Brad's Tropical Paradise

One of the most beautiful parts of an olive tree is the base, and it's also one of the ugliest. When the suckers are trimmed away it reveals a magnificent sculptural quality, and when the suckers are all over the place, it just looks messy, and terrible. I've cared for two olive trees here at the Tropical Paradise for many years now, and have found that using a chisel is best. Yes, an ordinary chisel. If you don't let the suckers get too long, a chisel is all you need. If it's been a while, you'll need to trim the suckers (yes, that's what they're called) back a bit. And then you just sit on the ground and sculpt the beauty back to the base of the tree. Yes, it takes some some time, but it's easy to do, and I find it relaxing, and kinda "zen". I'm not as young as I used to be, and I often find that I'm spending more time sitting and reaching than I had thought, and too much of it can give me some lower back pain, so I try to divide it u...

I've always prided myself on hiding the watering system here at The Tropical Paradise. And while I know where they are, they tend to become so invisible that even I accidentally kick them, and when I have workers on my property, it's just unreasonable for me to ask them to watch where they step. So I have a trick - brightly colored cups. This of course is just temporary, so I have a note on my calendar to turn off the water the day before the house painters get here, and to put the cups over the watering heads and the misting heads (there are actually quite a few, I may need to get more cups!). Then I also have on my calendar to turn the water back on. Of course, my regular visitors are told to stay out of the garden (that's what the paths are for!), and I watch them carefully, but the house painters will be out there without me, and they may need to step back, or put down a can of paint, so this just seems only reasonable. I learned this trick from a friend of mine many ye...