The gardening season has began again and I hope this year we have even more success. I have decided to wait till October this year as it's very hot this year and from last years' experiences I know it would be too much trouble with most plant to start earlier. I was also on a vacation and came mid September and the past couple of weeks were spent on adaption and preparations.
I have finally organized my seed collection (well still more work to do, but it's not a mess it used to be). I used Ikea storage boxes and it worked out great.
I have read a few book and learned a lot of new things. I am looking into converting my garden into a permaculture garden and I need to learn even more. I hope to talk about what I learned and what I intend to do, in the blog posts this year Inshallah.
I have marked the beginning of the season by starting cabbages, broccoli, cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts yesterday. I don't usually start seedlings indoors, and neither am I a fan of seed starting to begin with, but I feel I need to learn to do this. These brassicas particularly, take a long time to grow and they never reach maturity in my garden. They don't like heat and struggle to take off in the beginning. By the time they're growing it gets too hot and they never reach harvesting stage. So the only option I see at the moment is starting them indoors and planting them out once it's cool enough. I know I should have started them a bit earlier but I hope I still have the time for them to grow.
This time around, I added fertilizer to the potting mix. They say you don't need to add fertilizer when starting seeds but my experience tells me otherwise. The potting mix we use doesn't have much nutrients, and adding fertilizer later, when the seedlings start growing, is troublesome for such small pots. By the time the seedlings are growing the fertilizer becomes available so it's a win win situation. I used Sustane, one of the only organic certified fertilizers I found here. I used the recommended dosage for container planting and mixed it into my potting mix. For the mix I used the following formula:
1 part compost (I used a bit of mine and a bit from Shalimar)
1 part sweet sand
1 part coco peat
1 part perlite
I settled for this because it gives the texture that I feel is good. Feel free to play with ratios, and let us know what you think.
I hope to start others this week. If you have any questions or comments do write below.
Happy Gardening
Yana
Wonderful, waiting for the results 👍🏻
ReplyDeleteI am planing to go tomorrow for seeds and other stuff to start my planting although i am so new to this but have high hopes 😃
My question is where shall i put the seeds, deep inside the pot soil or on tbe surface, what about covering? And watering? Sunlight too?
Hello, gardening is such a rewarding hobby. I am glad more and more people take it up. Back to your questions now. You plant seeds according to the seed packet directions. Usually seeds are planted at 2 time the size (width) of the seed. Small seeds are usually spread on the surface and lightly covered with soil. You must keep them moist AT ALL TIMES. If you let the seeds dry out they will probably die. At the same time the soil should not be too wet or soggy. Seeds (most of them) need light to grow, but strong direct sun (such as ours right now) would be too bright for the new tender seedlings and could kill them. It's better to keep seedlings in semi-shade (dappled shade is best) or keep them away from mid-day sun. When I plant directly in the ground I prefer to give my new babies some kind of shade such as shade cloth, or plant them a little later in the season.
DeleteThank you 👍🏻
DeleteHi. I'm a beginner from Abu Dhabi and trying to learn about growing vegetables and found your blog. It's really awesome. I wanted to ask that where can i buy potting mix, organic fertilizer and organic seeds in UAE? What vegetables do you think are easy to start with considering UAE weather and the fact that i'm a new newbie :)
ReplyDeleteHello Faizan, gardening is a very rewarding hobby, and I'm delighted to see more and more people taking it up. Potting soil and fertilizers can be bought from plant souk in Mina I believe. Major supermarkets should carry seeds as well as potting soil. For gardening in pots I usually mix equal proportions: perlite, compost, sand and coco peat. To this I add organic fertilizer (I use Sustane) according to the instructions. I get the compost (if I don't have enough of my own) along with coco peat from Shalimar. Perlite and sand should be available from plant souk. This mix is light enough to drain freely and yet it has good water holding capacity which is essential in our climate. Right now is a good time to start planting as most veggies will grow now. Since you are new to gardening I would suggest to start small in order not to get overwhelmed. You can expand next year. Most Asian and Indian vegetables grow wonderfully here. Some of the best performers for new gardeners are: radishes (the long ones called 21 days or French breakfast ones are the best), tomatoes, arugula, chard (also known as palak in the Asian community), beets, amaranth and lose leaf lettuces among others. It's a good idea to grow veggies that you personally like. Grow cold loving plants (such as lettuces) in shady part of your garden (be it a yard or a balcony). In fact most plants would benefit from afternoon shade. If you have further questions please ask away.
DeleteI also forgot to mention that you can use manures, but don't use too much. Usually 5 kg per sq.m. And there's an app called Al Ebdaa and this app has planting calendar.
DeleteThanks Yana. I bought the pot and potting mix today. Watered them tonight. will sow the carrot seeds in the morning probably. Next pot will be of radishes.
DeleteI got the pot and all purpose potting mix from Abu dhabi Mina nursery. and carrot seeds from Ace Hardware Mina.
DeleteWhat does companions mean in gardening ? i downloaded an app. For every vegetable it shows a list of companion vegetables.
DeleteAlso i'm thinking of going for radishes as you suggested and It's super quick.
DeleteHi, companions are veggies that are good to grow together, like they could protect from insects, give shade and such.
DeleteThanks
DeleteHi Yana, How are you ?
DeleteCan you please tell me If i can plant 3 vegetables in one rectangular pot. Rows by rows. As per my googling carrot,lettuce & radish are companions.
My container size : 30 inches length, 50 litres soil capacity.
I want to put 1 carrot row, then 1 lettuce row then 1 radish row and then again carrot row.
Hello again. I believe your container is big enough. I suggest you see the required spacing on the packet (there will be two numbers, one for distance in the row and for distance between rows), you take the smaller number of these and plant accordingly. You can also use the square foot gardening method. For every square foot (12x12 inches) you would plant 16 radishes or 16 carrots or 4 lettuces.
DeleteThanks for the detailed answer. I'm really excited and can't wait to extend once i'm successful with my first experiment. (fingers crossed)
DeleteAlways a pleasure. Good luck.
DeleteIntereting blog and nice photos,would like to see more of flower planting which is of interest .Flowers never seem to flourish or grow at my last attempts to plant on the sidewalks inside the house in special rows .Tend to buy from warsan as its the closest area. Emma
ReplyDeleteHello Emma, thanks for stopping by. I love flowers and sometimes I feel like I undeservingly ignore them. I have had a good success with flowers from seeds in previous years. I like the diversity of the flowers that can be grown from seeds, some varieties are not even sold as plants in the nurseries. In addition to that you don't need to spend a fortune to make your garden look colorful and beautiful. And on top that some are even edible, such as nasturtiums and pot marigolds. Here are a couple of posts with the pics of the flowers I grew.
Deletehttp://mylittlegardenindubai.blogspot.ae/2015/02/flower-power.html
http://mylittlegardenindubai.blogspot.ae/2015/01/i-got-some-flowers-to-bloom.html
Will take a look at the links posted above .I plan to plant flowers and herbs ie, parsely ,corriander ,dill .Do you know of any ladies gardening group or interseted in gardening in Al Warqaa area and vicinity who meet and exchange firsthand info. about gardening...etc.
DeleteRegards,
DeleteEmma
Hi, I am actually in Al Warqa myself. I don't know who else gardens here but we can meet sometime.
DeleteHi , Oh great let`s arrange to meet then , not sure how to pm or contact you through blog .
DeleteHi , Oh great let`s arrange to meet then , not sure how to pm or contact you through blog .
ReplyDeleteWe are having a meet up on Sat 28 October. If you're on facebook then look for our group called UAE seed swappers, or check this link for the event https://www.facebook.com/events/2009834302619830/
DeleteYou can also contact me through the contact form on this blog.
Ok .
Delete