PRUNING OLIVE TREES AND GRAPE VINES

This is the time of year to prepare the olive trees for their next crop.  Most of the 60 trees had branches down to the ground and the main branches were reaching skyward.  The aim is to try to keep the trees to a height which allows picking olives from the ground, so A serious prune was necessary. Over a couple of weeks in July I visited the olive grove with my secateurs and little saw and massacred the trees and hopefully left some of last year's wood for the flowers to develop next month.  It is interesting to see the olive grove in 2008 when first planted and then compare with present day trees standing around 2 metres.

Last year the birds sat on the ground and picked all the olives off the lower branches, so this year there are no lower branches.  The trees are looking very healthy, but a lot of weeding needs to be done.  I clear about 1 metre around the trunk of each tree and this will be my task to be completed over the next month.

The grape vines below have been pruned back to the prescribed 2 buds, so they don't look very interesting at present.  This year a more birdproof enclosure will be needed for each vine if we are to retain new canes and ultimately pick some grapes.