Holiday project number 3, move the old pond!, originally uploaded by malyousif.

I’ve just started what is probably the last project of the holidays; this one is to provide a needed water feature for the Oriental patch. I’ve used the same pond I removed in Project #2 and will place it in the area just cleared as you see in the picture.

This holiday has been very productive, gardening-wise!

The Pond, originally uploaded by malyousif.

I pass Al-Mahroos, one of the better garden hardware shops on the island, almost every day and I notice a huge banner stuck at the front of their showroom declaring “huge discounts” but I never had the gumption to stop and investigate. After 3 years of collecting tools, I though I had everything I needed to garden, which I do.

But just for the heck of it and as it was the holidays, I thought I’d stop and go in to have a look on Tuesday morning. Browsing around the tool-filled shelves, I noticed that they had pre-formed pond liners which were approximately the same shape as my pond, although much deeper. The deepest part was about 35 cms which was more than 20cms deeper than the water feature I had. The price was very enticing, the sticker said BD24! I thought these things would cost an awful lot more, especially being German made and guaranteed for 10 years. I decided to get one. But as my luck would have it, the salesman told me that the promotion ended on Dec 13th and its price reverted back to BD40.

Damn!
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Holiday project - Oriental Patch Lighting, originally uploaded by malyousif.

The first project of the holidays has finished! I spent today wiring up the Oriental Patch for 3 more lights: a flood directed at Buddha and two lanterns.

This shows the final result, what do you think?

This is the first time I try my hands at hanging baskets.

I bought 4 large ceramic hanging baskets from Al-Sultan Garden Centre in Khobar a while ago and they’ve been staring at me in the shed since. I finally got the chance to coax them off the shelf and onto brackets in the weekend (Sat, 8 Dec, ‘07). With the help of my daughter Hanan, we installed four brackets on the walls of the house by the pool and hung the pots. They look quite funky: yellow, orange, white and white.

Once installed, I planted the following seeds in individual pots and am hoping for the best:

As I had a few Nasturtiums and Freesias left over, I planted them in two independent pots which I placed on the front porch. The left-over Nasturtiums I planted in the front-door planter.

I’m looking forward to once again eat the spicy Nasturtium flowers!

Oriental patch, originally uploaded by malyousif.

It’s coming along nicely!

Have a wonderful Friday my friends.