How to trim sucker growth at the base of an olive tree

If you have an olive tree, you're gonna have sucker growth at its base. And no, I'm not trying to be funny here, suckers are actually the correct term. So ya gotta trim those little suckers! I have found the best thing to be ordinary chisels, like the kind used for wood working.

I have to admit that I probably should have gotten some new ones sooner, but I hadn't realized that over the twenty years I'd been using the old ones how dull they had gotten but I started using the ones I bought on sale at the local hardware store. A set of three cost me about six bucks. I figure that I'll replace these in another ten years, I won't wait so long next time.

I can tell that fall is on the way, but it's still hot in the sun, so I didn't linger. As the backyard goes into shade this afternoon, I'll do more lingering. And by that I mean sitting on the ground, usually with a cold drink nearby, and just moving slowly around, chiseling and smoothing. I find it to be a very zen and relaxing thing to do. I often think of the story of the monk who is trimming a hedge and is asked if he knew that he would die in the next few minutes, what would he do? And he said, "this".

Find your "this", I've found mine. The side-effect is a beautiful garden.

Olive tree base trimmed of suckers.