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Hello world...
This blog is going to be about my attempts to create a good balcony garden in Dubai.
I have always wanted to have my own green patch... but lets be honest, I am the kind of person who wants to do a lot of things, but is so lazy to sweat it out, that I spend all my energy on the laptop reasearching about the best ways to do things, and never actually do them!!! Thats going to change now. :)
My mom has been maintaining a few veggies in our two balconies (Yes, I live with my parents). But the scale of production can be increased a lot, while staying persticide and fertilizer-free. I have been reading a lot about permaculture and will try to follow its principles. But I haven't done a Permaculture Design Course, so I cant claim my attempts will capture all its concepts.
Dubai doesnt really provide the most forgiving conditions for gardening. It's hot (really hot!!) and dry in the summer months. Good soil is expensive when compared to the monetary return you can expect from the produce. If you plan to go out into the neighbourhood with a shovel and bucket and get some soil, you are only going to return with a lot of sand. Getting any kind of paid help is expensive. And since most expats return to their homeland for vacations, getting someone to look after your plants while you are away is a challenge.
Nevertheless, when you want to do something, you just gotta do it!
Here's me hoping this garden will provide some yummy salads, a few good stories, and some new friends (albeit online). But more importantly I wish it teaches me a lot about this whole world of nutritious food and about the abundance of nature, which is increasingly being pushed to the fringes of our lives.
This blog is going to be about my attempts to create a good balcony garden in Dubai.
I have always wanted to have my own green patch... but lets be honest, I am the kind of person who wants to do a lot of things, but is so lazy to sweat it out, that I spend all my energy on the laptop reasearching about the best ways to do things, and never actually do them!!! Thats going to change now. :)
My mom has been maintaining a few veggies in our two balconies (Yes, I live with my parents). But the scale of production can be increased a lot, while staying persticide and fertilizer-free. I have been reading a lot about permaculture and will try to follow its principles. But I haven't done a Permaculture Design Course, so I cant claim my attempts will capture all its concepts.
Dubai doesnt really provide the most forgiving conditions for gardening. It's hot (really hot!!) and dry in the summer months. Good soil is expensive when compared to the monetary return you can expect from the produce. If you plan to go out into the neighbourhood with a shovel and bucket and get some soil, you are only going to return with a lot of sand. Getting any kind of paid help is expensive. And since most expats return to their homeland for vacations, getting someone to look after your plants while you are away is a challenge.
Nevertheless, when you want to do something, you just gotta do it!
Here's me hoping this garden will provide some yummy salads, a few good stories, and some new friends (albeit online). But more importantly I wish it teaches me a lot about this whole world of nutritious food and about the abundance of nature, which is increasingly being pushed to the fringes of our lives.
