It's a while since I posted anything on here... the winter's been very mild and some things have been done but others haven't - the trees are already coming in to leaf and they haven't had any winter treatment, so I expect to see lots of pests on them in the summer.
For a few years now our olive tree has been getting out of control. It produces masses of olives, but very small ones, so hardly worth the trouble of curing and bottling them. The birds are the main beneficiaries, but this means that what used to be clean white gravel under the tree is usually covered with black olive kernels as well as dead olive leaves. I've seen many olive trees recently trimmed back, like this one in Villemolaque:
I think if I could train mine in a similar style, I would have much less of a problem with the mess on the floor. So I've made a start by giving it a severe pruning - removing one of the four main stems (the one which looked very wobbly when the tramontane was blowing) and also most of the top growth.
 |
| Before... |
 |
| ...and after. |
It should also make walking from the house to the postbox easier, the branches at eye level having been removed!
