Back in summer 2016 I made the first tentative prune of our olive tree as it had massively outgrown its space. I fully intended to complete the task in the following spring assuming it hadn't died as a result of my first attempts. You can read about the first chop here.
This was the size of the problem.
And after the August 2016 chop, we could at least see out of the study window again!
Inevitably the intended spring prune to finish the job didn't happen, so by February 2018 we were pretty much back to square one. The view from the study window was obscured and the inside of the room was very dark.
As the tree appeared to have suffered no ill effects from the original brutality, and inspired by the beautiful, highly clipped and frighteningly expensive olives at the garden centres I decided to be strong!
One of the reasons for cutting in late spring is, I believe, to avoid the cut limbs from getting waterlogged and then rotting. After the wettest winter and early spring for decades it wasn't until April before I finally felt confident enough to do the job.
Down here in the Hautes Pyrenees we would expect to have been well into warm and dry weather by March but this year the cold and wet has been relentless and as so many plants have suffered in the garden - we've lost both fig trees - I was very relieved to see new growth on the olive.
Surprisingly, the few bits of old growth left are showing good signs of producing fruit, but unless the sun shows her face this year and the rain stops we won't be getting any olives. Again.
And this time I must keep on top of the tree, shape it and care for it and eventually it might even look like one of those five hundred Euro trees at the garden centre!
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