Dubai residents prove the best gardens come in small spaces
dubai — Residents of Dubai may not have huge and lush gardens, but that didn’t deter them from growing large varieties of veggies in their homes and schools.
They used the small spaces and resources they had available to grow fruits, herbs and vegetables as part of their participation in the ‘Grow Your Own Food’ initiative by the Dubai Municipality.
The winners of the initiative — which has the educational institutions, government and private companies, centres for ‘people of determination’ and the residents’ categories — were announced in a ceremony on Sunday.
The winner of the resident’s category, Sam Abraham, has a balcony that measures up to only 1 5 to 20 feet, but his passion for green foods encouraged him to grow more than 10 different kinds of veggies. He won Dh5,000 cash prize as first prize winner.
Indian expat Abraham, who works as a technician, said: “We are growing all of the vegetables that we need to eat, on our own balcony. We grew chillis, cabbage, capsicum, cauliflower and curry leaves. There are fruits as well, such as tomatoes. We have more than 10 varieties of vegetables and 180 pots.
“Our balcony is very small but we used innovative techniques and grew the vegetables. We cook our food with the vegetables we grow ourselves.”
A student from the GEMS Modern Academy, who won second place, also used “innovative techniques” to grow veggies. They used cow dung, orange peels and egg shells as fertilisers to avoid using chemicals.
The first prize winners in the school category was Gems Our Own Indian High School. They grew 47 varieties of veggies and 117 in plants.
“Our school has very little space which is free. We did a vertical garden. We had a tyre garden, which we made out of recycled tyres. There was also a bottle garden, where we used recycled bottles. There were 20 of them placed against the walls, so they didn’t take much space on the ground,” said Shalin James, a student from Gems Our Own Indian High School and the president of environmental activities.
Participants were given a period of three months for cultivation. The gardens of the contestants were evaluated by a special jury comprising of representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, US Department of Agriculture, US Consulate General in Dubai and the Western Australian Trade Office in the Middle East.
The competition was launched last year to encourage residents to cultivate vegetables and fruits at balconies and terraces of their homes.
Our balcony is very small but we used innovative techniques and grew vegetables. We cook our food with vegetables we grow ourselves.” Sam Abraham, Indian technician
We did a vertical garden. a tyre garden, a bottle garden, 20 of them placed against the walls so they didn’t take much space on the ground.” Shalin James, student