How do I look after an olive tree in the UK?

The olive is a Mediterranean tree adapted to hot dry summers and cool wet winters — but with sharply drained stony soil. In a UK garden the temperature is usually survivable and the drainage rarely is.

What you'll need

• Loam-based compost
• Horticultural grit
• Large pot with good drainage
• Pot feet
• Fleece (optional)

Step by step

1. Get the compost right.Loam-based compost with about a third added horticultural grit. Multipurpose compost holds far too much water and is the commonest reason a potted olive fails.
2. Choose a big enough pot.Olives are surprisingly tolerant of restricted roots but a small pot dries out too fast in summer and freezes solid in winter. Terracotta or heavy ceramic also helps stability.
3. Put it in full sun.As much direct sun as your garden offers. In shade an olive survives but looks sparse and will never fruit.
4. Water sparingly but properly.Let the top of the compost dry out, then water thoroughly until it runs from the base. Frequent light watering is worse than infrequent soaking.
5. Stop watering almost completely in winter.A potted olive outdoors gets more than enough from rain. Move it under an overhang if the winter is persistently wet.
6. Raise the pot on feet.Essential. A pot standing on paving through a wet winter cannot drain and the roots rot.
7. Feed lightly in the growing season.A balanced feed monthly from April to August, or slow-release granules in spring. Olives are not hungry and overfeeding gives soft frost-tender growth.
8. Protect only in severe cold.Established olives tolerate around minus 10C in dry conditions. Fleece the canopy and wrap the pot for a prolonged hard freeze, particularly for young plants.
9. Prune in spring for shape and light.Late spring, once frost risk has passed. Open the centre out so light and air reach it, remove crossing branches, and keep the head balanced over the pot.
10. Repot every three or four years.Late spring, either into a larger pot or by root pruning and refreshing the compost in the same one.
11. Do not expect a crop.Olives need a cool winter period and then a long hot summer to fruit. In the UK a few fruit appear in a good year in the south and rarely ripen. Grow it for the tree.

Tips

• It is the wet, not the cold. Drainage matters more than fleece.
• No saucer, ever. Pot feet, all year.
• Silver leaves and an open habit come from sun. A shaded olive always looks thin.

Common mistakes

• Bringing an olive indoors for winter — A heated house is too warm, too dark and too dry. The tree drops leaves and gets scale insect. It is far better outside against a sheltered wall.
• Planting in multipurpose compost — It stays wet, particularly through a UK winter, and the roots rot. Loam-based compost with a third grit is what these trees need.

If it doesn't work

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