THE sight of a bowl of mixed nuts in their shells takes me back to family Christmases in the '70s. It was the only time of year my mother would buy nuts, and, along with the decorations, out would come a wicker basket and a pair of heavy hinged nutcrackers.

My small hands would be completely defeated by brazil nuts, and have only partial success with almonds. Walnuts tended to implode suddenly, leaving me to pick out edible morsels among the shards of shell. Hazelnuts, on the other hand, I was expert at. A clean break yielded a perfectly formed kernel in the palm of my hand, such that Julian of Norwich would be proud.

These days, I am versatile with the nutcrackers, and aspire to a home harvest to inflict them on. Brazils are native to Brazil, and need tropical conditions. Almonds are a possibility, but, flowering a fortnight earlier than their close relative, the peach, would tend to be affected by frost in Staffordshire. I have not got the space for the eventual 45-metre height of a walnut tree, and, in any case, they depend on a good summer to crop. The nut my adult self is most likely to succeed at growing is the hazel.

The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon haesel, meaning "cap", which refers to the papery husk that envelopes the developing nut. Hazels are large shrubs or small many-stemmed trees. They may, strictly, be filberts, with a long husk (full beard) completely enclosing the nut, or cobnuts with a husk shorter than the nut. Each belongs to the genus Corylus. All cobs are derived from our native Corylus avellana, promises spring with its soft yellow male catkins in February. Filberts are variants of Corylus maxima, introduced by the Romans from Greece, bearing catkins ranging in colour from yellow-green to deep red.

Hazels are not delicate shrubs, but offer chrome-yellow autumn colouring in addition to their spring show. They make a great component to hedges that can be hacked back to provide pea sticks, and sprout freely again from old wood. The thicket of growth offers shelter to wildlife.

A nuttery at the bottom of the garden could be a delight, with the spring show augmented by snowdrops, scillas, English bluebells, and anemones. A mix of hazel varieties ensures good pollination and a bumper crop of nuts. I am going for "Cosford", a cobnut noted for flavour, and a good pollinator, which should ensure a good harvest of my second choice, "Kentish Cob" a long, large nut. So, garden-worthy, and a potential snack-provider - two ticks. This still represents a demotion for the hazel, which once featured high in the countryside economy.

Hazel poles tend to be straight. Think walking sticks and beanpoles. The wood is flexible, and can be split lengthways for hedge-laying, and thatching pegs that can be bent over on themselves without snapping. And this is not to forget the annual nut harvest. I may fondly remember playing with nutcrackers, but, until the First World War, children enjoyed a whole day off school on 14 September (Holy Cross Day) to go nutting.