Growing olives in the greenhouse

I was looking for something unusual, for my climate, to grow in my greenhouse. I have been growing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and flowers, however, I wanted some permanent plants to enjoy year after year, and I settled on olives. I have collected several different varieties from around the world, and I have been growing them hydroponically for six months now. My intention is to use a technique similar to bonsai to limit their growth in containers. So far, the results have been excellent, and one tree has tiny olives forming.

 

mine form every year and it lives outside in a pot, never come to anything but buds, don`t know if that`s age, Its about 5 years old or lacking in heat.

 

Some varieties are self fertile, some are not and need a pollinator variety. You might check the variety. I have at least ten varieties now, but I think the trick will be to get them all to flower at about the same time.

 

I've noticed there is olive trees for sale in UK superstores now, guessing they can handle a cooler temp. Unsure of the type though

 

There are a few thousand varieties believe it or not.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

I've got one that's about 25 years old now, its only ever had 2 tiny olives on it.

 

Thanks for the welcome, That is too bad about your tree only having two olives in all that time. I'll have to see how this goes, as at this point I am far from having to think about making olive oil or salting olives.

 

He's a nice tree though, we call him Boris, for no apparent reason.

 

Guys I live in Bedford , we get lots of cold over here , but know lots of Italian who manage to grow olive and grape outdoor , the olives are not the best , but they are edible ....many
restaurants have olives tree outside in containers and still alive .....

in the mediterranian culture, olive tree is symbol of abundance, glory and peace ....as they can leave for century a dead tree in your garden as considered bad luck .

really nice job ...

 

Olá hydrogardener and welcome to GC from me too.

I can't see where you are located, but to be honest, I don't think you have a hope down with the devil of producing edible olives, that is, should you have any produced.

There are many, many different varieties as you may well know, but only SOME are edible and that is under the correct conditions. If you are in the UK, you DO NOT have those conditions. I have a black olive tree against my kitchen wall (not mine but in the corner of the orange grove next to me) and it has the smallest, bitterest olives one could not imagine, no matter what you do to them ... the 'salting' process is a 10-day process here which often fails. On the other hand, behind my house a neighbour has a green olive tree which produces these 'giants' (friends of us nearby also have one of these) and they are wonderful for marinating ... but it's all one big time-consuming hassle.

Sorry, I have to laugh about you 'making olive oil' ... the presses are horrendously expensive making the cost of the olives a joke. Other friends of ours take their olives, of which they have many, many trees to a pressing plant (basically a small 'plant' attached to someone's home) and sell them the olives, which are pressed and in return they get 'xxx' number of bottles of their pure olive oil.

... and just a little bit of knowledge for those who don't know ... green and black olive trees are different, ie, the black olives don't turn green ... they are a different 'species/variety'.

However, I will wish you 'boa sorte' with your venture.

 

Got given a dried leaf when I went to the Garden of Gethsemany in may 1970. Still got it.

 

There are olive groves in the UK, so olives can be grown here and they are commercially produced. I don't think people living in the Mediterranean like that though!

Here in 2006, we managed an olive crop in the summer when I had a small-medium sized olive tree in a pot (left out over winters), olives would develop. It seems to me, you really need a mild winter for olives to develop in UK, without harsh Spring frosts, as that allows earlier flowers, and earlier fruits to mature in a normal summer.

 

Just as much fun on the other side too

 

And here's Zig in Jerusalem just for a laugh.

 

I'm the one standing up