A post long due

Ok I am guilty. I haven't posted in sooooo long. And not because I am not gardening anymore, on the contrary. I have been busy. Well very busy. This year I have expanded my garden vastly and now the entire backyard is dedicated to vegetable growing. I am still in the process of planting things as the weather this year is not keen on cooperating and it's still very hot in the day (at least the nights are cooler).
So here is what I have been upto the past few weeks.
First of all I had the part of the backyard that was covered in interlock tiles cleared up. It was around 4x4 m. Then I ordered red sweet sand from RAK. I ordered 20 cubic tons which cost me about 700 aed. I needed the sand cuz my backyard wasn't level and there were places that were actually lacking a lot of sand. I decided to use sweet sand as it has less salt.  That was brought into the garden with the help of a bobcat (haha I know what it is now, the little thing that looks like a mini tractor). Then I had the sand leveled. After this I (now it's really me and not someone who I hired prior to this step) created the beds. I wanted to do wood but I had already spent way too much on sand, the labor costs, the manures and coco peat as you'll read below so this year this didn't happen. I made beds around 120 cm by 4 to 5 meters wide. On one part of the garden they're 4 m and on the other they're around 5 m. I made 12 of these. The pathways between each (except the center one which is a bit wider) are 60 cm.
When the beds were ready I had them filled with my mix (I did roughly 1/3 of the filling myself and I can tell you it's a very hard job). I have roughly 720 square feet of growing space so it's a lot of work. For the soil mix  this year I used the following: coco peat from Shalimar (45 dhs per 400 l bag, I used 6 bags), compost from Tadweer (I negotiated for 7 dhs per 25 kg bag and I used 18 bags), mixed manure (it's chicken  and cow manure and I used 18 bags with each costing 7 dhs), I also used cow manure (18 bags @ 7 dhs each) and I also used 1 bag of vermicompost from Shalimar (50 kgs bag @ 100 dhs). All of this was evenly mixed into the beds (well not all as I used it for other plants and other beds). So roughly each 1.2x1.2 m space received 1/2 bag mixed manure, 1/2 bag cow manure, 1/2 bag compost, and around 60l of coco peat. I realized these calculations are wrong. Per 1.2mx1.2m space I roughly used: 1/4 bag of cow manure, 1/4 bag mixed  manure, 1/8 bag of compost (this bag is bigger than the manures so by volume roughly the same), and 50l (this will expand) of coco peat. This makes it roughly a mix of 50% sand 50% (manures, compost and peat) by volume if you amend your soil to a 15 cm depth.
Why I chose this mix? Our soil is sand so it doesn't hold neither nutrients nor water very well and also lacks texture. To add texture and to add water and nutrient holding abilities I decided to get coco peat. I chose coco peat over peat moss as its more sustainable. Peat moss takes longer to renew and is harvested at alarmingly high rate. Though there's some research proving otherwise I decided to be on the safer side as I don't only want to grow food but I want to do so responsibly and sustainably. After adding texture I needed to add something that would provide nutrients as coco peat doesn't have any. I went with manures and compost. Ideally I would get 5 different types (this is what is recommend by Mel, the founder of square foot gardening method which I try to follow). But since we don't get many types here I ended up using 4. Since you can classify manure as compost I had 2 different types already. Plant compost from Tadweer was number 3 and vermicompost from Shalimar was number 4. Using the square foot gardening recommendation I'd have to also add vermiculite. I searched and searched and searched and never found it (retail) so I omitted it altogether. I know perlite would be an alternative but I hate working with it so didn't get it.
After everything was mixed I watered the beds and let it sit for a few days. And then I started planting. And planting. And planting. And I'm still planting (this is the hardest part so far). I didn't realize how long it will take me. I had to write what I'll plant where. Since I use companion planting I had to incorporate and plan for that (though I didn't do it as well as I'd hoped for). I had to plan well cuz some of the garden is located in a location that receives only morning sun so I had to accommodate for that by planting that area with shade tolerant plants. Well I am almost done with planting and a few things have already sprouted. I know I'm behind schedule and this year last year I had a lot more growing already. But this year is hotter anyway so I hope I didn't mess up.
Anyways here are some pics that I took along.

GMO, Hybrid or what?

With planting time approaching, finally, many will be looking to buy new seeds for their gardens. And the question of whether a seed is GMO or a hybrid will probably bother some. We all, or at least most of us, grow our own to get some benefit, such as organic and home grown produce, and the last thing we want is to harm oursleves and our loved ones. We have all heard the term GMO and want to avoid it at all costs. But we have also heard the term hybrid, and open pollinated and heirloom. So what are they and how are they the same and how are they different.
Let me start by telling you that seeds you buy at a garden center or a supermarket are safe.

So how are they the same? They're all seeds. And how are they different? Read on to find out.

GMO stands for "genetically modified organism". These seeds have a DNA from another organism
artificially implanted into them. We want to stay away from these and luckily it's easy to do because they are usually available to farmers only. We also shouldn't worry about supermarket produce being grown from GMO seeds as not all crops are grown from GMO seeds. Why I personally want to avoid non-organic supermarket produce is because of all the chemicals used to grow, transport, and store them. Most common crops grown from GMO seeds are: sugar beats (for sugar), corn, soya beans, cotton (for use as oil), papaya, squash and canola (for oil). Alfa alfa for animal feed can also be grown from GMO seeds. Does that mean that all of these crops are grown from GMO seeds? Well most probably not. Are you likely to end up growing them? Most likely not.

Then come the hybrid seeds. Are they the same as GMO? The answer is NO, they're not. Hybrids are seeds that are a result of cross pollinating different plant varieties to create a variety thay has desirable characteristics of the parent varieties. It's 100 natural and safe to use. Some people prefer to grow them because they have desirable characterisitcs (for example they could be resistance to some pests or disease that attack that particular area). You don't want to save seeds from hybrids because you don't know what you end up with. The seed can revert and you may end up with parent variety which could be something you don't want to grow.
Next comes the OP or open pollinated varieties. These are hybrids that have stabilized and you can save seeds from them to grow your next year's crop from. Most of the seeds you buy from garden centers and supermarkets are OP.
And finally we come to heirloom seeds. These are OP seeds that have been around for a very long time. Some people prefer to grow them exclusively.
What you decide to grow is upto you. I prefer OP and heirlooms but will not mind a hybrid if it gives me better taste and healthier crop.
So what are you growing this season?? Do you have any favorites you want to share??

Garden in August

It has been a long time indeed. I haven't written in such a long time that I feel guilty about it. Though there isn't much going on in regards to edibles but the garden is not totally "dead". It's still mostly green and this is the only thing that draws me outdoors into the yard at times. I have noticed that though most things are poor looking and some are ok, there are some that are thriving. Yes thriving. So of things that seem to enjoy this insane heat are date palm,  jute leaves (molokhia), edible purslane  and Kangkong Kong (water spinach). Two types of basil are doing great as well, I don't know their varieties as I didn't keep track, but one is either Thai or Indian. These are the edibles. In regards to ornamentals , (I didn't plant any, it's just what is there), the happiest are portulaca (ornamnetal purslane), chaste tree, vinca and morning glory. One of the basils (with purple flowers can also be included as its often used as ornamental). The others are also doing great such as the agaves.
Eggplants have survived but are not producing, so though known as heat loving I think they are not great admirers of our heat.
The sweet potatoes I planted a few months ago as an experiment are growing. I know I should have taken the sips and replanted them but I didn't so we'll see how it turns out in a few months.
As an experiment I also planted pineapple crowns a few months ago. I got them from carrefour, from the fresh pineapple juice section, the guy happily gave them away to me (after all they go into the garbage). I got them late season so I planted them in pots. Out of 6 plants 4 survived so it's a good result. I'm planning on replanting them into the ground later and wait 2-3 years "patiently" till I get fruit (hopefully).
I have lost a few trees to the heat, mostly citrus (I didn't plant them early enough, lesson learnt).
September is approaching and I am in the planning mode already. This year Inshallah I'm intending to grow more edibles, expand the growing area and replace the sand with sweet sand which I intend to buy from Dubai Municipality as I want a huge quantity (I wish I'd done that before, I know I got good results with normal sand and addition of manures, but I want better results).
Below are some pics from the garden.

 

I'm still here

It's been a while since I wrote a post. I'm not neglecting this blog on purpose. It's just that I've been busy and not feeling well at the same time. That's why I couldn't do what I had planned: a garden under shade cloth. Inshallah I'll get to it next year and extend gardening season a little. This time of the year most of my garden receives full sun most of the day so it's difficult to grow edibles.
I harvested the last beets. Tomatoes are almost finished too. I started some plants from seeds, thinking I'd get shade cloth, but I could see I did it too late and it was of no use cuz when I forgot to water them once they were done.
I'm not giving up on the idea of summer garden and I'll keep experimenting. Meanwhile now is a good time to plan next season planting.

What you could (possibly) still plant

Ok so as you know planting season in UAE is reversed to what you may be used to. One of the most important things to consider when planting a vegetable garden here is when to plant. Plant too early or two late and your seedlings will probably never make it. Surfing the web I have come across a few resources and a few facts. Our climate is very similar to that of Arizona in US. So what we could do is follow their growing calendar and use available resources specific to this state. Note that even Arizona itself has a few major groups and planting dates for them. We could use the group one, which is elevation below 1000 feet.  If you have semi shaded location or location under shade cloth (my plan) you could use group 2 dates or use the next month as planting date. So after checking the guide for UAE here , guides for Arizona, here and here, all available at the downloads  page, and a chat with Yasmin, from UAE Agriculture group, I have come up with the following list of things we could probably still plant now.
I AM NOT STATING WE CAN, I AM SAYING WE PROBABLY CAN. I am going to try and see what happens. The results are not guaranteed so do it at your own risk.

All kinds of beans (except broad beans aka Fava beans): Green,  blackeye beans (cowpea), soy beans, yardlong beans, pigeon beans (toor dal), winged beans (if you can find them here do let me know), adzuki beans, chickpeas (, hummus, bengal gram, channa), mung beans, lablab (hiyacinth), vigna mungo (black gram, urad bean), cluster bean (gawar beans, if you can find them let me know) and etc.

Melons

Watermelons

Cucumber

Eggplants

Okra

Sweet potato

Taro

Yam

Radish

Summer Squashes

Winter Squashes (???)

Corn (???)

Garlic

Peanuts

Beets

Chillies

Peppers

Amaranth

Malabar Spinach (basella)

Molokhia (jute leaves).

Roselle

All kinds of gourds

Basil

I'm sure this list is incomplete and there are other crops still possible to plant now. If you know of any please comment and I'll add them to the list.

Happy Gardening

Environment Agency Abu Dhabi - publications and more

In my previous post I posted a link to Jewels of the UAE which is an initiative by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi. It has a section with publication which you can download in pdf format. Lots of interesting info. Check it here publications.

Jewels of the UAE - your guide to UAE flora and fauna and more

As you can see from my precious post I have found this really interesting website Jewels of the UAE. It lists the species of plants currently growing wild in UAE (and also animals and lots of other things). If you have weeds/plants growing in your yard and you want to identify them, or you are just plain curious, this is a must see.

Solanum Nigrum edible thing in my garden

A couple of days ago I was taking a round in my garden and noticed a little plant in one of my flower pots. It had little green berries and I left it to see what it becomes. Today I checked on it and some berries are black already. I was worried that the kids would eat them and told them not to touch it. I was convinced it's poisonous but either my intuition or my curious nature wouldn't let me pull it. Off to search the Internet I went. I first posted on the Agriculture UAE group on facebook, link in this post, and then went searching. I came across this very cool site that describes UAE flora and fauna. Check it yourself Jewels of the UAE I scrolled through the pages and found what I thought was my plant but wasn't sure about it, whether it was the same plant (some plants do look, similar). It's scientific name is Solanum Nigrum (and has lots of common names, have a look at wikipedia).  While I was searching, Sisily, a lovely member and admin in the above mentioned group, replied to me. It's a plant called manathakkali and it's not a weed and it's edible and is actually very good for ulcers she said. Yay. I'm glad I didn't pull it. And now that it was confirmed that what I have is edible I was relieved. You can read more online cuz I don't know much about it yet myself.

Free farming library online

I have mentioned this site, Journey to Forever,  in my earlier post but I thought I'd share a link to their online library. Lots of free books and interesting info. Check it out here.

Edibles - Radish Pods???

Do you grow radishes? Have you ever forgot to harvest one and it became too big and then maybe you cooked it? You may as well left some for too long and it started flowering and even producing pods.  Or you may be like me and grow white radishes with smooth leaves that you eat, we call this Ruwaid. This radish is very quick to produce flowers and pods. So either way these pods contain seeds. But even if you were to save the seeds it would be too many. I never had enough patience to harvest all the seeds and would simply cut the plants (note I said "cut" not "pull" cuz I leave the roots in the soil) and throw them into compost. Ok by now you may wonder what's gotten into me. Well in search of more edible things to grow I have come across something interesting. Turns out all parts of radishes are edible - roots, leaves and pods. The green pods can be cooked, pickled or eaten raw. Note some of the pods in my pics are already dry so you can't eat those.
More info here and here.

More tomatoes

Ok so I thought I had not much tomatoes left. But I did get 3 bowls full, one big and 2 medium sized.  I have noticed that birds have been eating tomatoes a lot lately. I don't mind them but what annoys me is that they'd nib on one and then leave it, so I have so many tomatoes just rotting there. I can't harvest them so I decided to at least harvest what is untouched. There's still a few left that are still unripe. I left them alone. Birdies seem to like very ripe ones.

"Regrow It" aka "cut and come back"

There are perennials, annuals and biennials plants - in short plants that live for more than two years, plants that live for a year and plants that live for 2 years, respectively. In some parts of the world one can act like the other. For example eggplants are perennial  but is treated as annual in some climates.
Probably most things we grow in our kitchen garden are annuals or treated as such. But does that mean that once we harvest the plant it is done? It depends really. Do you know that there are plants that you can regrow or other wise treat as "cut and come back"? I had no idea this was possible and I was really skeptical about it at first. But guess what? It works. Today I'll write about plants from my own garden that I harvest over a period of time. Imortant: if you do this leave at least 2 inches of growth above ground, start harvesting early and preferably outer leaves. So here they go:

Lettuce
Most varieties suited for this treatment are lose leaf varieties but I have done this even with Romain lettuce. See the pic below.

Kai Lan
This Asian green is so tasty and you can just cut the stems and more will grow from that spot.

Rocket
I just keep harvesting the outer leaves. This is a heavy producer by the way. I just love it. You can even cook it. Another blog on the way?? Maybe maybe ;)

Chard
This one is probably meant to be harvested this way. It keep regrowing new leaves. Make sure you leave 2-3 leaves in the center each time you harvest.

Bok Choy
This is one of the best producers in my garden. Harvest outer leaves or cut the head leaving around 2 inches above the ground.

Curly Endive
I harvested them a few days ago and I can't believe they have grown already. Will probably do another harvest next week. I harvested the whole thing a couple of inches above ground.

Red Amaranth
I had harvested it and gave it to a friend. Next harvest I'd probably leave for myself.

Rapini - also known as broccoli raab or turnip tops. I'd read that they won't regrow but because I'm the person who won't believe it till they see it I had to see for myself. And guess what? It does regrow.

Beet and white radish greens - you may grow beets and white radish for their roots but or you can also grow it for their greens. Or you can do it for both (but then you wouldn't want to over harvest the greens).

Herbs
Parsley, basil, mint,coriander and dill respond to this treatment very well.

Keep in mind that with some plants like lettuce you'd want to replace the plants after 3-4 cuts or when they become bitter.

Other greens are also possible to grow this way, above mentioned is just my personal experience.

UAE gardening/seed swap groups

So I have been wanting to do this for some time now. I thought something like this was already there but it looks like not really. There are gardening groups in UAE, about this in a while, and some seed swap happens at their meeting. But what if you can't attend the meeting? What if you can't or simply don't want to wait till the meeting? Wouldn't it be cool to swap seeds from the comfort of your own home? Well almost. So facebook is loaded with seed swap groups so why not have our own. Well we now have. This group is strictly for swapping seeds. It's called Seed Swappers UAE. You can join it here Seed Swappers UAE

Another group I have been a part of for some time now is Agriculture UAE group. I thought I had written about it bit turns out I didn't. I check it out daily. Lots of contents are not in English but you ask questions and usually you get them answered. I like looking through the posts and pics. Very inspiring. You can see it here:  UAE Agriculture group

Happy Gardening :)

Leafy greens harvest

So in my earlier post I mentioned that I harvested radishes along with their leaves. I also harvested rocket, bok choy and curly endive. There was about 9 liters of radish leaves, around 8 liters of rocket, 6 liters of curly endive and around 5 liters of bok choy. All of this came from around 7 square feet of growing space only. And this is in addition  to what I harvested from these before. These plants regrow which is the cool thing about them. I am expecting to have a little more of bok choy from same space, rocket and possibly endive. Overall I'm very satisfied with the result. I have blanched the leafy greens and now waiting for them to cool before I pack then and out them in the freezer. 

Harvesting Radishes

So a couple of weeks unattended and radishes went out of control. I think we'd had enough radishes so we didn't pick them as often. And the results you can see in the photos. It's unbelievable but all these radishes and their leaves came from just one square foot or 30 cm square.  Yes it's unbelievable. This is a big collander which is 14 inches across and its full of leaves. And there's around 12 radish roots. And we had harvested from this spot earlier so one square foot goes a long way. I don't think we can eat all of these before they go bad plus there's the leaves which I plant to do something with as well. I'll be cooking some for dinner and freezing the rest.

Hey hey hey I WON

Ok I'll he quick, but I'll write in details later Inshallah. I was among the winners of the "Grow Your Food" contest organized by Dubai Municipality. :))) I'm so exciteddddddd

Tomatooooes

Ok I've been harvesting tomatoes like crazy. I even froze 3 crushed tomato portions (around 400 gms each) and I'm looking forward to making more. Now that I can't eat all of these tomatoes fresh I decided to chop them and freeze them for later when the season is over so we can enjoy home grown organic produce even then. This year we have lots of varieties and they are doing extremely well. I can't describe how excited I am.
We also harvested a few beans and 3 Melons,  Sugar Baby and Charleston Grey. I can't say they were super sweet but they tasted good and definitely much much better than store bought. I don't know maybe I have a different expectations for Melons. Greens are doing perfect but the Lettuces have gone bitter. I think next year I need to do successive planting for Lettuces, all of them ready to eat together is a bad bad idea. And I will dedicate less space to them and more to the greens so I could freeze some.
Harvested first 3 eggplants this season. This is the first time 8 have eggplants that I grew from seed. What I had last year was from a transplant I got at the nursery.
Cuckes are done, I only got to make 2 jars of pickled cucumbers, variety Little Paris. 

There's even a cauliflower ready to be harvested soon and one to be followed later, I really didn't think I'd have any this year because of last year failure.
I have harvested one pepper and have a chili ready too. I lost my journal so have no idea what pepper varieties are growing where. Lesson learnt.