The oyster mushroom gets its name from its cap which, some say, resembles an oyster. The stem of the oyster mushrooms is perhaps more distinct; it unfurls something like one of those old-time paper lady's fans. The oyster mushroom has...

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Pruning Olive Trees

Olive trees grown for their fruit are best trained and pruned to a manageable height--from 12 to 15 feet tall--the shorter stature will allow for an easier harvest.

Pruning olive trees. Olive trees fruit along one-year-old wood usually at the periphery of the tree canopy. Prune each year to encourage wood that will fruit. Thin out broken, diseased, and unproductive wood. Head back drooping wood and prune out water sprouts. Olives are best trained on trunks 3 to 4 feet tall with 3 to 4 scaffold or main lateral branches trained or pruned to different direction beginning at about 4 feet from the ground. (Multi-trunked olives are often used ornamentally, but can be kept to a manageable height for harvesting. Don't allow multi-trunked trees to grow too dense in the center.)

Train and prune olives to an open center allowing sunlight to reach deep into the crown of the tree. Remove basal sprouts; pull them away don't cut them to make sure they do not regrow. Rub off buds near the ground level that may become suckers. Olives that go unpruned will become densely twigged and crowded.

When to prune. Prune olive trees in early spring before buds and flowers set. Olive trees can be thinned any time of the year without damaging the tree. However, if you prune in late spring or summer after flowering, the harvest is likely to be decreased. You can prune in winter if the weather is frost-free and dry. Prune in dry weather to allow cuts to heal before frost or rain. Regularly pruned olives will require less pruning and thinning than trees that have been neglected. In regions with severe droughts, pruning in summer will reduce the number of leaves competing for water and may enhance the harvest.

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Olive Growing

Olives are a good choice for the small garden in regions where summers are long, hot, and dry. Olives are attractive for their billowing habit, gray-green foliage, and gnarled branching patterns.

Olives are easy to care for. They require little water once established, little pruning, and have few serious pests or diseases.

All olives must be cured before they can be eaten. That said olives can be harvested from unripe (green) to ripe (black).

To learn more about Olives in the kitchen, click here.

Site. Olives grow best in full sun in regions with Mediterranean-type climates, long, hot, dry summers with some winter cold. Long summers are necessary to ripen olives, at least six months of frost-free weather is best. Olives, depending upon variety, require 200 to 500 hours of freezing weather to set sufficient blossoms for a full harvest. Olives are damaged by temperatures below 12°F; the fruit can not withstand temperatures below 28°F.

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Olives

Black olives are ripe. Green olives are not. Green olives have a salty, tart taste. Black olives have a smooth, mellow taste.

Green olives are served pitted, unpitted, or stuffed. Green olives are sometimes stuffed with pimiento, anchovies, tiny onions, or whole blanched almonds. Black onions are served pitted, unpitted, sliced, and chopped.

Olives add a tangy flavor to pasta sauces, stews, and braised dishes. Olives can be added to potato and pasta salads and casseroles. Minced olives can be added to bread dough, stuffings, sandwich fillings, and pizza toppings. Both green and black olives are popular appetizers because they have a salty flavor.

Olives directly from the tree contain a bitter alkaloid called oleuropein that irritates the digestive tract and leaves them inedible. Curing dissipates the olive's bitterness and preserves them. Table olives can be cured with water, oil, brine, salt, or lye. The longer an olive cures the less bitter and more intricate its flavor will become. The flavor of olives can range from sour to smoky to bitter to acidic.

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Pruning Olive Trees

Olive Growing

Olives