Olives - are a great source of vitamin E, producing an antioxidant effect and they are also concentrated in monounsaturated fats. Olives also have some beneficial active phyto-nutrient compounds including polyphenols and flavonoids. Some of the benefits you can expect from including olives in your daily diet include: protection from heart disease; cellular protection from free radicals; anti-inflammatory benefits; improved gastrointestinal health. When buying olive oil, always choose extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil, for maximum health benefits.
Olives (Olea europaea) are long-lived evergreen trees with leathery, narrow leaves and tiny, off-white flowers that are followed by the fruit. Olive trees have been cultivated through-out the Mediterranean for thousands of years. The fruits are too bitter to be eaten fresh. Processing is done by treating the olives with sodium hydroxide or a brine solution, before pickling them or preserving in their own oil.
Organic Fruit
Cultivation Olives do well in temperate zones providing the winters are cool enough to bring about flowering. The summers need to be long and hot to be sure that fruit will development and mature. Olive trees will survive in poor soils and conditions, but you will encourage better yields and stronger plants if you choose a well-drained, fertile soil and water well while fruits are forming.
Propagation Olives are one of the many fruiting trees that don't grow true to type. They take between four and six years to start fruiting, coming into good production at about ten years.
And considering your tree may very well still be around in a few hundred years time, it's much wiser to buy named varieties from your local nursery or take heel cuttings in winter. Or you can try taking a 40cm / 18inch length of hardwood and push it directly into the ground. First you will need to decide if you are wanting table olives, or olives for oil. Then choose a variety that suits your needs.
Fertilizing Provide the tree with certified organic fertilizer. If your tree develops any signs of nutritional problems (small / malformed leaves, mottling, paleness of colour, or poor quality fruit) it may indicate nutrient deficiencies. These can usually be corrected by applying the right organic mix. Use compost to replace the majority of lost nutrients from fruiting. You can under-plant a green manure crop with leguminous plants such as sub clover or Broad (Fava) beans which help fix Nitrogen to the soil from the atmosphere. Wood ash, used in moderation, helps provide for the olive's high need for Potassium. You may also need to apply zinc.
Pruning There really isn't much need for pruning of olive trees in the home garden, other than a light pruning to keep them a tidy shape and encourage more new wood, which means more fruit.
How To Grow Organic Olives - One Of The Top 10 Super-Foods
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