Tips to grow a healthy garden in your backyard

Looking for a way to put to use those gardening tools your mom got you for Christmas last year? Well, then this article is for you! Today MyBayut rounds up some of the most essential tips on how to grow a vegetable garden in Dubai, that will turn any barren backyard into a lush garden with life.

Beginners guide to grow a vegetable garden in Dubai outdoors

These tips on how to start a vegetable garden from scratch are ideal if you are living in a villa in Dubai with a large backyard. Starting a vegetable garden from scratch, is a fun activity to do with the whole family, especially for kids as they can enjoy getting their hands dirty and learn the joys of reaping the fruits of their labour – literally! With that being said, let’s take a look at the steps to grow a vegetable garden in Dubai. 

7 Tools required to grow vegetables for the first time outdoors

Before beginning your journey to grow a vegetable garden in Dubai, you will need to make sure you have all the essential tools for gardening, which include:

• Garden gloves to protect your hands from direct contact with the soil and pesticides
• Watering cans to water your plants every day
• Shovel or spade to help you dig up the soil
• Garden trowel to tuck seedlings into soil 
• Hand pruner, shears, or scissors to cut away any weeds
• Gumboots, so you don’t ruin any pairs of shoes 
• Reusable pots to plant seedlings 

These are the basic tools that any beginner will need for growing vegetables at home, which can be purchased from IKEA and other discount stores. Once you feel more confident about your gardening skills, you can invest in more high-end gardening tools such as automatic sprinklers, wheelbarrows and other such items.

5 steps to start a vegetable garden from scratch

Once you’ve got your tools handy, there a few steps you need to take to ensure you get the best results. Here is what you will need to do to prep your backyard if you are planning to grow vegetables for the first time.

Be mindful of the weather – The summer heat is in UAE can be a bit too harsh to grow vegetables at home, however as the temperatures drop down during October, you can take up the task as your plants will have a more favourable environment to flourish 

Choose the right spot – The area in which you will be growing your vegetables will need to have access to sunlight for a minimum of six hours a day, so avoid any shaded areas or patches near the walls of your home because when the position of sun changes, you garden could end up being in a shaded area. 

Prepare the soil – In order to grow vegetables at home, the soil needs to be prepped to ensure it has the right nutrients to help your plants grow. The sand you have in the backyard of your home won’t be enough. A fail-safe way for any beginner to prep the soil to grow a vegetable garden in Dubai is to buy the pre-mix soil. It’s easy to manage and you won’t have to spend a lot trying to buy the ingredients for the right mix. 

Choose your veggies – Now comes the fun bit – choosing which vegetables to grow.  If you plan to start a vegetable garden from scratch, pick plants that grow in small areas such as cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, carrots, spinach and herbs like basil or coriander. You may already have these vegetables at home but you can also purchase some from any plant nursery in Dubai.

Prep your station – Once you have everything ready, it’s time to set your station. Do so by dividing your space into individual squares using wooden sticks, so that you can grow different types of vegetables in each square. Also make sure to leave enough distance between the squares, say 20-30 cm so that they have enough space to grow. 

Staring planting – once you’ve done all the above steps, you can start planting your veggies in your garden. You can do so by buying the plant seeds from the shop or make use of the items in your kitchen. Read on to find out how.

common vegetables you can grow in Dubai

If you are looking for the best options for growing vegetables for beginners, try out the following, as they can be grown easily from the leftovers in your home. 

• Carrots – begin by cutting an inch from the head of the carrot and place it in a shallow dish with a bit of water and keep it in a sunny spot indoors, once you see the roots emerge, you can transfer it to the soil to grow a whole carrot! 
• Peppers/Capsicum – this is the easiest plant to grow. All you need to do is place the seeds in a pot filled with soil, that is in a place with a lot of sunlight. Once you see the sprout, the entire plant can be transferred to the outdoor vegetable garden.
• Potatoes – Take the seed potatoes from which eyes (buds) protrude out, cut them into smaller pieces with no less than two buds on each piece and place them in the soil about 3 feet apart.
• Garlic – You can grow garlic by planting the entire clove into the soil and water it regularly.

Things to keep in mind when growing vegetables for the first time

• All plants grow at a different pace, so if you don’t see any results instantly don’t worry.
• When planting an outdoor garden for the first time, try to use affordable items. Avoid investing in high-end equipment on the first go as it will take time to get used to the habit of gardening. 
• Avoid watering your plans several times a day, or during the evenings, as this can create an unfavourable growing environment and can spread diseases. Once, during the morning is the ideal time to water a plant.
• Only the newly planted seeds and plants need to be watered daily on several occasions. Full grown plants only need to be watered once a day to stimulate the growth of the roots. 
• The same goes for potted plants, as overwatering can result in the water collecting at the bottom causing the roots of the plant to rot. 

And that’s how you can start a vegetable garden from scratch! These tips can help you get the best results but remember, gardening takes time and patience, so if it doesn’t work on your first try, don’t lose hope. For those of you living in an apartment in Dubai, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered too with a guide on how to grow a balcony garden, just make sure the building you are living in allows it. So what are you waiting for? Get that green thumb to work and let us know how your experience was, in the comment section below

For more interesting tips on home improvement, stay tuned to the MyHome section on the UAE’s number one property blog – MyBayut!