Many people think that the Rioja Alavesa is made up solely of vineyards, but, despite their inferiority in numbers, olive trees have also formed and continue to form part of the ecosystem of the area. About a century ago, the fields of this region were mainly made up of three types of plantations: vines, olives and cereals. Later, around the 70’s and 80’s, many farmers decided to focus on vine cultivation. In this way, vineyards began to be planted in the most easily accessible lands, leaving the olive trees on the hillsides and other places of more difficult access. Because of this, we can still find a certain number of olive trees in the surroundings of some vineyards, many of them being centenary trees.
In addition to this, the olive tree is not only a tree used to produce oil, but also serves as a shelter for insects, reptiles or birds that are part of the natural ecosystem necessary for the proper development of the vine.
Being the olive tree a tree that does not lose its leaves, it may seem that throughout the year it remains the same, but it is not so. If weget closer, we will see throughout the year changes in the color of the leaves, we will prune it and form new shoots, it will turn white in bloom, the small olives will grow…
That is why in today’s article we want to focus on the few but essential tasks to be carried out throughout the month of August to obtain an optimal development of our olive tree.
Throughout this month two main tasks can be carried out: on the one hand, we can eliminate the shoots and suckers born on the ground and trunk that compete with the rest of the branches, while leaving the ground and trunk clean, which will facilitate the harvesting tasks when the time comes. On the other hand, in case it is a hot summer, we can water them a little, giving back some extra life to the tree.
That said, this is the end of our introductory article on olive tree care. Next week we will talk about how wine was created and focus on the evolution of wine. If you enjoyed this article, we invite you to stop by our YouTube channel, where every Saturday we upload a video addressing the same topic as here in greater depth.