Expats in Croatia – Olive garden

Post author SJ

Written by our local expert SJ

Sarah-Jane has lived in Croatia for 10+ years. SJ, as she is known, has been traveling the Balkans & beyond since 2000. She now shares her passion for traveling with her husband & kids.

Expats in Croatia – Olive garden

Did we tell you that we are growing olives?

Growing olive trees is (mostly) low maintenance. Yet it takes around 5 years to get enough olives (masline) on your trees to produce enough olive oil to last you the year. So that is why back in 2010, we decided to plant olives in Croatia, on land we inherited as an investment for future olive oil (maslinovo ulje) production and, more importantly, consumption.

expat olive gardens
Little buds of goodness

We now have almost 50 trees and plan to plant another 20 trees in the near future. We have planted a Croatian olive variety called the Orkula, also known as Oblica, depending on where you are from. These olive trees produce large olives, which makes them easy to pick when harvesting.

Unfortunately for us, we have another 2 years to wait before we start getting enough olives to make oil. Until then, I hope you enjoy the wander through our olive garden in these photos.

You can also read our expat adventures in winemaking and or why not take a look at one of the tasty Croatian recipes we’ve shared.

expat olive gardening
Garden number 1
expat olives
Garden number 2
expat olive tree
The branch needed just a little support to keep it from snapping, until it matures.
expat olive
The future olive oil that will be in my kitchen
expat in the olive gardening
These fell off the tree early. No good for olive oil, but still good in the oven as a snack.
expat olive garden
Getting bigger and bushier by the day
expat in the olive garden
My boys playing in the dirt – country life is fun!
expat olives
1, 2, 3, 4, 5…..

Have you ever grown olives? Any tricks you’d care to share?

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Comments (31)

  1. Beautiful photos. And lucky you, how amazing to make your own olive oil. I am growing more envious of your Croatian life by the day!!

  2. I planted two masline 3 or 4 years ago and they haven’t grown very much still, so sorry I don’t have any “tricks” to share. I do, however, have access to the olives from mature groves belonging to friends.

    1. Damn, I hope ours grow. Do you remove the weeds / grass from around base? I’ve learnt that, that is a good way to help them grow. Until then, enjoy the oil from your friends I say :)

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