Black Walnut Positives:
- We filled and donated several buckets of black walnuts to our local Community Hunger Task Force Garden.
- Occasionally people who drive by stop and ask if they can gather walnuts; we are more than happy to oblige.
- The crows like to eat the nut meats.
- Our neighbor down the road is a wood-carver. After we cut one of our trees down we gave him the choice wood for carving. Now I have a beautiful black walnut bowl that he made for us as a thank you. I love black walnut trees in bowl form :)
- Another one of our neighbors used the rest of the wood for winter fuel.
Black Walnut Negatives:
- Don't step on them; you can easily twist your ankle.
- Juglone toxicity can affect certain perennials that are close by.
- Black walnuts stain sidewalks, driveways, chairs -- just about anything. Anyone who has touched or held a black walnut casing knows what I'm talking about. Ugh!
- On hot, humid days entire walnuts have been pressed into the asphalt of our driveway if a car rides over them.
- Walnuts + lawnmower = dulled blades
- You can be hit on the head by the falling walnuts (especially on a windy day). I have a small flower bed not too far from black walnut tree branches that hang over our yard. In the fall when I work in that particular garden I wear a bike helmet -- seriously!
- Right now the squirrels are burying black walnuts everywhere. Consequently, in spring I have to dig out dozens of baby walnut trees that are growing in my flower garden. The squirrels outnumber me for sure, and *they* have nothing else to do all day. Walnut trees roots are tough to dig out, even when the they are tiny! Call me annoyed.