.
- Two hazels of compatible varieties (or one hazel planted near a neighbouring hedge hazel), one or two redcurrants, one or two blackcurrants, comfrey plants (the sterile Bocking 14 variety is advised), seeds of white clover, borage and phacelia, one lemon balm plant.
- Room: allow 4 to 5 m in diameter for the whole, and accept that the first hazelnuts will take 3 to 5 years.
Detailed steps
- Step 1
Plant the hazels
In autumn or late winter, plant two compatible varieties 3 or 4 m apart. Mulch widely. Prune little in the first years: a stool of 5 to 8 stems is formed.
- Step 2
Set up the soft fruit
Plant redcurrants and blackcurrants 1.5 m from the foot of the hazels, on the coolest side (north or east): they will enjoy the light shade without being smothered.
- Step 3
Lay the comfrey ring
Plant 3 to 5 comfrey plants in a ring, 1 m from the trunks. Choose the sterile Bocking 14 variety, which does not self-seed.
- Step 4
Sow the white clover carpet
Sow white clover on the bare soil between the plants, in spring or late summer, and mow or scythe high once or twice a year so it does not compete with the young shrubs.
- Step 5
Add the foragers' flowers
Sow borage and phacelia in patches on the sunny edges, plant the lemon balm on the part-shaded side: it thrives there and self-seeds.
- Step 6
Cut and mulch, year after year
Two to three times a season, cut the comfrey leaves and lay them at the foot of the shrubs: that is the system's fertiliser. Top up with autumn leaves.
Concrete examples
- Hedge edge: two hazels in the hedge, redcurrants and blackcurrants in front of them on the garden side, comfrey at the foot, clover and lemon balm along the border.
- Orchard corner: a hazel in the angle, a blackcurrant and a redcurrant 1.5 m away, a comfrey ring, a clover carpet up to the path.
- Small garden: one hazel whose pollination is ensured by a neighbouring hazel (hedge, next-door garden), one blackcurrant, two comfreys, a clover carpet and one lemon balm.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Planting a single isolated hazel: without a compatible pollinator within wind reach, the crop stays meagre.
- Letting the clover overrun the young plants: at the young stage, it competes with the shrubs for water and nitrogen. Keep a mulched circle clear around each plant for the first two years.
- Confusing the comfrey rosette with that of the toxic foxglove: the comfrey leaf is rough and runs down the stem, the foxglove leaf is soft. In any doubt, wait for flowering.
- Planting the soft fruit in scorching full sun to the south of the hazel: blackcurrant and redcurrant suffer from drought, they prefer the cool side.
Tips & best practices
- Harvest the hazelnuts when they fall, then dry them for two to three weeks in the air: they then keep for months.
- Use the hazel's pruning wood as stakes and bean poles: that is the traditional use of hazel coppice (Oliver Rackham, Woodlands, 2006).
- Watch for the nut weevil, whose larva bores into the nut: pick up fallen nuts quickly and lightly cultivate the soil under the bushes in winter to expose the grubs to birds (RHS, cobnut growing guide).
- Renew the stool: cut one or two old stems to the ground each winter, the young shoots take over.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the hazel need bees?
- No: the wind pollinates it, in deep winter. The guild's flowers feed the pollinators of the soft fruit and the beneficials.
- Will the comfrey bring up minerals from the depths?
- The dynamic-accumulator idea is poorly supported, and the content of comfrey leaves depends on the soil it grows in (Tyler and Zarro, Cornell Small Farms, 2022). Its real value is its abundant, potassium-rich biomass, recycled as mulch or as a liquid feed.
- How long before the first hazelnuts?
- Allow 3 to 5 years after planting, and a really abundant crop after 5 to 8 years. The soft fruit, for its part, produces from the second year: that is what makes the guild worthwhile in the meantime.
Key takeaways
- Hazel as the upper layer (two varieties), redcurrant and blackcurrant in part shade, comfrey in a ring, white clover as a carpet, nectar-rich flowers along the border.
- The soil is covered with what the guild produces: clover mown high, comfrey cut down, fallen leaves left in place.
Sources
- Crawford, M. (2010). Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops. Totnes : Green Books.
- Mollison, B. (1988). Permaculture: A Designers' Manual. Tyalgum : Tagari Publications.
- Hemenway, T. (2009). Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (2e éd.). White River Junction : Chelsea Green.
- Hills, L.D. (1976). Comfrey: Fodder, Food & Remedy. New York : Universe Books.
- Rackham, O. (2006). Woodlands. Londres : Collins.
- Tyler, B. & Zarro, G. (2022). New findings further the study of dynamic accumulators. Cornell Small Farms Program (smallfarms.cornell.edu).