Journal January 14, 2013

Another rare olive varietal arrived today, this one from Turkey.  The rooted seedlings were shipped prior to Christmas and have been traveling all this time.  

This variety is a  Gemlik olive, or Tirilye olive, a variety from the Gemlik, Zeytinbağı area of northern Turkey. Gemlik olives called the following names as Tirilye, Curly, wrapping paper and black. They are small to medium sized black olives with a high oil content. This type of olive is very common in Turkey and is sold as a breakfast olive in the cured formats of either Yagli Sele, Salamura or Duble; though there are other less common curings. The sign of a traditionally cured Gemlik olive is that the flesh comes away from the pip easily.

The small village of Tyilye is famous for its olives, and hopefully someday I may get to taste one, though I have no idea of how to cure it, yet.

These seedlings may very well be a challenge, as they have been in transit for quite sometime and are completely dormant.  As a matter of fact, it is difficult to see any sign of life at all at this point. I suspect it is going to be literally months before I even know if they survived the trip.

That said, if they do begin to grow, they may very well be the first of my trees to actually fruit; they are by far the largest in terms of trunk diameter, which is an indication of age.

After potting them I placed them in the corner of the tent with the tomato plant, as the temperature in that tent is controlled by a heater.  

Actually, I would like to see them put out suckers in addition to new buds, as I would love to take cuttings from the suckers and propagate tiny plants.

There is one other rare varietal in transit, and these will definitely finish my collection, as I am totally out of space at this point.