The olive is an evergreen plant that can grow as a shrub, hedge, or tree. Olive trees can grow as tall as 30 feet. Olives bear small pitted fruits that can be cured for table consumption or pressed for oil. Some olives are grown for ornamental use, often as shrubs or hedges--the olive's narrow gray-green leaves offset the dark green of most gardens and the olive's branching is noted for its billowing form.

Olive trees grown for their fruit are best trained and pruned to a manageable height--from 12 to 15 feet tall--the shorter stature will allow for an easier harvest.

Pruning olive trees. Olive trees fruit along one-year-old wood usually at the periphery of the tree canopy. Prune each year to encourage wood that will fruit. Thin out broken, diseased, and unproductive wood. Head back drooping wood and prune out water sprouts. Olives are best trained on trunks 3 to 4 feet tall with 3 to 4 scaffold or main lateral branches trained or pruned to different direction beginning at about 4 feet from the ground. (Multi-trunked olives are often used ornamentally, but can be kept to a manageable height for harvesting. Don't allow multi-trunked trees to grow too dense in the center.)

Train and prune olives to an open center allowing sunlight to reach deep into the crown of the tree. Remove basal sprouts; pull them away don't cut them to make sure they do not regrow. Rub off buds near the ground level that may become suckers. Olives that go unpruned will become densely twigged and crowded.

When to prune. Prune olive trees in early spring before buds and flowers set. Olive trees can be thinned any time of the year without damaging the tree. However, if you prune in late spring or summer after flowering, the harvest is likely to be decreased. You can prune in winter if the weather is frost-free and dry. Prune in dry weather to allow cuts to heal before frost or rain. Regularly pruned olives will require less pruning and thinning than trees that have been neglected. In regions with severe droughts, pruning in summer will reduce the number of leaves competing for water and may enhance the harvest.

The best oil comes from olives picked just after ripening, before the olive turns black. Oil from olives not ripe or too green will be bitter. Oil from olives too ripe will be rancid.

When olives are crushed and pressed, the pit at the center of the fruit is not broken. At the crush, the flesh of the olive fruit is turned into a paste. From the paste, the oil is extracted in droplets by the pressure of a press (traditionally a stone press, more recently metal rollers) and sometimes by the use of a centrifuge. After the first or "virgin" crush a solid pomace remains from that additional oil can be processed which is less pure or natural. The time to extract the oil from olives--from crush to bottling--can be a few weeks to a few months.

The most flavorful and sought after olive oil is the purest and most natural--the oil from the initial crush or pressing is called "extra virgin." Like wine and cheese, olive oil can reflect terroir (a French term)--that is the flavor of the environment where the olive was grown including the degree and fluctuation of temperature and humidity during the growing season, minerals in the soil, air and water purity, and even the plants and animals growing close by. Thus just pressed olives oils may be described as light and fruity, strong and forceful, and with differing degrees and flavor or spiciness.

Olive oil is one of the most digestible of the edible fats. It is the only vegetable oil that can be consumed freshly pressed from the fruit. Extra virgin olive oil is best for dipping, drizzling, brushing on vegetables and meats before grilling and for mixing in dressings, marinades, and sauces. Extra virgin olive oil has a low smoke point so it is best not used for cooking. For more on olives in the kitchen, click here.

Keep reading for how olive oil is classed, stored, and cooked.

Olives are easy to care for. They require little water once established, little pruning, and have few serious pests or diseases.

All olives must be cured before they can be eaten. That said olives can be harvested from unripe (green) to ripe (black).

To learn more about Olives in the kitchen, click here.

Site. Olives grow best in full sun in regions with Mediterranean-type climates, long, hot, dry summers with some winter cold. Long summers are necessary to ripen olives, at least six months of frost-free weather is best. Olives, depending upon variety, require 200 to 500 hours of freezing weather to set sufficient blossoms for a full harvest. Olives are damaged by temperatures below 12°F; the fruit can not withstand temperatures below 28°F.

Olives are fruits. They are either cured for table consumption or pressed for cooking oil.

Black olives are ripe. Green olives are not. Green olives have a salty, tart taste. Black olives have a smooth, mellow taste.

Green olives are served pitted, unpitted, or stuffed. Green olives are sometimes stuffed with pimiento, anchovies, tiny onions, or whole blanched almonds. Black onions are served pitted, unpitted, sliced, and chopped.

Olives add a tangy flavor to pasta sauces, stews, and braised dishes. Olives can be added to potato and pasta salads and casseroles. Minced olives can be added to bread dough, stuffings, sandwich fillings, and pizza toppings. Both green and black olives are popular appetizers because they have a salty flavor.

Olives directly from the tree contain a bitter alkaloid called oleuropein that irritates the digestive tract and leaves them inedible. Curing dissipates the olive's bitterness and preserves them. Table olives can be cured with water, oil, brine, salt, or lye. The longer an olive cures the less bitter and more intricate its flavor will become. The flavor of olives can range from sour to smoky to bitter to acidic. 

Cool-season vegetable varieties are legion. Check with neighbors and friends to see which varieties they've had success with. After a season or two you will find personal favorites.

Read more about Cool-Season Kitchen Gardening: a four part series, click here.

Here are several varieties for autumn, winter, and spring planting. If you are growing in a cold frame, you can get any of these started between late autumn and early spring. 

November is still a busy month in the kitchen garden. Many would say November is the most important month--now is the time to prepare the soil for next spring and afterwards put the garden to bed for the winter. (Of course, winter vegetable gardening can be very rewarding. So if you are continuing the fresh harvest through to February, you should move swiftly to get things growing under cover.)

Here is summary of garden opportunities for November; pay close attention to the sections on Soil Prepartion, Season End, and Maintaining the Garden. And don't forget to check out the Regional Suggestions at the end.

Harvest late summer crops. Continue the harvest begun in September and October: cold-weather sweetened carrots, Brussels sprouts (when the buttons firm up), cabbage, and kale. Continue to thin cut-and-come-again crops like lettuce and spinach.

Harvest root crops. Harvest leeks, turnips, rutabagas, kohlrabi, and parsnips as needed. Mulch root crops thickly if you plan to store them in the garden until you are ready to use them; mark their location with tall stakes. Carrots, turnips, leeks, and parsnips can be left in the garden under a one-foot-deep layer of mulch and dug as needed all winter. Root crops that are not protected with a layer of mulch including horseradish and sunchokes should be harvested before the ground freezes.

Seed saving. Seeds from non-hybrid plants can be saved from the garden for planting next year. Thoroughly dry seeds, label, and store them in a closed jar in a cool, dry place.

Storing crops. Keep cabbage in a cool basement or unheated garage until needed. Inspect potatoes and other crops in store; discard any showing signs of rotting or disease. 

If Novem is the Latin word for nine, then why is November the eleventh month of the year?

It all started in 46 B.C, when Julius Caesar asked the astronomer Sosigenes to review the calendar and improve it.

Calendars are systems for measuring and recording the passage of time. Nature gives us a regular sequence of seasons. Since nature controls the supply of natural foods, a calendar was one way for humans to prepare for winter with a little forethought.

At first humans followed the solar year by the changing position of the moon and sun. The first calendar was a lunar calendar that noted the changing position and shape of the moon. That calendar came up about 11 days shorter than the true solar year.

The Romans borrowed their first calendar from the Greeks. The first Roman calendar had 10 months. Julius Caesar worked hard on the calendar. He's the one who finally settled on twelve months. When that happened, November--which was once the ninth month--became the eleventh month.

Julius Caesar named a new month, July, after himself. The emperor after him Augustus Caesar named August after himself. When the Roman Senate offered to name a month after the next emperor Tiberius Caesar, Tiberius declined and quipped, "What will you do if you have thirteen emperors?"

November is one of the most beautiful months of the year in the southern hemisphere. The cold is gone but summer's intense heat has not yet arrived.

The trees and grass are green. The forsythia and dogwood are in bloom. The birds have built their summer nests, and the first crops in the vegetable garden have begun to sprout.

Here is a planting schedule by region for the southern hemisphere in November:

Temperate regions: Vegetables: beans, beets (beetroot), cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum (sweet pepper), carrots, celery, celeriac, chicory, cress, cucumber, eggplant, endive, leeks, lettuce, marrow (courgette), melons, mustard, spring onion, parsnip, peas, pumpkin, radish rhubarb crown, rosella, salsify, Swiss chard (silverbeet), squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, zucchini. Herbs: basil, borage, caraway, celeriac, chamomile, chervil, chicory, chilies, chives, coriander, dill, fennel, hyssop, lemon balm, oregano, parsley, salad burnet, thyme.

Tropical and subtropical northern regions: Vegetables: beans, cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum (sweet pepper), carrots, celery, celeriac, Chinese cabbage, cress, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, lettuce, marrow, melons, mustard, okra, parsnip, peas, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb crowns, rosella, silverbeet (Swiss chard), spring onion, squash, strawberry runners, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, zucchini. Herbs: borage, caraway.

Cooler southern regions: Vegetables: beans, beet (beetroot), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cape gooseberry, capsicum (sweet pepper), carrots, celery, celeriac, cress, cucumber, eggplant, endive, leeks, lettuce, marrow, okra, spring onion, parsnip, potato tubers, radish, rhubarb crowns, rutabaga (Swedes), salsify, Swiss chard (silverbeet), spinach, squash, sweet corn, tomato, zucchini. Herbs: basil, borage, caraway, celeriac, chamomile, chervil, chives, coriander, hyssop, lemon balm, oregano, parsley, salad burnet, thyme.

November Harvest Schedule for the Southern Hemisphere

Here is a roundup of vegetables and fruits ready for harvest during October in the Southern Hemisphere:

Vegetables: Artichoke, asparagus, beet (beetroot), broccoli, carrot, celeriac, celery, cucumber, lettuce, snow peas, purslane, Swiss chard (silverbeet), spinach, zucchini.

Fruit: Early apricots, early cherries, grapefruit, lemons, limes, loquats, oranges, early nectarines, early peaches, raspberries, strawberries.

Autumn is a good time to begin preparing the kitchen garden for spring planting.

Remove woody and diseased plant debris from the garden as soon as the harvest is complete--pull up tomato vines and beans and remove late cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli stalks. Plant debris that is not diseased can be finely chopped and added to the compost pile or turned under to decompose in the garden during winter. Diseased plant refuse should be disposed of or burned.

If you are planning a new garden for spring, autumn is the time to remove sod and perennial weeds and turn the soil where the new garden will grow.

Spading, forking, and double digging will be easier in autumn while the ground is relatively dry and before winter snows and spring rains waterlog the soil. The best time to cultivate is when the soil is damp but not soggy. An ideal soil has crumbly texture. Soil worked too soon in spring can become compacted. Heavy, clay soil and hard clods exposed to winter freezes and thaws will break apart more easily.

Read about Making a Winter Vegetable Garden.

Read about Composting.

There are clear advantages to preparing the garden for spring planting in autumn:

• Compost and manure added in autumn has added time to decompose and release nutrients to the soil. Fertility and soil structure is improved. 

Ready to stretch your growing season: get an early start in spring or keep the season going in autumn? Lettuce is your choice.

Lettuce does not like warm days and nights, so the cool time of the year is lettuce season. You can lengthen your growing season dramatically with a lettuce box--that's a cold frame dedicated to lettuce growing. A lettuce box will protect the earliest and latest plantings, and with a light shade cloth cover, use the lettuce box for summer harvests as well.

If frost is not in the forcast over the next 40 to 60 days tuck lettuce into flower-borders. Otherwise in early spring and autumn, use the lettuce box or be ready to give lettuce some overnight protection when frost comes. Lettuce leaves stung by frost can be clipped away and you can keep on growing new leaves from the center.

Planting Calendar. Lettuce is a cool-weather crop that requires 40 to 50 days to reach harvest. Lettuce will send up a stalk and bolt or go to seed in temperatures greater than 80ºF (27ºC). Bolted lettuce is inedible.

Spring crops. Sow lettuce seed directly in garden 4 to 6 weeks before the average last frost date in spring. If your growing season is short or hot weather arrives quickly, sow seed indoors in late winter 10 weeks before the average last frost date and transplant seedlings to the garden early so that they mature before the weather gets hot. Small seedlings can be protected by cloches until after the last frost.

Autumn and winter crops. Sow lettuce in late summer for harvest from autumn to early winter. Protect last autumn and winter crops with cloches or plastic tunnels if necessary. Some varieties will over-winter under cloches or in cold frames. In mild winter regions, sow lettuce in autumn for harvest in winter.

Composting turns garden and kitchen waste into humus. Humus is Nature's best fertilizer and soil conditioner. The process of decomposition that we call composting happens in nature as billions of microorganisms feed, grow, reproduce, and die as they recycle kitchen and garden waste.

Compost will happen gradually over time. Set a pile of leaves or grass clippings in the corner of the yard and come back in a year: compost, perhaps humus. When you build a compost pile or use a commercial bin, you can speed things up. What Mother Nature will do on her own in a year's time you can help her do more quickly.

Compost is partially decomposed organic matter. Humus is fully decomposed compost. Humus is the composter's objective.

There are three types of composting: cold, slow, or passive composting; hot, fast, or active composting; and sheet compositing.

Sheet composting simply involves spreading undecomposed organic materials over the soil's surface, then working them into the soil to decompose.

Cold, slow, or passive composting involves piling organic matter into a heap and letting Nature takes its course. Little or no turning is involved and composting will occur in time. In cool temperatures, passive composting can take more than a year.

Hot, fast, or active composting requires that the compost pile be turned or aerated and that some attention be paid to the ratio of high-carbon materials--such as dry leaves, straw or steer manure--and high-nitrogen materials--such as fresh grass clippings, green prunings, and kitchen peelings. (An ideal ratio of carbon to nitrogen for hot composting is about 25:1.) 

To speed along the work of your compost pile follow these suggestions:  

The combination of dead vegetation with air and moisture will result in compost. Composting is natural decomposition. Composting can take place in a simple free-standing heap of garden waste or a homemade wire-mesh container or a commercially made bin.

Here are the basics you'll need to know to start composting at home:

• Site the compost bin or pile near the vegetable garden and kitchen close to where the finished compost will be used or locate the pile in an area of garden where you will plant next year

• Choose a site in full sun or light shade sheltered from the wind.

• Place the compost bin or pile on bare soil so that excess water can drain away. Till or dig the soil underneath before you begin to fill the area. This will assist drainage and allow macroorganisms such as worms to enter the pile.

• Place the bin or pile with ample air circulation on all sides.

• A compost bin can be square or round. It can be made out of lumber, chicken wire, hardware cloth, concrete blocks, or bales of hay. You can use a wooden box leaving space between the side boards. (Do not use pressure-treated wood or wood treated with toxic preservatives.) You can use four wood frames covered with chicken wire and latched together to form a cube. You can use galvanized metal mesh or welded wire shaped as a cylinder and staked in place. You can use bricks omitting a few bricks on each side for aeration. You can use a steel drum with hundreds of large holes punched in the side so that the external surface is about half and half holes to solid matter.

A cold frame can keep plants 7° to 10ºF warmer than outdoors, sometimes as much as 20ºF warmer. Use a cold frame in spring to give seedlings a head start on the growing season and protect them from spring frosts. Use a cold frame in autumn to extend the summer and fall growing season into late autumn and winter. (To read the four-part series on autumn and winter gardening, click here.)

A cold frame is a low-profile open bottomed box that is placed over crops to act like a small greenhouse. Cold frames are heated by the sun. (A hotbed is similar to a cold frame but is usually heated by electric cables placed under the growing bed.)

The sides of a cold frame are often sunk into the ground to make the structure airtight. The back side of the cold frame is usually several inches taller than the front. The frame has sloping sides fitted with a slanting, transparent roof. The sloping sides and transparent roof are positioned to face toward the warm southern tracking winter sun.

Cold frames should be situated away from prevailing winds or protected by a fence or wall on the north side. They can be set on a slight slope so that water will drain away from them and they should be situated close to a hose bib for watering.

Cold frames are easily constructed: the sides can be made out of decay-resistant wood or concrete blocks and should be tall enough to clear the tallest plant you grow. The top or roof can be made out of glass, fiberglass, Plexiglas, or heavy clear plastic sheeting. The translucent top is usually framed and hinged to the larger box and fits snuggly to create a greenhouse effect. White paint on the inside of the frame will reflect additional light and heat into the box.

Here is an index to the four-part Harvest to Table series on cool-season kitchen gardening (click on the part that interests you):

Part I: Cool-Season and Warm-Season Crops: the basics.

Part II: Planting the Autumn, Winter, and Spring Garden.

Part III: Cool-Season Vegetable Varieties: what to plant in autumn and spring.

Part IV: Extending the Season: How to get more time out of your garden.

This is part IV of a four part series: a list of the articles is below.

Use cloches and cold frames to extend the growing season, either in spring or autumn.

When freezing temperatures are expected, most kitchen garden crops will benefit from protection. The simplest crop protection--a light blanket or overturned cardboard box--will protect plants by 1° or 2°F. A plastic or glass cloche, plastic tunnel, or simple cold frame can provide 3° or 4°F or more--often as much as 7°F--in additional temperature protection.

Adding temperature protection for your vegetables can be the equivalent of transporting them to another growing zone. Vegetables growing in a Maine winter may feel as though they are living in Georgia with the right temperature protection. That is three or four growing zones difference. Crop protection can be the equivalent of giving your crops more time--even several months of growing season.

There are a few basic rules for preparing vegetables for frost and freezing weather:

• Water crops thoroughly before a freeze: wet soil freezes more slowly than dry soil.

• When you cover crops, avoid allowing the covering to touch the crop; set up a frame to keep blankets, horticultural cloth or other covers from actually touching leaves.

• Remove covers or ventilate when warm weather returns. Temperatures will rise under cover with the return of warm weather.

• Don't assume that all vegetables will die in freezing weather--warm-weather crops likely will die if not protected--but many vegetables can recover from a freeze (Brussels sprouts, cabbage, garlic, kale, some lettuce, mâche, parsley and spinach to name several).

• Visit the garden in cold weather just as you do in warm weather to keep your hands on the pulse of the garden.

Here are several kitchen garden season extenders: