Use clean double-bladed shears for your smallest shoots and branches, available.

Pruning and training. Olives grow very slowly, so don’t require much pruning. However, pinching out young plants can help to encourage them to develop a branching shape.

Once they are m (5ft high), select three or four of the strongest and best-placed shoots to retain, and pinch out the others. Cultivation Grow in deep, fertile, sharply-drained soil in full sun. Under glass, grow in John Innes No 3 with added sharp sand, in full light. Propagation Propagate by seed in spring at a temperature of °C (°F). Can also be propagated by semi-ripe cuttings in summer.