Something different.

[jackb]

Or maybe sing Popeye the Sailor Man........his girlfriend was named Olive Oil..........

I recall one:

I'm Popeye the sailor man
I live in a garbage can
I never go swimmin with bowlegged women
I'm Popeye the sailor man.

JackB

 

[baymule]

Or maybe sing Popeye the Sailor Man........his girlfriend was named Olive Oil..........

I recall one:

I'm Popeye the sailor man
I live in a garbage can
I never go swimmin with bowlegged women
I'm Popeye the sailor man.

JackB

Haha!! That's the one! That's the one!!

 

[Adam]

Well I like these indoor plants because they are good for decoration purpose and also looking different but need some attractive containers.

 

[jackb]

Well I like these indoor plants because they are good for decoration purpose and also looking different but need some attractive containers.

Yeah, like any day now Martha Stewart is going to trundle into my greenhouse and say: Good gracious Darling, those containers just don't go with those olives! Give me a break.

JackB

 

[Smart Red]

Well I like these indoor plants because they are good for decoration purpose and also looking different but need some attractive containers.

* Adam, I have already welcomed you to our gardening group! It is always nice to have new friends on line with the same interests -- here it is everything to do with the garden and growing things.

Would you be so kind as to introduce yourself and give us a bit of information about your growing situation. My focus right now is vegetable gardening with heirloom and open-pollinated seed, but I used to have many flower gardens and have a theme garden for each of my grandchildren. As you might have read, right now I am head deep in apples from our dwarf fruit trees. Our second orchard experience.

* Jackb, I love the oriental touch you give your olive trees. They will be productive bonsai. . . beautiful and useful. Are you going to have room for full grown olive trees? My first fig tree grew to about 7 ft. tall before it froze because DH didn't want to break his back moving it back to the sun room.

Do you live anywhere near Martha Stewart? When I first retired, I started watching her show and tried to emulate her. Hah! That didn't last long before I came to my senses. Welcome to the real world where "perfect" isn't in my vocabulary. I just try to do my best and hope Martha doesn't stop in to my little place in south-est, central-est Wisconsin.

 

[jackb]

Red, Martha Stewart lives about a hundred miles from here, thank God. Regarding the trees; by rearranging the greenhouse and using more of the center aisle I can grow larger trees. To that end I am planning on a dozen trees about four or five feet high. One of the trees I have added is a Pendolino, which is a universal pollenizer, which should get the maximum production from the trees. Still, I don't expect to start an olive empire, it is still a hobby. The smaller trees are still scattered around and I will let my assistant work with them. I should add that we call my wife's sister, who lives right next door, Martha Stewart, because she is always telling us what is in style and what she thinks WE should be doing.

JackB

 

[Smart Red]

Do you let insects in or hand pollinate? Since bad bugs can come in with the good, I think I might rely on my trusty artists' brush. Of course, there might not be many olive tree pests there in New York, either.

 

[jackb]

Do you let insects in or hand pollinate? Since bad bugs can come in with the good, I think I might rely on my trusty artists' brush. Of course, there might not be many olive tree pests there in New York, either.

I don' let insects in at all. Olives, like tomatoes and peppers are mostly self fertile, being wind pollinated they don't need insects. Tapping the flowers and the ventilation fan will deal with pollination. From the middle of December through February I will move them to the basement and give them about eight hours of LED grow lighting. For flowering and maximum production they need at least 400 hours with an average temperature of 50 or slightly below. That should not be a problem in New York. That said, we are still having warm days and nights in the 40s and 50s. We have been growing a bay laurel this way for more years than I can remember. It is the laurel that got me thinking of doing the same thing with the olives.

JackB

 

[so lucky]

Well, Jack, thanks for ruining my excuse for my poor tomato crop this year. I was happily blaming it on the lack of honeybees around my place, and now you say that tomatoes are mostly self pollinating. Now I will have to find some other excuse......Hmmm....compost overload?....CO2 poisoning?

 

[jackb]

The small Arbequina olive is flowering. This tree is less than a foot high with almost every branch on the tree beginning to flower. Although the tree is small, the olives will be full sized olives. I can not believe the tree will be able to support the fruit if every flower produces an olive. At some point after opening the flower drops quite a bit of pollen onto the leaves below the flower, so I am transferring the pollen to an artist's brush and making like a bee. That may not be necessary, but I am taking no chances, as this is the first time I have actually had a tree flower. Can spring be far behind?
jackb