Creating a garden in the desert - recovering my summer lawn

7 weeks away and a husband who really doesn't have the time or the inclination to sort the garden and I returned to this:

Dead plants, an over grown border and a lawn that grew so much with the humidity, it just collapsed in on itself.

Summer in Dubai is hot and the humidity can take 'feel like' temps up to the high 50's.

We don't use the garden between mid June and mid October, other than letting the dog out first thing in the morning and last thing at night. The months leading up to summer tend to involve just sweeping up sand.

It's November now, the garden and balcony is in shade most of the day, the temps are below 30c in the day and 20c at night. The dog is being walked twice a day and is enjoying digging in the sand.

I'm spending most of my time at home in the garden. The evenings aren't as pleasant now the temps have dropped due to the mosquito's and getting bitten and we've probably got 6 weeks until the rain starts on and off which brings the sand with it also.

Cleaning the balcony requires a bit of ingenuity to get the hose pipe up there as the outside tap is in the garden.

So I'm making the most of it. I spent a day strimming the lawn and pulling up dead plants, a day tidying it all up and then putting the rubbish out.

The grass is starting to recover slowly with watering and the cooler weather.

We're leaving the house the end of May, the cat and dog are relocating to the UK in January and sometime in March I will sell the fence, slabs and plants as we have to return our garden to the same state it was in when we moved in 2 years ago.

I'll be moving the pots back to the UK and the indoor plants, cactus and palm tree will relocate to the balcony on our apartment and we'll see how long they last.

Indoor plants have been repotted as will some of the plants we have in pots outside so I can take the lovely ceramic pots back with me to the UK.

All the garden cushions etc have been moved back indoors as we're forecast some heavy rain over the next few days.

Bob always knows when it's going to rain and he brought all his toys in from outside, I had all the doors and windows open to enjoy the cool breeze.

The rain came, it started with a few isolated drops and was followed by thunder and lightening and a torrential down pour.

 Then after the rain I've been left with all this much and sand that's washed off the roof to clean up, before I set up outside again.

Bob likes to be outside in the rain and ventured out onto the balcony while I was shutting the doors and windows downstairs.

Spring Garden in Dubai

March was strange weather wise, we'd already had rain in February and in previous years it's usually just a few days during the month, however we had unexpected and heavy rain in march also, giving the garden an extra boost after the recent planting and redesigning of the sand pit.

Spring in Dubai marks the end of an outdoor life, as temps creep up to the high 30's we spend less time outside, by the time it hits 40c anything and everything that involves being outdoors is an effort and not welcomed.

Just walking from the kitchen door where the photo below was taken from to the garage door at the rear of the photo is hard work and you can feel the sun quite literally peeling the skin from your body and by the time the external garage door is opened, car reversed and door closed, one feels like a shower is needed.

This recently planted tree died off shortly after planting, during my 4 weeks away and after much welcomed rain, it sprung back into life and will hopefully now survive the summer.

The roses have now finished flowering but I'm pleased they actually flowered in the first place and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for their survival over the summer months.

I have yet to discover what fruit this plant will produce, but I think it is a squash. The tomatoes and strawberries have finished and I'm hoping the gardener doesn't yank them out the ground and chuck them away, as he does with everything once it finishes flowering.

I'm leaving Dubai for summer and returning to the UK till the end of August at the earliest, I have learnt a lot over the past 2 summers and every year I have different successes and failures. The sweet peas and nasturtiums let me down this year, but the bean plants and sunflowers were plentiful, although no beans were produced. I've also grown and eaten the aubergines and chillies. It's all to do with timing and transplanting at the right stage and shading from the harsh sun.

I'm looking forward to trying to grow some root vegetables this year, invest in shade netting and an irrigation system.

How's your garden growing this spring and what plans do you have for the rest of the year?

Gardening and workmen don't mix with HDYGG

Gardening plans were put on hold in December due to painting work that had to be carried out on the house. I got as far as weeding the sandpit, when the decorators arrived and had to gather up all the newly bought plants and seedlings and leave them until the workmen finished.

You can see why we had to move all the plants as this was the state they left the others in.

And there is quite a bit of repair work to carry out as well as junk to remove from the garden. I've asked them to come back and sort these things, but they're really not bothered.

 The lawn has suffered quite a bit after having 2 dogs over christmas, hopefully it will right itself soon enough.

 In the local garden centre they were selling christmas reefs between £28 and £44 and real trees were retailing at around £160 for a 6ft tall one.

There has been a lot of artficial ground coverings for sale in various locations at around £15 for a square meter and of course artificial turf. Neither appeals to me, but it seems very popular over here.

 Down on the beach near the new canal, planting has taken place to try and restore some of the area.

 There's a bit more weeding to be done in the sandpit, which has to be carried out in the evenings as it's still too hot for manual labour in the garden. Peter has rigged up some LED strips under the sun umbrella and the table has been decorated to add a bit more colour to the garden and we are enjoying evenings sitting outside enjoying the cooler weather.

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.

Creating a garden in the desert - Week 6

Well the garden has survived in the 2 weeks I've been visiting the UK, hubby has been watering as instructed, but has asked me to re think the type of plants I grow as he saw the water bill while I was away. However I'm ignoring him and will be sowing a selection of these seeds during the week.

I've noticed that they've been busy replanting on the roadsides.

As it's getting hotter the plants are dying off quickly regardless of how much they are watered and for some reason there's a particular patch in the sand pit where the plants aren't doing as well.

Watering the plants HAS to be done twice a day and before sun up and after sun down but I've noticed that the water containers I've recycled are holding onto the water during the day and the plants don't like sitting in soil and sand that is 38c.

I'm also having to replant some flowers that were growing in recoiled metal mugs as the metal is so hot I can't touch it during the day and it can't be doing the plant any good.

I liked a photo from Annie's post last week with the tin cans as another way to recycle but I'll have to come up with another use for them now.

This plant was watered at 7am while it was still in the shade, having spent most of the day in direct sunlight, by 3pm it looked a bit worse for wear.

With another watering it soon perked up.

The neighbourhood is doing well with these shrubs which provide an endless stream of coloured, none, fragranced flowers.

The energy these plants must use to keep replenishing themselves is truly amazing as we don't water them. You'll note that our neighbours have grass at the front of their house and hubby comments frequently on the size of their water bill also.