Bumper Olive Crop

We had our best ever olive crop this year from the two trees that are now growing from cuttings I took in Greece in 2003. Last winter I left the pots outside instead of bringing them into the greenhouse - it didn't seem to do them any harm and in fact seemed to give the plants a bit of a boost.
[align=center][/align]



I don't think we'll be making much olive oil though:hehe:
[align=center][/align]

 

I just think its remarkable that they grown so far North. Well done to Dave

 

Yes well done Dave,
it looks like they could do with another four months of summer though.:(

 

Completely agree ... bet they are as bitter as bitter can be .... look like little limelets ..... :hehe:

 

Dave, it does show that the climate is changing as twenty or thirty years ago you would have difficulty getting olives to mature in the south of England let alone Scotland.:thumb: I guess stuffing them would be a bit fiddly:hehe:
Oh btw my brother got 10 gallons of olive oil from his 12 trees (but in Crete he should do!), not rubbing it in really:D

 

Picking them up is a fiddly enough business, let alone stuffing them:hehe:

I think I'll try repotting in the spring and feeding them a bit better next year to see if I can encourage them to grow a little bigger. We did actually get TWO!!! almost full sized olives a couple of years ago - but that was all the fruit there was that year.
As Pete says we'll need a good long summer to get much out of them, but I'm quite chuffed with what we've managed so far as when I took the cuttings I wasn't sure that they'd come to anything at all.

 

I think you`ve done very well. I have aone taken from a cutting in Cyprus-I don`t hold out much hope and I would be over the moon if I had that many from it. I have been told that up against a south facing wall would help it along, where is yours kept Dave?

 

Hi Claire
Ours live in pots and we usually put them in a sheltered south facing part of the garden. Last year they were out all winter, but I usually bring them into the greenhouse or polytunnel from November until they start showing signs of blossom. I'd think that you've a good chance of fruit formation down there in balmy Bolton if we can manage it up here:gnthb: Useable olives are another matter though!

[align=center][/align]

 

Dave maybe you should thin them out.

Thats a lot of olives for a small plant.

 

Its been well thinned now Pete:D

I think you're right. If we get a decent fruit set next spring I'll reduce it. Though to be perfectly honest I don't think we'll get ever get enough decent sized olives to be worth processing. At least not in the next 30 years!

 

Cheers Dave W, sometimes it`s just like St Tropez down here :lollol:

 

In that case Lolli, Pete and I live in the Sahara.:D