Gardening Notions

In this page I post info on where to buy your seeds, pots, soil etc. If you want me to add something to this list please contact me.

Soil - Compost- Fertilizers - Coco Peat - Peat Moss

I buy my soil from variety of places. According to Mel Bartholomew, author of Square Foot Gardening, you need to have at least 5 types of compost for your soil mix. I mix soil from Shalimar, they have more than one type, Tadweer (this has horse manure), and soil mixes in souks. Since manure is considered compost too I also add chicken (sometimes sold in more expensive pellet form) and cow manure, found at plant souk in Warsan. To this mixture I add peat moss, both from Shalimar and plant souks such as Warsan. I now use mostly coco peat (available from Shalimar and some plant souks) as it is a more sustainable option. I don't fertilize with chemical fertilizer. When I need to feed my plants I add compost from Tadweer and cow and chicken manure, as well as fish fertilizer pellets (you can find it at the big Lebanese nursery in Warsan, it's near the "entrance").  I now found another organic fertilizer called Sustane. I have started using liquid fish fertilizer as well as liquid seaweed. These made such a difference in my garden. You can find it in Satwa and other major gardening stores. I prefer to get mine in Madina Flower shop in Satwa as I get a good price there. In supermarkets you occasionally find organic fertilizer pellets and sprays, usually Grow Fast brand, which could be more suited than manure for your container plants. Geant has nice selection of organic fertilizers as well (I bought organic potato fertilizer from there, and they carry some of Shalimar products). Geant is no longer operating in UAE. Shalimar has organic fertilizers, their selection is overwhelming. Another source of soil is Eco-Soil from Emirates Environmental Technology. They sell a tonne for around 250 400 dhs (that's around 20 50kgs bags or 40 25kgs bags). It consists of compost, cow manure, horse manure and some other things (thank you my readers fir the update on this). I haven't bought from them yet but am considering to do so this year. If you’re in Dubai they also charge you 400 for delivery. Eco-Soil is not operational anymore. They are now Cultiva. Located in AlAin, 25kg bag is 10aed (8 if you buy bigger quantity). Delivery is free for 500bgs or so, 300aed To Dubai otherwise. Please note that you can also buy soil/fertilizers/coco Peat/peat moss from the plant souks/markets mentioned in the next section, as well as from Ikea. For more info check the links below.

Tadweer

www.shalimarherbals.com the site is not working at the moment, so contact them by phone.

Cultiva


Plants 

I usually buy my plants at the Warsan plant souk (google directions until I can find a proper link/location directions), the directions link is below. Desert Group Nurseries, Dubizzle, and if I pass by a plant souk in other emirates. If you want fruit trees that you can't find in Dubai there's a nursery in Dibba, Lemon Tree Nursery, that has an impressive variety of fruit trees. We have added one more online plant shop below, Dibba Garden Center (get 20% discount as a reader of my blog). If you are heading to Warsan and need a lot of flowers at a better rate than the other nurseries then check out the Municipality Nursery there. They don't have much choice though and work till 12pm only I guess, they also have all trees, call them on 800900. Satwa also has plant shops, but I don't go there since we moved (too far). It's located on the same street as Iranian hospital (off Al Wasl rd, so if you are on Al Wasl and take a turn inside Satwa it'll be after the hospital on your right, there's a few of them). Ikea has a nice selection of indoor plants. . You can also buy plants from supermarkets.

Warsan Plant Souk

Satwa Plant Market

Sharjah Plant Souk

Ajman Plant Market

Desert Group Nurseries

Lemon Tree Nursery

Orchid Garden Center

Dibba Garden Center  use a coupon here  LITTLEGARDEN to get 20% discount as a reader of my blog

Dubai Garden Center

ACE

Ikea

Perlite
You can buy perlite in any gardening supplies shop and shops above. But if you need more than a couple of bags then you can order directly from Gulf Perlite. They’re very knowledgeable about their product and will explain how and how much to use in your garden.

Gulf Perlite

Seeds

You can buy seeds almost in any hyper/supermarket. I like to buy from LuLu, I like their variety and prices, and the seed packs have a LOT of seeds. I prefer the Vilmorin brand. C4 carries seeds too. Garden Center has a lot of seeds and their prices differ. Beware the smaller packets have very few seeds though. I usually buy there what I can't find at LuLu.  Another place that carries seeds is ACE. I got nice tomato seeds from there as well as sweet corn and dill last year. In plant shops you can also find seeds, especially in Satwa, as well as in some markets/souks mentioned above.
If you are looking for organic seeds in Dubai then there's Organic shop called Blue Planet Green People. I haven't tried anything from them yet cuz I just found out about it.

Dubai Garden Center
ACE
Blue Planet Green People - Organic Shop

Pots/Containers

If you are going to harve a container garden then you need pots. I grow plant both in ground and in containers. Check dubizzle. I love this site. A few times I got very good deals on pots and plants. But beware though, what I noticed lately is that sometimes people try to sell their used stuff (not pots/plants only) at a price of new and sometimes even higher. This is beyond me. I mean come on people we are not total clueless beings who only look for bargains online, like we also go to normal shops and know the prices. If you are new in the country visit a few super/hypermarkets first to check the prices. Ikea carries lovely pots as well. Don't forget to check their As Is section, aka bargain corner, located right before the cash counters to the left. I once bough 5 very cute, vintage style with lovely print pots for 9 dhs each. ACE and Garden Center have nice but expensive pots. Warsan and other plant souks/markets have good selection but you have to look around for good price. Home Center has nice selection and on sale they are a bargain. I think every Wednesday or Tuesday morning (gotta check that out) they have ladies morning where you can avail 25% discount. It's not on everything and I'm not sure it's still valid, will find out and write Inshallah. I have also bought nicely priced pots on sale at HomesRUs. The good things is that they go on sale very often.

Ikea
Home Center
Homes R Us
Dubai Garden Center
ACE

Other things

I love Daiso and Tchibo for cute little things we can live without but absolutely refuse to. Tchibo always has something nice for the garden, and not only. ACE, Garden Center and supermarkets have the essentials as well.

Daiso
Tchibo