How to plant an Olive Tree in the Garden: Complete guide of the stages

Hello Agrohuerters! Today I want to tell you how to put an olive tree in the garden. Since in a garden it is not only about having horticultural plants, and in our urban garden it is possible to have trees.

The olive tree: a Mediterranean tree

The olive tree (Olea Europea), is a tree native to the Mediterranean area; It is very long-lived and evergreen. The fruits, the olives, have many uses and health benefits, among them are the extraction of oil, also known as liquid gold.

Spain is the country with the greatest tradition of olive groves, it is currently the place in the world where there are more hectares of this crop. But some of these are being lost in recent years, either due to fires, deforestation, etc… Therefore, more and more projects are being developed to recover these historic olive groves.

Association for the recovery of barren olive trees

A great example of this and pioneers in this activity are the team of the Association for the recovery of barren olive trees in Oliete (Teruel).

At the moment they are carrying out the recovery of the abandoned olive grove. In one year of activity they have recovered more than 1500 olive trees. The Association, thanks to an agreement, works together with Hojiblanca, a reference brand in Extra Virgin Olive Oil that is characterized by its excellent quality and balance between tradition and avant-garde, for the recovery of 100 olive trees.

Hojiblanca is a brand concerned about the environment, and for this reason, thanks to the agreement it has with the Association, it works to promote the recovery of olive groves while respecting biodiversity.

On the other hand, with this project, Hojiblanca is not only concerned about environmental well-being, but also about social integration, since the Turolense Association of Associations of People with Intellectual Disabilities (ATADI) is part of this project; These people are very happy to collaborate with the project, carrying out work to recover the olive grove, which in Agrohuerto we are very aware of and we qualify as Huerterapia.

As a whole, we can see that this activity is not just a simple olive grove recovery project, but rather involves promoting a sustainable economy, a social project and concern for the environment on a large scale.

How to plant an olive tree in your garden step by step

With the kit «Feel a Farmer with Hojiblanca» I am going to explain how to put an olive tree in your orchard step by step:

In this case we have two biodegradable seedbeds, soil and olive seeds.

Seeds

The seeds in this case are prepared for cultivation, so there is a high probability that they will germinate without problems, but if we obtain them from table olives, it is advisable to scrape the surface shell a little with a file, or even a small cut in the most pointed area, always carefully so as not to damage the part that germinates.

Sowing

This time I have pressed peat tablets, these are designed for planting and cuttings. The tablets must be left to rest on water for a few minutes, until we see that their size doubles, remaining as a small compact tube. Next, a small hole is made in the upper part where the seed is deposited and it is compacted a little with the fingers so that it is held in place.

You already know that both with this method and with planting in soil or substrate, the seed should not be buried too much, it is always advisable to put a layer of only a few millimeters of substrate on top. In this case, watering would not be necessary, since the substrate is moist. This set of seed and substrate can be left in the plastic container until it germinates.

Germination

The olive seed takes a long time to germinate, about a month, it is convenient to sow several to have more possibilities of germination, it has to be kept in an area where there is a warm temperature of about 25 ºC and with constant humidity.

Transplant

In biodegradable seedbeds, a little substrate with fertilizer is added, leaving enough space to put the set of the already germinated seed and the peat tube in which it is located; Now the biodegradable pot is finished filling. This biodegradable planter is placed in the substrate of the pot or planter in which our olive tree will finally be. Remember that this final container must be of rather large dimensions so that the roots can develop well. Although in a few years another transplant can be performed if there is a problem.

The olive tree is a low maintenance species, because it is very rustic. To grow it in a planter or pot and maintain an adequate size, maintenance pruning must be carried out.

Regards and until next time!