The city gardener: Protect and reflect on your gardening during the summer

Woman watering plant at foot of sand dune.

I think it’s fair to say that summer is here. Your car has that steamy, sauna-like feel to it at the end of the day; your glasses fog up at every opportunity; and your washing takes less than 20 minutes to dry when it’s hung ­outside.

For gardeners in the UAE, so begins an extended period of frustration, of being forced to retreat indoors, when you would much rather be out, and of watching much of your hard work in the garden come steadily undone.

Needless to say, as temperatures soar, UAE gardeners must put any new plans on the shelf, and shift their focus to maintaining the status quo. You won’t be planting anything new for a good few months; instead, it’s time to buckle up for your daily battle against the heat and – perhaps more importantly – humidity. Your sole aim is to keep things alive just long enough for them to flourish again.

You can start by saying your goodbyes to more-delicate seasonal plants. For other specimens, it’s time for some regrouping. Smaller potted perennials, such as bougainvillaea, Chinese ixora, hibiscus, jasmine, lantana and oleander, should be transferred to a spot in your garden or on your balcony where they will get maximum shade.

If they can’t be moved, put up some shade netting to protect them from the worst of the sun's glare. For plants with delicate foliage, such as cycads, it’s worth thinking about lightly tying their leaves together to protect them.

During summer, water your plants twice a day – but never during the middle of the day, when much of the water will evaporate before it does any good. Water droplets can also magnify the sun’s glare onto the surface of leaves, causing them to burn. Instead, do all your watering early in the morning and late in the evening. Remember to reset any irrigation systems, and if you have a gardener, make sure they have been fully briefed. Likewise if you’re taking an extended holiday and will be relying on someone else to care for your garden while you are away.

Which brings us to one of the major benefits of summer for UAE gardeners. Chances are you will be travelling to cooler climes, and that may mean that you will be visiting destinations with a strong horticultural heritage. Whether you're in a ­European capital, an urban centre in the United States, the English countryside, the plains of Africa or the Australian outback, there will be parks, nature reserves, country estates, botanical gardens and flower shows waiting to be explored.

It's an opportunity to reconvene with nature in its multifaceted forms, but also take inspiration for the next growing season. Summer is the time to gather ideas, seeds and know-how; it's the time to think back on last season's mistakes and decide how you will do things differently next time around. UAE gardeners should see the summer as a three-month time out, offering much-needed time to reflect. It's also a chance to catch up on all that reading that you haven't had time for.

The summer gardening calendar kicks off with the RHS ­Chelsea Flower Show, which this year takes place from May 24 to 28. Beyond that, the New York Botanical Garden is marking its 125th anniversary with a series of celebratory events; in Berlin, the ­Botanical Garden and Botanical ­Museum will present 12 summer concerts between June 3 and ­August 26; while visitors to France can join the crowds that flock to ­Domaine de ­Chaumont-sur-Loire each year for the International ­Garden Festival, which runs all summer.

Look to our pages over the coming months for updates on interesting gardening events around the world. We promise it will help with those summer-induced UAE gardening blues.

Selina Denman is the editor of Home&Garden.