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

Our Garden in Dubai this month. March 2019

We've had endless rain and wind and with it comes sand. Sand, everywhere, everyday that has to be swept up or it starts to take over the house.

The front balcony, closed now till next winter, but it will have random clean ups.

The balcony off the bedroom.

Daily sweeping of the sand.

Front door

Sand seeping in through the doors and windows.

Hose pipe to clean bedroom balcony then the patio has to be cleaned afterwards.

And then it rained the following day.

The sand carried in the rain sticks to everything like concrete.

A nice few dry, not too hot and free from wind days to do some gardening.

Lawn reseeded.

Outdoor plants thriving.

And then finally no more rain, no more wind and the garden is set up and operational. 

The only downside, it's now 36c and too hot to be sitting outside during the day.

The rest of the month is looking better and there is always the evenings, after sunset. I'll just have to light some citronella candles to ward off the mosquitos. 

The balconies will have to wait till next week.

One Daily Positive - Week 12 More rain and some stunning views

It's heating up here in Dubai, not all sunshine though a couple of cloudy days and it's windy so the sand is blowing around.

Been spending as much time as a can outdoors, but in the shade after getting badly sunburnt on my back when I was doing some gardening.

We've been eating a lot more fish recently and I've been experimenting with different flavours and methods of cooking.

Blood tests show my iron levels are still stable, but my haemoglobin has dropped and I'm in danger of needing a blood transfusion by Sunday if it doesn't sort itself out and I'm now anaemic. Been headachy, body aching, very tired and getting confused easily.

76 Sunday Dentist for a 3D scan ready for bone grafts and dental implant posts next week, stopped at the hairdressers for a cut and to get my nails done then called in to see a friend for coffee.

77 Monday Back to the Doctors for more blood tests, been feeling very tired again and getting breathless doing simple activities. I think it's my iron levels dropping again. Spent the rest of the day sweeping sand out the house.

Lemon and herb foil wrapped with sweet potato.

78 Tuesday Took Bob to the dog park, met up with a few women for a chat over coffee while the dogs play, then spent the rest of the day gardening. Didn't realise how sunburnt I was until I had a shower before bed.

79 Wednesday Washer water pump on car replaced first thing then off to a friend's house for a walk along the canal and spent the afternoon ironing and catching up with blog commenting. Pub quiz with a friend and dinner out. Peter was out for the evening with colleagues.

80 Thursday Off to the Souk Madinat for the morning for coffee and blogging. Caught up with the washing in the afternoon and ran the hoover round. Cleaned the sand from the balcony and washed the patio down.

81 Friday Peter and I went to the Marina for breakfast, followed by a walk. Back home, I spent the rest of the day in bed while Peter hunted for the building regulations for a loft conversion we had 14 years ago.

82 Saturday Woke up to a thunder storm and heavy rain, I'm fed up cleaning up the sand. Off to the local mall for a coffee and a food shop and a sort out of the cupboard under the stairs.

On the blog this week:

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Do you get to enjoy your garden?

Do you ever just sit in your garden and relax? Or like me, find there is always something that needs doing and by the time you've finished, you realise you've spent all day in the garden but working, not relaxing.

This is the garden at the end of summer. it's very humid in Dubai and the plants, tree's and grass just grow and grow.

We've installed an irrigation system to allow us to water next summer without standing out in the heat

The climbing plants are taking hold now providing some privacy in the garden from people walking past

Upstairs balcony is set up, but cushions etc have to come inside every night or they get covered in sand and there has been some rain here this winter.

Seeds planted in November are now producing fruit, veg and flowers. They germinate really quickly in this climate.

4 days later.

Now.

The lawn has been reseeded, twice, it doesn't help that we have a dog who likes to dig.

Whilst the garden looks relaxing and inviting, it takes time and effort every day to set it up, especially having to sweep the sand and clean the table and chairs daily.

The balconies get covered with sand, the windows too and I seem to spend all my time cleaning and setting up just to be able to sit outside for 5 minutes to drink my now cold cup of tea.

So this is what I use most of the time, this balcony area off our bedroom, you can see the sand on the floor, swept only 3 days ago, it gets in the bedroom.

I can't be bothered with taking the pod cushions outside unless I'm spending the day at home and only put the chair cushions out when we have guests in the garden and we BBQ.

 The garden today after sweeping and hosing the patio down.

When the summer comes everything gets put away and covered to protect it from the sun. I can't be bothered to spend the time setting the garden up just to show you what it can look like, just for a photo.

The idea of a lovely garden with cushions, umbrellas and decorations is nothing but hard work and therefore it rarely happens. A lot of our neighbours have maids whose job it is to set it all up and put it all away at the end of the day on their behalf.

Do you spend much time in your garden? When you do are you just relaxing or working in it to create a relaxing environment that you rarely use?