Pomegranate's flowers give way to edible red fruit.
A 6- to 12-foot shrub or 20-foot tree, the pomegranate (Punica granatum) is an ideal small home garden plant for climates with arid summers and mild winters. Its glossy green leaves provide a striking background for crinkled red spring flowers with bushy stamens. Pomegranate's fruit ripens between July and November, depending on local temperatures. The 2- to 5-inch fruits have heavily seeded, edible purple pulp. Thorny branches are the plant's major drawback.
Instructions
Planting
1. Purchase a container-grown pomegranate tree at your local nursery.
2. Locate a well-drained planting site with full sun, advises Texas A & M professor and extension horticulturist Dr Julian M Sauls. Plants perform well in moist, moderately heavy acidic-to-neutral (pH 5.5 to 7.0) soil. If you plan to train your pomegranate as a tree, choose a location with enough room for its 20-foot height.
3. Prepare your site in spring after the last frost date. Loosen the moist--not wet--soil with your hoe. Remove any other plants and debris. Use your shovel to dig a hole twice the diameter and equal to the height of your pomegranate's root ball.
4. Remove the pomegranate from its pot. Expose the peripheral roots by gently rinsing a 1-inch layer of potting medium from the edges of the root ball with the hose. Cut any wires, tags or twine from the plant with your clippers. Carefully unwind or clip away any roots encircling the plant's trunk.
5. Place the root ball in the center of the hole. Replace 3/4 of the soil with your shovel and straighten the plant if necessary. Water the soil to settle it, then finish filling the hole.
6. Use the shovel to build a soil ridge (berm) several inches wide and high, encircling the hole 6 inches from its edge. This creates a water basin.
7. Fill the water basin immediately. Water the plant every two to three days for two weeks. Slowly extend the periods between watering until the pomegranate is established. After that, water it once every week to 10 days.
Tags: root ball, with your, pomegranate tree, water basin, your pomegranate, your shovel