Olive tree on the Tuscany Umbria border before pruning
With the spring sunshine raising temperatures and spirits in the Niccone Valley, olive tree pruning is well underway. Casa degli Ulivi, one of Gorgacce Rentals Villas on the Tuscany Umbria border, has a wonderful, ancient olive grove that for some years has been neglected. The house belongs to close friends who have not been able to spare the time for this task. I have decided to take over the maintenance of the olive grove and will hopefully will be rewarded with a year’s supply of top quality Umbrian olive oil come the harvest in November.
The olive grove at Casa degli Ulivi has around 80 trees and must be a few hundred years old. The trees have thick twisted trunks, many are split with age and have interesting shapes. The grove stretches from the house up to the neighbouring castle in 4 rows.
As this is the first time I have pruned olives I have been seeking advice from many friends and neighbours with greater experience. The aim is to prune the crown of the trees into an upside down umbrella shape, or like an open hand. All branches growing straight up, or into the middle of the tree are sawn off. With this shape sunshine can penetrate all sides of the branches and leaves, ripening the olives evenly.
Olive tree on the Tuscany Umbria border after pruning
The trees at Casa degli Ulivi (which means house of the olives in Umbrian dialect), not having been pruned for several years need severe attention. They have grown very tall and in many cases the picking of the olives will be almost impossible because of the height of the branches. We are thinking about pruning one in 4 or 5 very severely to bring the height of the crown down, whilst not ruining the look of this beautiful grove. We would then repeat the process on different trees in the following years, until the entire grove is manageable.
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| Casa Degli Ulivi |
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Tags: Italy, italy villas, olive oil, rental villa, Tuscany, tuscany villas, Umbria, umbria villas, Villa
