A course on pruning olives began in San Giorgio last night. Paolo Branchini (the man in blue), the teacher, is giving some theoretical lessons and then he will let us loose on some real olive trees – we are hoping he will choose our trees for the practical.
We now know to aim for a vase shaped tree, keeping the centre open to allow light in. Aim to have branches going at 45 degrees to the upright; don’t allow branches to be convex in shape as it incourages suckers to grow upright and be unproductive; to help form the tree it is possible to remove a layer of bark which encourages the tree to branch just below the cut.
A very interesting lesson with occasional lapses into anarchy as everyone started to talk with their neighbour about what was being said or sought to side track Paolo by asking questions about their own particular problems.
The class started at 9.15 and finished at 10.30 and was followed by a glass of home made pomegranate grappa which ensured everyone went home in a happy frame of mind – I think the recipe was 5 litres of grappa, 2 litres of water, 1 kg of sugar, 3 pomegranates, stir and leave for 15 days. Or was it 2 litres of grappa, 5 litres of water…..