Does anyone grow olives?

[misty44]

I want to try growing olives but the trees are very expensive so I bought some seeds and am going to try and grow from these.
Has anyone grown an olive tree from seeds? Any advice much appreciated.
Misty

[oldjerry]

I've grown these in the far SW of the UK,they will take (and actually need) short periods of low temps,but nothing like we had last winter.Therefore treat as Half-Hardy, grow in container,shift the whole thing into GH or Conservatory over winter.I've never seen one fruit in the UK (bet someone has though) so your mainly looking at a sort of decorative bbig shrub that takes quite a bit of effort.(Personally if I was going to all that trouble in the UK I'd go for an apricot,which under those conditions,WILL fruit).
Anyhow best Of luck,hope it goes OK.

NB: If your a bit nearer the Med than the UK completely different ball game,and you need to listen to Contadina.

[contadina]

We have new trees shoot up every year, where olives have fallen. If I don't want a tree to grow where it is, I carefully dig it out, pot it, and give it away.

My niece has a a potted tree in south London and she got 7 olives off it last year. I had to laugh when she asked me how to cure them ;-). I f I lived in the south of England I'd plant olive trees for the future, just make sure you get a frost-tolerant variety.

[Mrs H]

This post made me laugh as we talked about giving it a go, however being that we live in Northern Ireland were the weather sucks and after reading ur replies I'm thinking maybe not!!! Roll on global warming till we get some decent weather......... R potatoes rock but that's about it!! Lol xxx

[scrap]

I have a modest 4- foot olive tree.
I used to bring it in for the winter,but it inevitably lost all it's leaves within a month or two.
A couple of years ago I planted it out,just to see what would happen.
It still seems to die every winter,but it never failed to come back each spring.
The last two years it has flowered,and even started to produce minute (2-4 mm.)olives.
...And those fall off again in Autumn.

Wrong climate I guess,although it's hanging on with grim determination.

[misty44]

Thanks everyone for your replies. They made me laugh! It doesn't sound like I should expect too much as I have recently moved to West Yorkshire where the weather is anything but an olive growing climate.
But, I will have a go because I have bought the seeds and will enjoy the drama.

Misty

[nyghtowl]

Noooo!
Forget growing from seed!

check these out!

http://www.villaggioverde.co.uk/young-o ... pea-picual

Grows, flowers AND fruits in Northern Europe

[oldjerry]

Hmm....persuade me.......

[Carltonian Man]

We have an Olea Europea in a largish container, it must be about nine years old now. They're supposed to be hardy down to -10c and earlier this year it did get down to just that. It survived fine, better than our Bay trees. Most years it has set some fruit although so far they haven't fully ripened. Usually the flowers get knocked off by heavy spring rain, I guess if it was covered/protected from the bashing rain a small crop of green olives would be achieved. Not sure how pallatable they'd be though, they're quite small with a fair sized stone.

[oldjerry]

I know it's getting warmer,but it would have to get a lot warmer before they became worth growin for anything much more than amusement or decoration in the UK.The Romans weren't that stupid,they brought grapes peaches etc but obviously didnt manage much with the olives(and it was pretty warm then apparently).Yonks later Tudor royalty squandered loads of the peasants money (no change there then) on Orangeries,Peacheries (?) etc,etc, but seem to have not bothered with olives,but maybe they didn't have a decent recipe for puttanesca.
Two thousand years of gardening history in a few sentences ,do I qualify for an afternoon chat show?

[chuck_n_grace]

Nyghtowl,
Thanks for the link. While eating our garden salads we've noted several times that we missed our olives. This presents us a few possibilities here in South Carolina.

So, is it possible to grow green olives with the pimento already inside? If not, I couldn't imagine the hassle of pulling (pushing) the pit and inserting a pimento. I guess a pimento is a tomato.

Regards,
Chuck

[cocobelle]

I have an olive tree, have had it for years and no fruit. To be honest i'd forgotten that it was an olive tree up until now and had accepted that it will never produce anything. I'm going to work on this. There's no excuse the weather has been amazing lately, hotter than spain apparently.

[tracy]

If anyone is still thinking about buying an Olive tree, T***o have had them in for the last couple of weeks. I cant remember exactly how much but they are definately less than £20. Not too much for a decorative tree, even if you fail to get any produce from them
Tracy

[MKG]

I know it's getting warmer,but it would have to get a lot warmer before they became worth growin for anything much more than amusement or decoration in the UK.The Romans weren't that stupid,they brought grapes peaches etc but obviously didnt manage much with the olives(and it was pretty warm then apparently).Yonks later Tudor royalty squandered loads of the peasants money (no change there then) on Orangeries,Peacheries (?) etc,etc, but seem to have not bothered with olives,but maybe they didn't have a decent recipe for puttanesca.
Two thousand years of gardening history in a few sentences ,do I qualify for an afternoon chat show?

... is the correct answer. You're right, OJ, the Romans weren't daft. It was much more economically sound to import the oil from the Med. It still is, except that we don't use wind-powered ships any longer (more's the shame). Can you imagine that anyone who tried this (prime quality oil sent over in a tall ship) wouldn't make a huge profit? You don't happen to have a tall ship in your garage, do you? If you do, I have a neat business plan ...

Mike

[nyghtowl]

Romans left a couple-thousand years ago; that has given plenty of time for experimental X-breeding, surely don't you think?

Picual Olive Trees
Super young Olive Grove tree, cold hardy, now in flower and ready to fruit.

<- from the website.


Also, check this page out! http://www.eastofedenplants.co.uk/olive_guide.htm