Preparing the garden in Dubai for Autumn with #HDYGG?

When we rented our villa we had 2 trees in the garden a palm tree and an unknown but almost dead tree that stood in the square with the pebbles in.

We asked the land lady to arrange to have it removed as we were concerned it may fall down and risk damaging the neighbours property, she declined to do so and we found out she owned the adjoining property anyway.

Within a week we had a storm and the tree blew down.

The neighbours also informed us that prior to us renting the villa there had been plants and trees in the garden, we can only assume the previous tenants took them when they moved.

I'm currently exploring what shrubs and climbers other than bouganvillea, will cope with the heat, will grow in sand and are drought resistant.

There are several small pebbled areas I'd like to use. 

While we're talking about previous tenants, apparently they built this outdoor shower for feet washing. I'd like to grow a climber in a pot in here to disguise it a little.

 The bougainvillaea needs cutting back now to reduce water consumption and I hope the cuttings take as I'd like to see more of these in the garden.

 I've been doing plenty of weeding, my weed killer natural alternatives having been working as quickly as I'd like. I've been told that sprinkling Bicarbonate of soda on the weeds and watering will kill the weeds as will pouring hot water on them, but I'm already watering the plants at 42c direct from the outside tap.

The vinegar, salt and dishwasher mix did work initially but the weeds came back. I found out this week why that was. They get a constant water supply from the broken air conditioning unit, which is now being fixed.

I did consider doing some composting, but in this heat the pile would need turning daily or I could purchase/make a rotating drum. At the moment I don't think I could cope with the smell and the effort required daily, so it'll be a project I can look at starting over the winter months.

My Nasturtium seed is growing well, as is the tomato seed. I think I'll pot them into bigger pots and keep them indoors as they need cooler temperatures to produce flowers once they've grown a bit more.

I also treated myself to a bunch of Iris's this week. Not cheap and already showing signs of wilting and they've yet to flower, so these will be moved into the conservatory (the room in the background) where I can control the temperature.

What happened next.....?

We were kept awake last night with the most amazing thunder storm, it was like watching National Geographic channel through the curtains, the skies were every colour you could imagine. At 2am the rain came down and I mean rain, like the stuff the UK had in 2007. The river burst it's banks, thankfully it doesn't flood our garden, flooding the 14th, 15th and 16th fairways. It made for an interesting journey to school and eventually it stopped raining around mid day. The river has receeded but is still very fast flowing.

At 10am (South African time - was due at 9am)the 'Discovery' man arrived, Medical Aid, to talk through with us how the system works and what we need to do. We're in our 9th week here and already had Dan rushed in by ambulance for a cricket injury and I've had a new front tooth after snapping it on a coat hanger (don't ask) The electrician and odd job man arrived during this to fix some of the faults with the house, nothing major, but we don't want billing for it as we're renting.

I made tea for Andrew, the odd job man, he speaks no English I speak no Afrikaans but we got on fine. I pointed, he fixed. The ideal man, what more could a girl ask for?...lol

At one point I asked the electrian to check the main fuse box, it's outside and the cover has broken exposing it to the elements. There are NO H&S laws here, loose wires and cables run everywhere. 'It's lekker' he said and as I pointed at the earth wire which was bare and had every other wire attached to it, Andrew swipped my hand away and flicked the main switch off, I assume that means it's not safe........

.........this triggered the house alarm, next thing I'm sat on the balcony having a fag when I hear this voice 'Ma'am are you ok?' I assumed it was the removal firm with our furniture as promised 'will be with you at 11am' I stand up, turn round and there's a man in combat gear, inside the house, gun drawn, held steady in both hands.....well...OMG....I discovered my natural fight or flight instinct, I had neither, I managed to keep control of my baldder though. Turns out he's from the security firm and as the alarm had been triggered he had been dispatched to the house within 5 mins. Once he questioned who the two men were and I convinced him I was safe and they had permission to be here, he left.

It took an hour to calm down and when I did I realised the furniture was late....I called the office....'oh dear this is serious, we'll call you back, they left Jo'burg over 3 hours ago, we're 45 mins drive from there at the most, they didn't call back for an hour, I'm panicking, I'm sweating, I'm going through every box in my mind, just what have we lost....the phone rings....'we've not got your furniture, customs refused to release it, incorrect paperwork...more money.....' I switch off listening, then the anger kicks in.....'No more storage charges, no more excuses, furniture delivered by 9am tomorrow morning or I will seek legal advice' (It's an international removal company we hired) 'we'll do our best, Ma'am' so we'll see I'll let you know in the morning what's going on....fingers crossed.