My First Olive

OK, I'm excited.

I just found an olive on my olive tree. I'm late, this should have been harvested some time back, but I hadn't seen it in the back of the greenhouse.

When do you harvest olives? "October, November and December: Depending on the olive variety and the area and the weather, green olives are harvested in September and October for the table. Olives for oil are picked around early to mid-November, when the olive have just turned green to purple and they're at their fullest with oil."

So it's an over-ripe olive, but it's an olive.

How long does it take for an olive tree to bear fruit? "That is a function of cultivar. 'Arbequina' and 'Koroneiki' begin fruiting at an early age (about 3 years). Other cultivars do not make fruit until they are five to twelve years old. Most olive cultivars will not produce fruit without a pollinator tree of a different cultivar."

My tree is two years old. 

Of course, it's hardly edible yet. The process for making olives suitable for eating is long and arduous. I'll wait until I have an actual harvest before trying that.