What you should do in your garden now or "How to prepare your garden for summer"

Hello, fellow gardeners. Whether you're new to gardening or have some experience, or even someone in between, the question of "what I should do in my garden now that the weather is getting hotter" would cross your mind every year around this time if you garden in Dubai or any other place on earth that has extremely hot weather. A lot of vegetables you grew in winter would be done by now, or nearing to be done. You probably have a lot of annual plants that are dead and dry. You also probably have a lot of plants that you are afraid to lose during the summer (every year I lose some trees in summer). You also probably already miss your lush green garden and are probably having plans for the fall. I know I do all the things above and I have created a little guide for you in order to help you prepare your garden for summer and fall.

1. Assess your garden for dead plants. Pull the dead plants and put them in the compost pile. I only pull plants with thick stems. I cut the plants with thin stems at the base leaving the roots to rot in the ground providing the soil bacteria with food.

plants in this bed are done

2. Provide shade for sensitive plants. Do you have newly planted plants in your garden? If the answer is yes then you need to provide them with shade. If you have sensitive to heat plants, such as bananas, then you also need to provide them with shade. I use shade cloth and hoops to provide some shade for my plants from the blazing summer sun. If you have plants in pots that receive little shade then move them to a location with more shade (it's fine to have very little sun in summer, it's too hot to handle direct sun for most plants). If you have space in your garden then you could buy a 3x3 tent from a hypermarket and arrange your plants there (I suggest you secure the tent in case there's wind, mine is secured with screws to the ground). I also have shade cloth around my tent.
I am not fond of planting new plants (except annual flowers) in my garden in late spring or summer. They don't get enough of cold weather to survive transplanting and usually don't adapt to the hot weather well. I prefer to plant between late fall and early spring.

my new bananas (I need to work on this still)

3. Apply, or reapply if you already have it, mulch around your plants. The weather is getting hotter and hotter and the plants get stressed. Mulching your plants will help to keep the roots of your plants cool and prevent moisture loss, which is a big problem in summer. Cool roots help your plants cope better with the heat just like the roots that have enough water (but don't overwater as this can be bad too).
I use hay for my mulch but you can use anything that is available at hand. You can use many things as mulch such as shredded newspapers, dry leaves, dry plant materials, straw etc. The reason I like hay is that it breaks down very fast providing nutrients in the process.

this Pakistani Mulberry tree needs more mulch

hay

4. If you need to fertilize your plants then do it ASAP, as the hotter it gets the less advisable it is to fertilize. Fertilize away from the stem and preferably use less than usual (unless it's natie palnts or plants that handle heat well). I only use organic fertilizers such as manures, Sustane (the only certified organic fertilizer I have found in Dubai so far), compost and fish waste (whatever is left after I clean the fish along with the water I used to clean it, if you keep fish in aquarium then the aquarium water is a great way to add nutrition to your garden and conserve water at the same time).

5. This step and then next step (6) can be combined if you wish to. Keep your soil alive during the summer (I am talking about garden beds that probably won't be planted). Soil is alive, it is a living thing. Ther are many organisms in the soil that have a mutually beneficial relationship with the soil and the plants. I won't go into details here but in short, you want to keep your soil alive by keeping it moist and by having enough matter for the organisms below to feed on. If your soil goes totally dry and there's no organic matter to break down some organism will start dying off and eventually, your soil will die. You also want to prevent soil erosion which can happen with unplanted soil that is exposed to elements (in summer we still get winds). How can you keep your soil alive and prevent erosion in our hot summers? Keep it covered, by adding mulch or growing green manure or cover crops (I haven't done this yet so I can't comment much) and keep it moist. I didn't try growing cover crops yet and don't know what will do well in our summers. The other option is mulch. Water your beds, add mulch ( look at point 3 above) and water some more. Water it once a week to keep it moist. I think by covering the mulch with cardboard sheets and removing them for watering every week is a good way to prevent even more moisture loss. If you go this route don't forget to secure it so it doesn't get blown away (you could use interlock tiles). If you're going to be traveling ask someone to water for you. If this is not an option then create a thicker layer of mulch and cover with more cardboard.

6. Prepare your beds for next planting season. This step is a part of step 5 above. Whether you're creating new beds, or are working on your existing beds, a little planning will go a long way. You can enrich your beds now and by the planting time your soil should be very well prepared for new crops. Add layers of  hay, newspapers, organic matter (like your dead plants, leaves etc), kitchen scraps, compost, manures and finish off with shredded newspapers and hay. Water well and cover with cardboard. It's based on guerilla gardening, also called sheet gardening. Some people swear by this.

7. Put away unused pots and tools. If you have unused pots it's a good idea to put them away somewhere cool, or at least in the shade. The sun can cause some damage on some pots, especially unused plastic ones. Also, keep your tools in the shade for the same reasons. Every year after summer I have a few pots that break down from being under the sun all summer long.

8. Plan for your fall garden. Don't wait till August as it you could get overwhelmed. Decide what you are going to grow this fall. What varieties are you going to try?. Draw a plan. Write a plan. I once read somewhere that dreams become goals only when they're on paper, while they're still in your head they're just dreams. So if you dream about lush productive garden start setting goals now. Plan what you're going to buy (like maybe you need pots, or maybe you're adding new beds and need to buy more coco peat). Get your seeds. If you have some extra seeds you could use our facebook group for seeds exchange and acquire new seeds practically for free (if you haven't joined yet you can do it here). Prepare everything you need during summer so that when it's time plant you're all set.

my garden last season

9. Start a compost bin (if you haven't already). Save all your kitchen scraps and dead plant material from your garden and throw it in the compost bin. Try to mix dry materials (dead plants, dry leaves, shredded newspapers, and cardboard) with green (like kitchen scraps, fresh leaves, grass clippings etc.) materials. Keep your compost moist, don't let it get dry, but don't let it get too wet either. Turn it every few days. Come August and your compost should be ready.

my compost bin

 dead plant material ready to go into my compost bin

10. Learn new things about gardening. Read books, magazines, blogs (like my blog), learn from your mistakes (assess what worked and what didn't for you this past season). Ask questions (here on my blog or on another gardening forum). Take notes in the process.

I hope this little guide is going to helpful to you in any way. Ask me any questions below in the comments.

Happy Gardening

Yana