This Spring the national health emergency limited farming action, as wild animals undoubtedly made a remarkable comeback
In the olive grove of the Riviera Ligure, however, work was carried out in good time.
The first useful action was early fertilisation, carried out with a complex of soil improvers in with the important action of nitrogen and potassium, as well as of other various microelements. A solution already chosen in the previous season, which proved to be effective in terms of nourishment and maintenance. Moreover, the uptake of nutrients was fostered by remarkable spring rainfall.
The olive grove is in excellent shape: in fact, all the conditions are in place for an excellent year. Flowering and fruit setting were positive almost everywhere in Liguria. This is expected to be a good year, yet there is still a lot of work to be done.
During blossoming, foliar fertilisation (boron) was carried out to encourage fruit setting and – consequently – the formation of fruits. In fact, the small drupes are now formed and can be seen all over the trees.
Good manual cultivation practices are maintained in the olive grove of the Riviera Ligure. This is the case of the last activity in early summer, a mowing operation using a brush cutter, in order to keep the ground clean: grass was high everywhere, favoured by generous spring rains. In addition, the suckers were removed from the tree stump, thus channelling nutrition towards the productive dimension of the plants.
This is the early onset of the season: expectations are high, though – as usual – the first conclusions will be drawn in late September, in the days when shepherds and their flocks used to come down from Summer mountain pastures.
Countdown, so to say, has started: four months to go for the PDO Riviera Ligure olio nuovo.