When we moved to Israel, we bought a home with a garden. But homes with gardens here come with an unbuilt area filled with dirt– not soil, but dirt. From there, you are on your own. After living in our home for a year, I contacted a gardener to come and design a garden for us, put in all of the irrigation hoses (we do drip irrigation), and plant it. He asked what I wanted in the garden. I told him that I wanted something that was easy to maintain and that did not require a lot of water since we live in a water poor area of the world. He asked me if there were any specific trees I wanted and I told him that I wanted an olive tree, a lemon tree, a palm tree, and a pomegranate tree. He planted all those and more.
Each year we have watched our pomegranate tree bloom and then watched most of the blossoms fall to the ground. The most fruit we have ever had was 6 pomegranates. But somehow, for some unknown reason, this year, the tree is full of luscious looking pomegranates.
I have always loved the way they looked. When we were in Spain several years ago, we visited Granada whose name means pomegranate. While there, I bought a gold pendant in the shape of a pomegranate with a wedge cut out that had red stones inside. It was one of my favorite pieces of jewelry. Unfortunately, it was stolen. But I still have my tree and these beautiful round fruits to enjoy.
The first batch of pomegranates from our tree
Love your pomegranates. I have a friend who lives near Jerusalem; I’ve seen photos of her pomegranates. Wow.
So what’s the difference between soil and dirt? Last time I was in Israel, it was during Shmita, and I kept wanting to deadhead my cousins’ garden when we visited. Gardener instinct.
I wonder why this year your tree all of a sudden produced such a crop.
I forgot hoe much I enjoy pomegranates now thanks to your lovely picture I will find some to enjoy once again. 🙂
Leora,
Soil has some nutrients in it. It is dark and rich looking. What we had was reddish dust-like dirt mixed with construction debris. It took several years for some parts of the garden to be able to yield anything. By now it’s all recovered.
Shmita was a real trial. I so dislike it. We actually had a redo quite a lot after shmita.
Maybe the pomegranate tree was trying to make up for our having had such a difficult year last year… It is such a treat to see the tree this year!
Next time you are in Israel, you must stop by.
James,
Enjoy!
Your shot is wonderful.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I don’t live in Verona but am there on vacation.
Wow! So many of them. Many of us in SG have this plant but not many of us manage to get these big fruits!
These pomegrantes make me miss Israel. It is something that my kids immediately notice and learnt to point out from a young age. Pomegrantes, olives, figs actually grow on trees. I didnt experience that as a kid.
enjoy the fruits…
Love the juice, haven’t quite mastered the fruit.
MMM love pomagranates!!
Wow, pomegranates are great. I have never really seen any trees with them tho 🙁