Gardening in Saudi Arabia - December 2015

The weather have unexpectedly changed, to the better, these past few days or even weeks.

Was in a taxi today on the way to the office and the driver, who does not like being in colder weather, was too happy to say we kicked off at 26c in the morning but Riyadh is suffering at 7c.

I like colder weather because it means farmers can plant more variety of veg and herbs during these cooler months, I mean, here in Saudi Arabia.

For the home gardeners, well, it is also a few months wherein we can plant lettuce, tomatoes and different varieties of pepper.

My suggestion is to plant them in container.  This way, you can let them stay out in a location that gets shade after 12:00 noon.  Having them under direct morning sun, in my opinion, would be enough to keep them going and happy.

Smile when you face your plants, they can feel it.

EARTH Hour  2013 is coming!

this Earth Hour, promise you will reuse, recycle, repurpose.... don't throw that bottle,you can use it for doing container gardening, self-watering pot using wick , see my youtube video on how to do it.. simple, it will not even take you 5 minutes...

Rooftop and Balcony Garden in Jeedah, Aquaponics in Jeddah update

Pinoy Aquaponics and Self-Watering Container Garden update in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Feb 2012

Above- barley grass

Above - pepper plants, more than 2 feet high in self watering container

Above - a pink and red rose bush in self watering container

Above - Orchids in recyled soda bottle, there is water reservoire on the bottom to provide evaporation to the roots, all day long

Above - miniature garden in self watering container and some hyacynths

Above - duckweed from my friend Khaled..

Above - a good shot of the miniature garden in self watering container, two weeks of no watering.. the system was reliable

Above - an adult tilapia in one of my aquaponics systems

Above and below - mashallah! the amazing brocolli plant in my aquaponics system

YuGe Miniature Gardens and Table-top Planters - an instant escape to nature at home or office....

The Vision - a Rooftop Garden in Self Watering Containers

(above) the site of the future bigger rooftop vegetable garden in self watering containers made of recycled water bottles..inshallah

(above) some of the plants i have in self watering containers... just near my door

(above) in preparation, some of the early plants in the rooftop, all in self watering containers...daisy, sweet potatoes, basil

(above) ... and more.... freshly sown seeds of melon, romain lettuce, red bellpepper, replanted ornamentals, eggplant and more... in the shaded portion of our building rooftop

(above) a longer view peppers, lettuces, okra or lady finger, eggplant, parsley, sweet potatoes, basil, petunia and other flowering plants.. in the other side of the shaded portion of our building rooftop

Aquaponics and Self Watering Container in Jeddah - February 2012 update

(above) jalapeno pepper with flowers in self watering container, amazingly this has grown more than 2 feet now

(below) a sayote in self watering container, in the same container is a tomatoe and some mayana

(belos) a flowering tomatoe in self watering container pot

(below) my indoor aquaponics system.. in the kitchen

(above) a tomatoe in aquaponics system, i germinated it in cup with a lot of drain holes then just put it on top of the hydroton, the roots made its way down to the growbed...same with the carrots in the foreground

(above) massive root system of my kamote (sweet potatoe) in one of the Aquaponics systems, the 2 foot-long pangasius died while i was away on vacation contaminating the water system so i had to change and clean it up, good that i had all plants in individual pots so it was a breeze cleaning it up...not much mess

(above) after the clean-up, mature kamote or sweet potatoe is back, with onion and ginger, kangkong and okra in the system on the right... i have put one adult tilapia in the fish tank , in the corner on top is my oldest system with a year old basil, pepper and ginger... below it is a fishtank with one adult tilapia too... i have enjoyed basil for long time now from this system

(above) the gigantic brocolli, i think this is more than 4 months now.. i love the texture and look of the brocolli leaves.. inshallah it will give me flower then fruit soon... in the same growbed i have a few pepper, carrots, swiss chards and a bitter melon....below in the fish tank are 3 albino catfish (hito)

(below) two of my oldes goldfish, who were with me since i started aquaponics last year, the rest of them died few months ago when attacked by a tilapia i put in the same tank they were, now they are in my indoor aquaponics system growing ginger and bitter melon or ampalaya

,