Winter Garden in Nizwa

The scorching heat makes it impossible to grow anything in summer but the cooler temperatures and the occasional rain allow for a garden in winter. I have to admit that thinking about planting a garden is quite easy. The difficult part is actually getting started because with the heat and long work days I lack the motivation and initiative to prepare the soil after work. At one point, I considered hiring a laborer to pull out the weeds, dig up the soil, mix in the new earth, prepare the rows and sow the seeds.

In the end, I forced myself to get up at 5 o’clock on the weekend so that I could prepare my garden for planting. I started with a small space that was full of weeds, garbage, rocks and sand.

Is this really a garden?

After about five minutes I made a new friend – an adorable little kitty that I discovered hiding amongst the overgrown water spinach.

What should I do with this little kitten?

I  used a small shovel, a broken rake and a garden tool to remove the weeds and rocks. This took much longer that I expected because that silly kitten didn’t want to leave its shady patch of weeds.

What a mess!

Eventually my garden was empty and I felt like calling it a day as the sun was making its way around to the garden. 

Almost finished.

However, I forged on by making a long row for lettuce and four smaller rows for tomatoes and bell peppers. I used some homemade compost and potting soil that I bought at the local nursery for each row. I also kept a small area near the wall for cucumbers.

The garden is ready for sowing seeds.

My colleague gave me some organic seeds that he brought back from Australia and I hope these will be suitable for the local climate.

Seeds from Australia

Potting soil from Holland

After preparing the main garden I decided that to do something with this mess in the yard.

With a little work this could be a garden.

So, the next day I cleaned up the mess by moving the cement blocks to the side of the fence and tearing out all the dead plants and weeds. After about an hour I took a short break and when I returned someone was waiting for me.

Are you making a sandbox for me?

The kitten might think that this is a sandbox but it is going to be my watermelon garden.

Going to try to grow watermelons here.

When it cools off a bit I am going to carry the cement blocks to the roof and use them along with a couple of wood pallets that I found near the garbage dumpster to make a table and bench so that I can relax and enjoy fresh watermelons in the evening after work.