Back in Dubai for winter with #HDYGG?

After 5 weeks in South Africa, and there is more to come on that over the next few weeks, I was surprised to see how well the garden was doing without me. While there is a drought in South Africa and the temperatures hotter than Dubai, it was raining here last week. Only a few drops, but along with the cooler weather and the gardener visiting everyday, you can see how much the grass has grown and how the bougainvillaea has returned to it's original white cooler now the ground temps have cooled.

The golf estate where we used to live in South Africa

Sowing grass seed

Two months later

The bougainvillaea  started to turn pink as the ground temperature heated up

Returned to white now summer is over

Everything is covered in a layer of dust. I will be repotting the cups and tea posts with succulents and moving the existing plants back into the sand pit.

I had intended on really throwing myself into developing the garden over the winter, but I start work on Sunday for the first time in 5 years and I really don't think I'm going to have the time or energy for the big plans and ideas I had in mind. I will attempt to grow some tomatoes and herbs and plant the remaining seeds, but I think it will be more of chuck it all in together and quite literally see what comes up.

In the meantime now the weather has cooled I'm enjoying the evenings outside with the doors open to let some of the cool air into the house.

I am going to have a go at getting some grass seed to grow in this patch, it will cost AED2000/£350 to have turf laid but much less to grow my own grass from seed.

The next few weeks posts for #HDYGG? are from South Africa as I have so many photos to show you, hopefully by the time I've finished with those there will be further development in the garden here, I will have settled down into the new job and the Miracle Gardens will have reopened so I can show case the delights of real gardening in Dubai.

Does anyone know what this is called? It's a new flower that has come out since I've been away.

Decorating the garden with #HDYGG

I'm currently in South Africa for 5 weeks and extremely busy with the Santa Shoebox project that I'm sure you've heard me talk/blog/go on about by now. There will be plenty of posts related to South Africa for HDYGG as I'm having some free time also and visiting many townships where lots of exciting gardening is happening.

I'm missing autumn, I haven't had an autumn since April 2014 in the Southern Hemisphere and it's nowhere near as beautiful as the pictures everyone is posting now.

Before I left Dubai, the temp had dropped a little, meaning I could get out in the garden and have a clean and tidy up and start to put some of my ideas to plan.

I prepared the sand to grow some grass, it's been done before as you can see and at one point we did have the whole area covered, but if you look closely you'll see most of it is weed, but it was green.
I've chosen grass seed tag 'grows well in difficult conditions' I emptied all the pots from failed seed growing attempts and after spreading the seed, sprinkled compost over the top and watered well.

I also got my craft on and dragged this old piece of furniture from the shed round the house and gathered up all the bits and pieces I'd collected and ideas from my scrapbook and created this.

It means now I have somewhere to store my gardening equipment and cloths etc for the table and as the unit is beyond use, I'm happy to leave it in the garden till it no longer stands. Hubby of course wants to treat it so it'll last forever but honestly, we'll only be here another 2 years and without rain and frost I don't see it being too much of an issue.

I've also enjoyed decorating the table and being outdoors more, especially in the evenings. I do have to remember to bring the candles in at night as they melt during the day, but again not a major issue as they're in containers anyway.

I enjoyed the garden much more in South Africa in our previous 2 houses, we were able to spend more time outside and of course there was a lot more colour.

Here's a little taste of some of the projects I did there.

These flowers were picked from the garden

Homemade bird feeders

It's spring in South Africa and there is a riot of colour, I'd forgotten how colourful this country is.

 So many beautiful trees

 I really wanted to get out the car here and go for a walk, but I was visiting a game reserve and had to stay in my car.

Jacaranda. 

I have no idea what this plant is but it's petals were like paper

Ground cover

Winter in South Africa

The sun still shines, the sky is blue and I can’t remember the last time it rained here, certainly not since I returned from my trip to the UK on May 2^nd and it probably won’t *rain again now till September, it's very dusty and everything is brown.

              

But don’t be fooled by the clear blue skies, we are scraping ice off the car first thing in the morning. Day time temps are still in the high teens and will probably stay like that for the whole of winter but after the sun sets and before it rises, temps are currently around 2-5c and we’re just waiting for the zero and below to kick in and when it does, boy is it even colder.

Family and friends who have visited in the winter from the UK are wearing summer gear in the day as they say it’s so warm compared to a UK summer. I start my day off with as many layers as I can manage and still be able to move.

It snowed in Pretoria in 2012, the 1st time since 1963. Some of the Malls have ice rinks.

By mid morning I’ve removed the scarf, gloves and maybe the fleece from underneath my coat, I may regret wearing tights with my jeans and boots, but that moment passes quickly.

The sun sets around 5.30pm within the hour I’ve had my bath and I’m on the sofa in my fleece pjs, blanket and hot water bottle and feet off the cold tiled floor. By 8pm we’re in bed with the electric blanket on, watching TV, but then we fall asleep early and wake early, before the sun rises at 6am, not wanting to get up, but as soon as it does, it’s straight outside to drink our tea and coffee under the sun where it is nice and warm.

*since scheduling this post there was a hail storm and torrential rain over the weekend