It is a futile and unpleasant trait, but I cannot help but envy the family who live on the opposite side of my street. They are keen gardeners and theirs is a mature garden with a teeming and seemingly irrepressible mind of its own that thrives in the shade cast by towering Eucalypts and Zizyphus. Smaller trees, shrubs and vines erupt from behind their garden wall and then escape, Triffid-like, out into the adjacent sikka and pavement with little regard for paving and pedestrians alike.
While my neighbour's garden blurs boundaries, mine is a plot with very definite physical constraints. Long, thin and completely paved, my outside space lacks the beds and borders in which plants and trees can thrive and take root. It is also hot and exposed, benefiting only from the shade cast by the building. Whether I like it or not, my need to build a garden using only pots, containers and the limits of my time, money and imagination is enforced; however, rather than seeing this as a setback I'm choosing to accentuate the positive instead.
With enough space, pots the right size, and the ability to provide sufficient water and food, there is little that cannot be grown in containers. If you consider that most of the roof gardens and podia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are actually oversized container gardens that have been perched over hotels and underground car parks, you'll soon understand the scope and freedom that container gardening can bring.
While most of us might not have the space for the kind of 2m deep pot that a happy date palm requires, they can be grown just as easily in containers above ground as they are in tree pits below it. Take a careful look at the palms in the middle of the hotel pool the next time you swim by. As ever, your choice of containers, their location and size should be determined by decisions about the type of plants you want to use and the overall effect that you want to create. Unless you're planning to use small, slow-growing feature plants like cacti or succulents, it's probably best to avoid small containers as these will restrict root growth and dry out very quickly.This in turn makes near constant watering necessary, introducing you to a cycle of over-watering and wilting that invariably ends with the premature death of the plant. For the same reason it's important to choose your containers at the same time as you buy your plants and to transplant them as soon as possible.
Buying pots and containers can often be an extremely expensive business but it really needn't be. One of my favourite plots in London is an edible community garden run by women from the local Bangladeshi community in Bethnal Green in the East End. To save money, containers are collected at home and recycled. Most once contained the oils, spices, rice and ghee and they give the place a unique identity and charm that simply couldn't be created with planters bought off the shelf. In my garden here I now grow Aloe vera in old peanut tins as both a form of recycling and small memento of home.
Although they are attractive, pots made of a porous materials such as terracotta will dry out more quickly than those that are glazed, and will actively remove much-needed moisture from the media surrounding the root ball. Dark or metal containers have a tendency to soak up the heat while those made from cheap plastics are prone to fade and become brittle when exposed to the sun's UV rays. Wooden planters can also soon deteriorate as they swing between the extreme dampness and dryness of regular irrigation regimes.
If you break the plant/container decision-making process down into simple steps it is possible to end up with the right plant, in the right pot in the right place. On my ground floor I wanted plants that would afford privacy by climbing quickly over the trellis on my windows while thriving in hot, direct sun. Once I'd established a list of suitable plants, how large they would grow and how much water they would need, the size of container was dictated for me.
Though it might not supply me with trees or with shade, the sikka that runs alongside my garden has proved an invaluable source of builder's rubble, rocks and ballast material that I've used as the necessary drainage layer in the bottom of all my containers. I still have very few stylish pots in my garden. Rather, my aim is to follow my inspirational neighbours and eventually to blur my strict boundaries with a riotous profusion of plants instead.
garden@thenational.ae
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
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Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
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SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Byblos iftar in numbers
29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month
50 staff members required to prepare an iftar
200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly
160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total
500 litres of soup is served during the holy month
200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes
350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes
5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat
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Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
Dubai Rugby Sevens
November 30-December 2, at The Sevens, Dubai
Gulf Under 19
Pool A – Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jumeirah College Tigers, Dubai English Speaking School 1, Gems World Academy
Pool B – British School Al Khubairat, Bahrain Colts, Jumeirah College Lions, Dubai English Speaking School 2
Pool C - Dubai College A, Dubai Sharks, Jumeirah English Speaking School, Al Yasmina
Pool D – Dubai Exiles, Dubai Hurricanes, Al Ain Amblers, Deira International School
Company%20Profile
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.