Planting New Olive Trees

I acquired new land last year, and have been busy since the end of November preparing the ground to plant new olive trees.

I chose very young trees, that must be supported by strong stakes until their trunks grow big enough.

They must be planted at the right depth and positioned at the right distance from one another.

My uncle Giorgos helped me with the set up and the measures and I took care of the digging with my hoe.

All planted! A job well done!

I can now wait until spring to carry out the next jobs:

• giving the young trees some extra “vitamins” by feeding the soil with the manure from my farm animals, and

• setting up an irrigation system to compensate for rain scarcity, which will probably be necessary in the summer.

I am very lucky I finished all this before the rain period started. The last two weeks (end of December/ early January) have delivered typical winter weather, and my new trees could benefit from the rain already.

These new trees should start yielding olive oil within 3 or 4 years.