5. Good Organic Gardening - September-October 2016 AvxHome.in

PLANT PROFILE | pomegranate
Fruit forming
on the tree
Pomegranate
label
Common name: Pomegranate
Botanical name: Punica granatum
Group: Shrub to small tree
Requires: Full sun, well-drained soil
Dislikes: Poor drainage
Suitable for: Orchards, hedges,
containers
Habit: Deciduous to semi-deciduous
Needs: Long, warm growing season
Propagation: Seed, suckers, tip cutting
Difficulty: Easy
First come the waxy crimson
flowers, then the fruit
Regular consumption of the juice has even been
shown in both animal and human studies to
improve cholesterol and blood pressure numbers.
disease. Regular consumption of the juice
has been shown in both animal and human
studies to improve cholesterol and blood
pressure numbers. Plus, if you find you’re
having memory problems, try drinking a glass
of the juice a day.
As for the molasses, so important to
Mediterranean and Middle Eastern-style dishes
both sweet and savoury, it’s unclear if it has the
same nutritious benefits as the fresh arils and
juice, but one of the healthiest uses I’ve found
for it is to add it to good olive oil and applecider
vinegar for a delicious salad dressing. It
makes the ACV more than palatable.
Growing
Pomegranate is a relatively small, long-lived,
deciduous tree. By now, it has its bright-green
foliage back and will soon be graced with its
orange–scarlet, crepey-textured flowers. Its
flashy fruit won’t form until late summer, with
autumn the peak cropping period. The fruit
has a leathery cream-to-red rind surrounding
the seeds with their juicy pulp.
Later in autumn the leaves will yellow
and fall until the following spring, when the
cycle starts again. Winter is the time to prune
lightly, bearing in mind that fruit forms on the
mature wood, so don’t cut too much off.
The tree is hardy and frost and drought
tolerant, making it suitable for gardens almost
anywhere in Australia. It’s not too fussy about
soil and doesn’t mind our long, hot summers,
though it shouldn’t be allowed to dry out too
much, especially during the spring growth
period. So give it plenty of sunshine and water
well in dry periods and you shouldn’t have too
many problems. Trees in fruit-fly-prone areas,
however, will need protection (see page 55 for
more on this pomegranate-loving pest).
The popular varieties are ‘Wonderful’,
‘Azerbaijani’, ‘Rosavaya’ and the large-fruiting
‘Ben Hur’, a new variety developed especially
for the home garden. Spanish varieties ‘Elcite’
and ‘Elche’ have yellower skin and lightercoloured
arils but equally luscious flavour.
Make sure any tree you buy is a fruiting one
as there are ornamental pomegranates.
I finally have my own tree now — it was the
second fruit tree we planted after a lemon on
moving to our Hunter Valley property — and
with our clay soil, extended dry periods, high
winds and light winter frosts I can confirm
that it must indeed be an easy tree to grow.
Perfection in a salad
20 | Good Organic Gardening