Creating a Garden in the Desert in Summer in Dubai

Summer in Dubai is hot, don't let this fool you. It was 30c at 7am and the fog means you can't actually see more than 500ms.

1pm in the desert and car temp on leaving the dog park. it took 20 mins to get home with air con on and the temp dropped only to 48c, it was actually 44c outside.

And don't forget the humidity

So this all means we don't sit outside in the garden day or night, we go outside only for short periods of time and we shower and change clothes after most trips out.

The garden suffers, surprisingly due to the humidity it means there is lots of moisture in the air and we water late at night.

June.

 Midday sun, in fact most the day there is very little shade

Some shade in the afternoon briefly when the sun is blocked by the house for a few hours

Early morning shade

Despite us living in the desert out cactus does need watering still and we do so with a slow drip feed

I bring the chair pod in for the summer to protect it from the sun and so I can use it

July

I brought these flowers back with me from the UK, they were from family and friends for my birthday. This is after the flight, sadly the air con in the house meant they didn't make it through the night

Surprise sunflower in the garden on my return

Climbing plants have faired well

Our cactus had a baby

Some rare time outside, but the dog will insist on going out so to ensure he doesn't over heat and I don't forget him, I sit out there with him.

Local date trees. Did you know these palms need 40ltrs of water a day to fruit

The occasional clouds, very rarely does it rain during summer

August

Been away for 3 weeks, the grass has grown

The sand sweeping is back on again, it's the bane of my life, gets in the house also

Climbing plants need more water than Peter was giving them

The outside/communal areas really need tidying up, but they do provide additional shade for the garden and the house

A thunder storm over head, looked promising but came to nothing, 5km further inland it chucked it down

So there's our garden for the summer, I'm back in the UK now and Peter will join me for the last 3 weeks, there's no one to water the garden so it'll be interesting to see what survives with the humidity levels dropping also

Creating a garden in the desert.

I've been gardening in Dubai for 3 years, growing a variety of things in the sand, from plants to fruit and vegetables from seed with varying successes. You can read more about my efforts at gardening and places I visit, in the Gardening tab by clicking here.

We moved house in December 2017 and all we had was a sand pit, patio and 2 steps down. Part of our rental agreement was to landscape the garden.

A couple of weeks after moving in and unpacking, I started paying attention to the neighbours gardens and I knocked on a few doors to ask if I could have a closer look. Everyone was keen to show me their designs, share their experiences and pass on contact numbers.

Once we'd settled on a contractor we were happy with I provided him with a simple design, agreed on a price, paid half up front for materials and he promised the job would be done in 5 days. 3 days later the work was complete and we were happy with it, so we opted to contract him to erect a fence as we were concerned that Bob may be able to jump the wall and to date we'd been unable to leave him unsupervised in the garden.

I explored the options for fencing, I wasn't keen with what the neighbours had erected, the full fence panels aren't actually permitted, the bamboo looks tacky as does the garden canes with artificial flowers and the other style of fencing wasn't that much cheaper than what we opted for.

Having priced up fence panels (there aren't many options in Dubai and they've very pricey) the contractor said he would make, paint and install them in a week and I'm pleased to say not only did he stick to price, design and deadline, but all the mess was cleaned up and all I had left to do was put the plants in we'd brought from the previous house and purchased from a local nursery.

The garden is finished now, plants are in, the grass is suffering a bit with Bob using it to pee on and the water pressure is low making watering a longer job than need be.

The cat has enjoyed her time in the garden on a lead with her new dog harness (she's a big cat).

Finding flamingoes in the desert and a rogue black swan

Flamingos are like airplane passengers, they stop over in Dubai before returning to their traditional breeding grounds in Iran.

Over half the flamingo population, around 1,500 birds remain in Dubai over the summer. It is hoped that they can be encouraged to breed in the 620-hectare sanctuary which includes mud flats and mangrove lagoons.

Flamingos can be found in 2 locations in Dubai. Above at the Ras Al Khor Nature Reserve and can be viewed from 2 different hides.

Flamingo hide, off Oud Metha, and Mangrove hide, off Ras Al Khor Road, are open from 9am to 4pm for individuals or family groups.

And below at Al Qudra lakes, located in Seih Al Salam desert.

Al Qudra is a popular spot for camping and for dog walkers also.

As bizarre as it sounds to find Flamingos in the desert, finding a black swan, wandering and minding his own business was a bit of a surprise, especially as he was quite some distance from the other birds and the lakes.

Wildlife and Plants in the desert with HDYGG and Animal Tales

Winter in Dubai is similar to summer in the UK except for the sand storms. It's summer now at time of posting and way too hot to be going out into the desert right now, I'm just about managing to walk Bob at 5am and again at 9pm.

Driving into the desert through a sandstorm, that cleared up about 30km inland.

 My mother was visiting in December and we wanted to share with her the places we go on a regular basis as well as the usual tourist destinations, one expects to visit in Dubai.

 She tried to climb a sand dune or two, but wasn't defeated, nor did she do it gracefully. She's 72 you know.

 We saw cranes and a variety of other birds as well as in the distance a new lake that was home to quite a few flamingos, which took us by surprise.

 Bob as usual loved his run out and swim in the lakes.

 We visit the lakes in the desert every weekend when the weather is cool enough and I've started taking Bob out on a Tuesday morning, since I've stopped working, taking my camera, laptop and a picnic to spend a few hours in peace and quiet, writing up blog posts. In February and March we had rain so waterproofs and warm clothing were required.

There are numerous plants out in the desert, whilst there is a lot of water and irrigation systems in place, I can't wait to see what else springs into life after the recent rainfall and spend some time identifying the different plants that grow naturally out in the desert.