Live & Grow Issue 50

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Olives Dreaming of the Mediterranean or of making olive oil or pickled olives? Grown for their hardiness and delicious fruit, olives grow worldwide and can be planted to make a beautiful feature in your home landscape, looking good in pots or as a feature specimen tree in your garden. The olive is a relatively easy-care tree to look after for the home gardener. They like to grow in a warm, sunny position with well-drained soil. They do not like wet feet, although they require regular watering in the summer and autumn, especially when they are young trees. This encourages good healthy growth. Koroneiki A self-fertile variety with an attractive, smallersized shrubby tree bearing large crops of small fruit. This variety produces high-quality extra virgin olive oil. With a low chill requirement, it is well suited to coastal and warmer areas and colder climates. Barnea A commercial variety used extensively. Grows very quickly with a high-yielding oil. The fruit is good for pickling and as a table fruit. Semi selffertile. Not ideal for areas with long cold winters. 8 Verdale A large fruiting, self-fertile variety. The fruit is suitable for pickling when either green or black. Good cropper with a high oil percentage. Hardy to cold climates.
Pruning Olives require pruning to keep their shape, either the typical 'Vase' or 'Conical' shape. Pruning encourages the new season's growth, producing fruit for you in the following season. However, if you have an olive tree planted in your garden for purely aesthetic looks rather than for the crop, then pruning will not be required quite as often. Pruning is usually done after the harvest in the autumn/winter months, depending on where you are in New Zealand. A light prune may be given after the flowering has finished in November/December. Sometimes suckers may appear at the tree's base, which should be removed. If you are hoping for a good crop of olives, here are a few tips for pruning: • Prune after harvest on a sunny, dry day. • Prune each year, keeping branches at a short length; otherwise, they will be too long and may snap with the weight of the fruit. • When pruning to a typical 'vase’ shape aim to keep the tree open and airy, allowing a bird to fly through. • Clear the trunk of any branches up to 60 cm above the ground. • Tip all branches to encourage more growth, more branches, and therefore more fruit. Feeding Fertilising your olive tree will encourage and enhance the health and growth of your tree. A regular dose of Citrus Tree Fertiliser in autumn and spring will benefit your tree. In pots, use a slowrelease fertiliser such as Oderings Total Replenish. Varieties & Pollination Although there are self-fertile varieties, planting two or more is better to encourage larger crops. Olive trees are wind pollinated, with pollen moving 20–30 metres from tree to tree, so plant the partner tree close. Our top choices to the left all have fruit that ripen in autumn, changes from green through red to purple-black, and grow to approximately 4 m over ten years when pruned. Pickling Recipe Ingredients • Green Olives (whatever amount you want to pickle) • Non-iodised salt • Water Method 1. Remove leaves and stalks and wash olives to remove dust and dirt. 2. Carefully slit each olive to release oleic acid. Although time-consuming, if you don't do this, you will end up with bitter olives once they have been pickled. 3. Place in a pickling jar with a self-sealing lid. 4. Fill with brine made up with 100 g non-iodised salt per litre of water, making sure all the olives are covered. 5. After three weeks, drain and wash the olives. Repack in the same cleaned jar and cover with a new brine mixture of 75 g non-iodised salt per litre of water. Alternatively, you can use 950 ml water and 50 ml white wine vinegar. Make sure all olives are well covered with 2 cm brine on top. 6. Cover the brine with a thick layer of olive oil to create a seal. 7. Leave olives for three months for best results. When ready to eat, you may wish to rinse them in cold water to wash the brine off. Olive Oil Recipe You can make small batches of olive oil with some standard kitchen tools. However, the process is labour-intensive, but the result should be crisp, clean, and of high quality. Visit our website for the recipe. https://www.oderings.co.nz 9
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