The two things you need to do for your olive tree - trim and spray

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I'm fortunate to have two olive trees on my property, which were planted by the previous owner in the late 1980s. When I first bought my house, in 1993, they were fairly small, but now they're big enough to soar above the house, giving nice shade.

But there are two things that you need to do to make these trees as beautiful as possible. You need to spray them every February to stop the olives from forming, and you need to trim them. When my trees were small I could do this myself, but now I need professional help.

Olive trees, like all desert trees, aren't really trees at all. They're just big bushes that are trained up to look like trees. Left alone, they'll be bushy and full and grow low to the ground. In fact, leaves of olive trees are continuously growing from the base, and the truck (so I snip them off regularly). And left alone, they can look pretty ratty. So making them beautiful takes some effort.

I don't have the landscape guys come in on a regular schedule, I just call them when I think the tree needs it. And wow, what an effect it gives! Now that the tree is taller than my house, it kinda "flies" over it. The lower branches are cleaned up, to allow airflow, and the tree becomes an umbrella shape, giving that delicious shade in the summer, which really makes the garden below possible. I have no idea how much money the shade from the trees saves me in air conditioning bills, but I'm sure it's considerable.

Unfortunately, my olive tree is old enough that it couldn't possibly be fruitless. When you go get one now you can choose fruitless (like seedless watermelons, etc.) but mine wants to make olives. Lots of them. I accidentally forgot to spray one year and I got a bumper crop of messy olives. So the landscaping guys come out every spring and spray. The trees are sizable now so it's more than I can do, and they have the right equipment to do it. And it makes a difference - no olives!

I like trees. And my house, and garden, wouldn't be the same without them. They will get the care that they need.

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