Fresh olives, is there anything better? Cold pressed olive oil! Salted olives! What a fruit, small but with a mighty punch. Homemade!
However, you do need to work for them and the longer you leave your olive tree to prune, the harder it will take to recover, and a heavier prune could mean a lot more loss of flowers and fruit in the following season. I am sure you have seen olive trees left to their own devices they can grow out of control!
Start by removing the suckers (water shoots) growing up from the base, ideally as far down as you can go, into the soil if possible, including the bud they are coming from to stop them growing back and you having to do it all over again.
Look to remove upward growth, as you will get far less fruit off that. Doing this will also reduce the size of the tree, making it easier to manage and harvest.
Look into the middle of the tree and remove the overlapping growth, this will stop the branches rubbing together which encourages diseases. Remove growth going across the plant rather than away from it. In essence give it a good clean out and make it look better.
Tip prune to create multiple growth at the tips. This will trigger that branch to sprout more making it heavier, which will weigh it down, so it hangs right in front of you. Perfect!
And then wait for the fruit to flourish.
Enjoy
Peter