How to rescue a dying Olive Tree

Our Olive Tree needs saving from our dog Casper. So I'm going to rescue it... but is it too late! 

I'm not an expert on tree care or Olive Trees, or planting, gardening,  potted plants or growing. But I do know how to drive to the supermarket and fill plant pots with soil. There's a twist at the end if you can stick with it. PS an olive tree is an awesome gift for dad idea!

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My dog is killing our Olive Tree... 🐕 🌳...is it too late?



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

Hello, welcome back to the channel. My name's Neil. This is the Dad Delivers Vlog, where I try new things to make your family happy. Today, I'm going to... I think I'm going to save a life. This is the life I'm going to save: our poor Olive Tree. There's a bit of a story behind this. So, there's the giant hole. It's from Casper. We just can't get him to stop digging in our garden. And we filled in most of the hole. It did get really deep, deep enough for him to bury himself in it, but we filled it up.

And I've had this olive tree for about 15 years, and over the last... Well, two years ago, it was in a... a case, what's the word for it? A flower pot, the plant pot! And it looked like this because we had two olive trees. This is the other one. And the plant pot got completely destroyed. This one, this one's been damaged. It got damaged during the building work that we had in the kitchen. So, this one is kind of hanging on in there. And look, it's still alive. But with my other Olive Tree, the story is not quite as rosy or Olive Tree because, as you can see, we've clipped it back to try and bring it back from the brink. I'm not sure that was a great idea. But look at... look at the root ball. I mean, is there anything left? I have no idea if this is still even alive.

So, I'm going to try and bring it back from the brink. And to do that, I bought this nice big plant pot that I got from the supermarket. I've already started cutting holes in it. I think, I'm not an expert at all, but I think I need some drainage in here. Hello, I can feel the force in this one. So, I'm going to do that. I've got an apple paring knife or a pear paring knife. I'm going to cut some holes in the bottom so the water can run out and also try and do this while not destroying my fingers. I think that's... that's pretty enough holes. It's just to let the water out. Let's fill it up right now! 

Here’s the earth. You can tell how long I've been putting this project off by how faded the bag is. But try not to make too much mess.

Okay, a bit of a problem. I think I'm gonna need to go to the shop and get some more Earth.

So, Casper kindly drove me to Aldi. Thanks, Casper. I'll be back in a minute. Good boy.

Compost, compost. Go for the cheap one, I think, even though it's my precious Olive Tree. I have no idea how much to get. If I take one in, maybe they'll let me find three bags?

We've got the Earth, Casper. I got it.

Let's get the poor olive tree. 

Oh my goodness, look what Casper's done. 

Oh man, it's got even worse. This was... say in the comments. Do you think... Do you think this is even gonna work? This could be a long series. I hope it's a long series because it means... We might have some growth. Oh man, now I know that this plant pot is probably far too big for the little tree and probably for even the bits of Earth that I've got to fill it. But it's... it's a start. And I want it to have enough space to grow if it does grow. So, I'm going to go into this completely positively.

I know this is going to work because I'm going to put so much Earth in here that the Olive Tree can't do anything but grow, grow! Let's get this into the pot. The bag has basically filled the plant pot already. It's loose enough, so I can just put my hand in and dig a little hole for the root ball. So, I'm just digging it in. I think we obviously need some more Earth to fill it up, so we'll get a second bag going in. Hopefully, it will just stand up under its own strength, what little strength it has. I've now realized that it's not straight. If this does survive, you know, in 14 years time, I think that would be annoying... that it's a bit to one side and probably not standing up straight, which was the whole problem with the other tree. If you're regular on the channel, you know that I've not been so good with the trees in the garden, and I think that's what this project, this video, is all about because we've lost one in the garden.

If you're a regular on the channel, you might have seen this eucalyptus tree. 

I made a whole video about how our tree is too close to the fence, and I didn't know what to do. I had to brace the fence because the tree was going to bring down the entire fence line down the side of the garden. So, I braced it, and we managed to get a wooden stud, just a plank of wood, to hold the tree back from the fence. And, oh, you guys were so kind in the comments. You gave me all kinds of tips. I've got them on screen now. You know whether to brace the tree or to lash the trunk somehow to pull it away from the fence and train it away from the fence. And then, you know, I got a comment like this from Dr Dee. Thank you, Dr Dee, because that's basically what we've done.

Look, it was a sad day this week where a friend and neighbour and tree surgeon all in one managed to cut the thing down. I would have filmed it coming down, but I was a bit too busy in the car trying to get some cash to thank him for his work. So, when I came back, I found this in the street, just the eucalyptus tree in bits and flying across the street. I mean, on the upside, it did smell really gorgeous while he was doing that, but the stench of destruction was sweet. And this is what we have left. And very kindly, they've left us with a single branch. I don't know if you call it a branch, a trunk, a trunk line that actually goes up straight and away from the fence. So, we're going to try and keep this tree going and we're going to try and train this one in the way that we should have done with the tree in the first place.

I can't let this happen again. I can't let another tree be destroyed on my watch. And there's something particularly profane about bumping off a tree. I think that's why I'm spending too much time on this. I have no idea if this is going to work. 

There's a slight twist at the end of this story that I really wasn't expecting. About a week after I shot that footage, we loaded up the Olive Tree, and maybe we should give her a name. Leave a comment down below if you can think of her name for our new Old Olive Tree. But anyway, we loaded it up into a wheelbarrow and took it on what I thought would be its final journey to the end of the garden outside the happy Hut, alongside its, uh, brother or sister, the other trees that haven't fared so well in our garden, something incredible happened a few days after that. 

I've just, I just had a look, and I can't believe what I've seen! 

On the side of the branch here. If I can zoom in, there is an unmistakable bud of growth. This is in one week. I'll see if I can go in with the macro lens, and even now, filming now, I've just spotted four others. This is absolutely incredible. I really didn't think I'd be saying this, but I'm calling this a "Dad Delivers Success." 

Hug your trees tight tonight and thank you for your thumbs up or hitting the subscribe button. It really helps me to keep our trees alive. 

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