I started gardening when I moved to my last house, in 2013. It had a small built in raised gardening bed with lots of sand, twigs, and a small date palm tree in the center. I was told growing tomatoes was the easiest, and anything after that was almost impossible to grow in a climate like ours (summers here go up to 50°C/122°F, our average humidity level is 29%, we have around 6 months of very hot summer, and around 4 months of very cold winter). Since then, I’ve grown almost everything while living in the desert (from sweet peas to strawberries to mango plants and much more).

Key Factors to Growing Plants in a Desert

1. Watering
   In order to keep your garden healthy and flourishing, plants growing in the desert need constant watering. There were times when I would have to water up to 4 times a day.
2. Shade, shade, shade
   In our scorching sun, the plants get easily burnt. Best would be to get foldable umbrellas (available in Saco) or the overhead green shades that you can get from roadside nurseries.
3. Using a high-quality soil
   Strong heat can burn many much needed nutrients in the soil and need to be replenished frequently. For that, mulching helps a lot, as well as making your own compost. (Topic coming up soon, in shaa Allaah)
4. Knowing your plants
5. Using bigger and sun tolerant plants to shade the smaller plants
6. Understanding which area receives what kind of sunlight