Enjoying the garden in the desert in Dubai with HDYGG?

 It's been a busy week in the garden in Dubai. After a full year of planting, I now have a record of what to grow and when. There's no question about where, just straight in the sandpit, in full sun light all day, everyday, there is no other option.

I've been on half term and the teen is home for the holidays, so I've had plenty of help, moving pots, rearranging pots, lugging bags of compost in and out the boot and cutting back the bougainvillea.

On a walk with Bob I came across an independent garden centre, gosh it was so cheap, so I returned with the car and loaded up with plants, pots and compost.

The teen started clearing the garden while I was out as the wooden desk finally collapsed, I've removed the drawers and I'm using them in the house, everything else had to be relocated.

Wearing gardening gloves due to the thorns, we weaved the bougainvillea to form a canopy to protect the seedlings from the sunlight and to try and salvage the tomato plant, that is still flowering despite it's pitiful look.

90% of the garden was grown from seed, I water it every morning, but haven't had the time to give it the full attention it requires, hence buying a few plants to supplement what's there already.

I grew the tomatoes from seed, the chilli and pepper plants were purchased from the garden centre, I've failed on a few occasions with growing them from seed.

The nasturtiums, also grown from seed, are still growing strong and have produced some lovely flowers.

The cherry tomato plants just haven't stopped producing, I've now moved the pots to the other side of the house.

We purchased some new garden furniture for outside the back door, where we get shade in the early morning and late evening, it was a very bland area, but also where our lawn is, yes we have a real lawn.

This is an Anti-Mosquito Pelargonium, we'll see how it goes, I'm fed up of being eaten alive in the evenings.

We finished the garden after sunset, just the tidying up to do, which we left for the gardener in the morning.

The pots were moved inside and yes Annie, it's a Hydrangea, I bought it a few hours before I saw your post. I've done a lot of research and I'll share it in next weeks blog post.

I brought the basil. sweet pea and daffodil inside, there's plenty of sunlight and the temps remain below 30c and their not under the air con.

I love this sign, I picked up, along with the cat in South Africa.

I'm 'over summering' the geranium and pansies. They were easy and cheap to grow, but it's all part of seeing what I can do, I love a challenge.

I love how the hallway looks now there is a splash of colour in it. I hate living in rental properties.

The skies opened shortly after the teen and I finished, I've added a few artificial flowers indoors.

Sadly we will soon be keeping the curtains closed during the day to prevent it from heating up when temps reach the mid 40's, so we're making the most of view of the garden while we can.

It was still raining on Friday, I guess these sprinklers are on a timer.

I'm starting to think about what else I can grow in the desert. I'm sure anything is possible in Dubai. After all, if this bit of greenery can survive in the desert, some 45km inland from the sea, I'm sure everything is possible.

HDYGG round up 2015

I've had great fun this year joining in with Annie and How Does Your Garden Grow. I've added a tab at the top of my blog if you're interested in reading my full HDYGG journey.

I'm living in Dubai, in a desert, we don't have sandy soil, we just have sand. I've never been big on gardening, usually I get bored and seedlings and bedding plants tended to go unwatered, so in the UK I stuck with shrubs and twice a year we'd have a 'tidy the garden' session and a couple of trips to the local tip.

One of my first photos this year was with Project 365 where I joined up photo prompts from snaphappybritmums and FMSPhotoADay.

I started noticing the colour in the streets while I was out and about exploring our new home and a visit to The Dubai Miracle Gardens had me convinced I too could achieve greatness in the empty sand and concrete garden at the villa we are renting.

We've now completed a full year in Dubai, starting and finishing in winter. I now know what to plant, where and when, I've visited places I would probably never have been or written about.

So what am I going to do for HDYGG this year? 

I don't have any travel planned this year, but I still have a few posts to write up from 2015 trip to Canada where I went camping in the wilds of Alquonguin and visited the beautiful gardens of Casa Loma in Toronto. I'll probably switch to a monthly round up of the garden, once I've caught up with all the lovely places I've visited last year. now that I am working full-time and of course there will be school planting projects I can report on, but sadly no photo's but I can try to recreate some at home.

I'll leave you with what's happening in the garden right now, we've had 2 tomatoes from the garden and there are lots more waiting to ripen, a few seeds are poking through in the pots and I'll be digging over the sand pit in the next few weeks ready to plant the seedlings out.

It would appear I'm not going to be digging alone, this bone burying of Bob's had better stop soon, or no more bones for Bob.

The municipality have been in full force also with their planting, this is the road outside the Burj Al Arab.

Creating a Garden in the Desert - Week 4 Growing Tomatoes

Having had success with growing plants, I'm now growing tomatoes and if these take and are successful I will expand the range and plants some fruit trees and salads and vegetables.

Due to water temperatures and discolouration we buy bottled water for drinking, washing salads and cooking in. Despite having recycling bins we've noticed the refuse collectors empty both bins into one track so we try to reuse as much waste as we can.

I asked my son to cut down the 15 litre bottles

I made a make shift wheel barrow to fill the base with rocks and a mix of sand and compost

Although by the time I'd finished potting up, the pots were in full sun, but at the moment only between 11am and 1pm.

I've been looking at the neighbours gardens to check out the type of plants they are growing and I've noticed quite a few have either dug channels to plant in or have built little sand walls around each plant. I'm not sure how this helps just yet, but there is obviously a reason for it, so I'll give it a go.

These are the plants currently growing around the neighbourhood, there is also an irrigation system in place.