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Olives on an olive tree?

FireFire Posts: 19,096
in The potting shed
We have actual olives ripening at the moment on an olive tree, in London. A friend bet me that there could never be any olive tree north of Birmingham ever bearing olives. I said I could find one. Has anyone had any actual olives in the UK this year? And proper ripening grapes (outside) too?
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited October 2018
    Our outdoor vine has been covered with ripe grapes ... but this happens most years 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • tessagardenbarmytessagardenbarmy Posts: 346
    Mine flowered but didn't  fruit this year and I live in York so it could be that you're  right. However  a couple of years ago  I was in Anwick,Northumberland and at the place we stayed was a sunny sheltered courtyard  and they had a standard olive trees which was bearing tiny fruits.
  • RubeeRubee Posts: 8,932
    I have two olive trees Every year they flower and berry,but the fruit never gets beyond green and tiny fruit
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    This probably doesn’t win the argument for you but Uppingham is fractionally North of Birmingham

    E
    Rutland, England
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    We make wine in Yorkshire.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • tessagardenbarmytessagardenbarmy Posts: 346
    Hi @punkdoc so we do used to live near the awesome  Holme Valley  Winery but I think they all grow German  varieties of grapes more adapted  to cold weather . Not sure about olives if there is more than one variety? 
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Some varieties of olives are more suited to cooler climates. The one commonly planted in endless hectares in the far south of Spain is Hojiblanca, which makes quite a bog standard, dull oil. More interesting, greener, spicier oils seem to be produced up here in Catalunya, varieties such as Picual, Manzanilla (also a speciality of Jaen province in the south), Arbequina and many others I have never heard of. A good cool climate variety is apparently Arroniz, grown around Rioja and Navarra, so if you could get hold of one of those I am sure you could get it to fruit north of Brummie. Do UK suppliers ever name the varieties? I suspect they are Hojiblanca as this is the cheapest and most widely grown, but not necessarily the most likely to fruit to the to the point of usefulness in the UK. There you go, more than anyone ever wanted to know about olives  :)
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Did any of the above olives ripen? I feel like I've lost my 50p.
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    One has ripened this year on my tree on the patio but as I am in N London not sure if it helps you.
    AB Still learning

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I think you're about ten miles north of me. :)
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