Creating a garden in the desert. Summer in the sand.

The garden is doing much better at this time of year than I thought it would be. Average temps are in the high 30s and with the sun being so high, it's on the sand pit for most of the day. There's some shade in the mornings outside the kitchen door, but by 10am the shade has all but gone.

I've been getting up at 5am to work in the garden, around sunrise, mainly to tackle the weeds. The squash I planted from seeds was flowering a few weeks ago and had grown, taking over the bean plants, which had died. I was really surprised to actually find a squash.

Sadly the aubergines had gone past their use by date under all the weeds. But I grew 3 from seed, so next year, now I know these types of vegetables do grow I will keep a closer eye on them on.

There has been an abundance of chillies, also grown from seed.

The street is also full of dates growing. The palm tree we have in the garden doesn't produce dates. We need to get someone in to sort our palm tree out.

There are still plenty of flowers in the garden and a rather unusual plant, that has grown from somewhere, looking a bit like a bulrush, but green. There isn't any water round here and I've no idea where it came from or what it is.

The best part about gardening in Dubai is that we employ a gardener. I use the term loosely as what he actually does is chase the leaves, petals around the garden with a hose pipe and mows the lawn randomly. So I give him something to do, which is cleaning up behind me.

The house plants are doing well, as with the garden, they actually need less watering in the summer. I need to sort the climber out in the corner, it's just growing and growing. The Christmas tree doesn't look like it's going to make it.

Fresh cut flowers are imported and are quite expensive, almost 3 times the cost of buying a bunch in a UK supermarket.

I'm also surprised at how much colour there is in Dubai at the moment. These Delonix regina - Royal Poinciana, Flame of the Forest trees are producing a lovely orange flower and look stunning at the moment.

There are two areas of the garden I need to do some work on and plan more carefully and introduce some ground cover in the 2nd photo.

How's your summer garden?

Desert Safari - Animal Tales and HDYGG

We booked with ABC Tours who collected us from home, they charge AED125 and pick you up in a modified 4x4 with roll bars and other safety equipment. We drove 45 minutes out of Dubai to the Lahbab desert on the Oman road.

 The driver lets air out the tyres before attempting the drive across the sand dunes. The 4 x 4 drive was around 20 minutes with a stop in the middle of nowhere to take photographs.

We saw these goats wandering around the desert

 We passed a camel farm but at speed so a photograph was difficult.

I'm always surprised at how much vegetation there is in the desert, considering there is no natural water supply. The mountains in the background are Hatta where there is a natural water supply. 95% of the water in Dubai is desalinated water.

 Again, another drive by at speed. These are desert squashes and it is believed they can cure diabetes.

The sap from these bushes is poisonous.

Meet Katrina the Falcon. It costs an additional AED10 to handle the Falcon and take your own photographs.

 The camel rides are included in the tour price, but it's not for me, I've no desire to ride a camel, but my friend did.

 A small henna tattoo is included in the tour price, we opted to have half the arm done which was an additional AED30

 Once the sun set, dinner was served, again included in the price as well as a welcome snack. Soft drinks and apple flavoured sisha were free, alcoholic drinks were an additional charge. The evenings entertainment included this guy with his umbrella, I have no idea what was actually said, but his skirt lit up and he twirled it over his head, then gathered it into his arms and rocked it like a baby while the PA system played the sound of a baby crying....bizarre

 Next came the belly dancer, she was good, an awful lot of twerking went on.

The sunsetting over towards the sea and Dubai, is a glorious sight to be seen, it's gets a little chilly once the sun sets, so I'm glad I brought a jacket with me and a head scarf to protect against the sand and the wind.

Animal Tales

Falcon
The Falcon is the National bird of the UAE. Falconry was first used to supplement the indigenous Bedouins diets with meat, hares and small birds caught by trained falcons.
Camel farming
It is believed the Bedioums can survive 1-2 months in the desert on camel milk alone. Camel milk contains 10 times the amount of iron found in cow's milk and 5 times the amount of Vit C, it is also a good alternative for those who suffer with intolerance to cow and sheep milk.
The world's first large-scale camel dairy farm, Camelicious on the outskirts of Dubai, has everything from milking camels on a fully automated system to processing, testing and distribution. Around 5000 litres of camel milk is produced everyday and stored in underground cooling tanks before being processed. They employ150 workers for the 2,200 camels.
Camel milk had a longer shelf life and when pasteurised the milk will keep for 14 days in the fridge without deteioration. The dairy has been inspected by EU officials to guarantee the production standards are up to tricot import rules.
As well as milk, Camelicious produces ice-cream, flavoured milks, butter, cheeses, yogurts and whey powder and export their milk to the UK. 

HDYGG?

The Beduoins are at one with the desert and wildlife and familiar with the medicinal properties of many plants.

Squashes found growing in the desert carry a claim by the Beduoins that it can be used to cure diabetes. Powered leaves mixed with water are used as a laxative and crushing the leaves and making a poultice with garlic can be applied to bites and stings. The sap of an unripe fruit is used to treat scorpion bites. The seeds can be crushed and used with water to darken hair and by crushing the fruit and mixing it with oil can be used to ease painful joints.

Senna pant is used as a laxative also and the beduoin claim it can heal stomach ailments. Milkweed sap is dried and used to treat toothache and poultices made of the leaves can be used to heal rheumatism. The leaves are also used as a fertiliser.

And finally the henna plant used to dye hair and paint hands and feet. Henna plant leaves in poultice form are used for headaches.