Michelle Obama is doing it. And now even the Queen of England is jumping on the grow-your-own bandwagon.
Not since the Second World War has either the White House or Buckingham Palace had a working vegetable garden. But a combination of factors - including the rise in obesity and diabetes, the increasing demand for local and sustainable produce, and the global economic crisis - has led to two of the world's most famous women becoming unlikely figureheads for a burgeoning movement in home vegetable gardening.
In March, the first lady began digging up the presidential lawns to plant a kitchen garden that will eventually produce food for the whole Obama family. Her intention is to highlight the benefits of growing good, wholesome, organic produce in preference to the unhealthy fast food that's so popular in the US. In London, Queen Elizabeth II's new vegetable patch covers an area of only roughly 65 square metres, but it will yield runner beans, sweetcorn and onions among other vegetables for the Royal household.
While demand for allotments - or small patches of land where people can grow their own food - is sharply rising in the UK, people in the UAE might be left feeling somewhat frustrated. After all, what could possibly flourish in summer at the edge of a desert other than a measly pot of supermarket basil on a kitchen window sill? And even that begins to droop and wilt after a few days. Indeed, since much of the produce that ends up in our kitchens and restaurants is imported from abroad, it's easy to assume that nothing can grow here without a team of farmers and horticulturalists on 24-hour standby. But that isn't strictly the case.
That there are challenges to be faced by those wishing to grow their own herbs and vegetables in the UAE there is no doubt. But with a little knowledge, effort, preparation and perseverance, you might be surprised at what you can grow for yourself.
Juicy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, tasty spinach and fragrant coriander are all within reach of the home gardener, provided the conditions and care are right, according to Dubai Garden Centre's horticulture engineer, Zafar Ali Khan. If you're fortunate enough to live in a villa with a spacious garden, access to direct sunlight and plenty of water, now is the time to start thinking about planning your vegetable patch, even though your first sowing might not be until at least the latter stages of the summer.
"First, you should check the soil condition," advises Khan. "Here in the UAE there is too much salinity, too much salt in the sand. We substitute that for sweet sand in the gardens, up to about 20cm depth. Then we mix in some organic fertiliser or compost like cow manure. Everywhere in the UAE, the soil needs attention. In Fujairah and Hatta the soil conditions are better than in Dubai, for example. So conditions vary. There is salty soil near the sea in Dubai, but some plants like the salinity. The date palm, for example, will grow in salty sand."
If you want to follow the organic approach of Michelle Obama and Queen Elizabeth, use organic fertiliser in your patch. "Inorganic fertiliser is synthetic, and made in factories," explains Khan. "Organic fertiliser is made from living things, whether it's plants or from animals, like cow manure. Organic fertiliser is the best for the plants, but it has a very offensive smell. That might be a problem. Inorganic fertiliser doesn't smell, but it isn't as good and can have side-effects for your vegetables."
Once the soil conditions are right, you must decide whether you want to start your garden with seeds or seedlings. The hot weather in a UAE summer will prove too harsh for some seeds to flourish, so they must be started off in a greenhouse, while other varieties can be planted directly in the ground. "Some varieties of tomato, such as fantom, empire and royal flush, can be planted directly in the open field," Khan explains. "With other varieties, such as mateus and carmelo, we have to establish the seedlings in the greenhouse. We will start that on or after August 25. Later, we can transplant the seedlings to the open field from October to January. After two or three months, you'll have tomatoes.
"Another thing that's slightly different is the leafy vegetables and herbs, like spinach, coriander, radish, parsley, sweet beet and garden roquette," he continues. "You can directly place the seeds into the soil in November or December, when the climate is good. We don't get four seasons in the UAE, we just have summer and winter. So in February and March you will have the results. With cabbages, peppers, eggplant and cauliflower you will need seedlings from the garden centre greenhouse, which are planted in mid-August. Then they can be planted in the open field from November to January."
Perhaps the most important consideration for a successful home vegetable or herb garden at the edge of the Arabian desert is water. How often you need to water your crops is subject to the conditions in your area. "It depends upon the temperature and the weather," says Khan. "If you sow in October or November, then the temperature is good, but later when the plant starts growing, you may need more water.
"When it's hot, there will be evaporation of water from the soil, so you will need more. If the plant is bigger and more leafy - like spinach, cabbage and cauliflower - there will be more transpiration, which is when the water evaporates from the plant. So then you will need to water it more. Ideally, an automatic irrigation system would be best. But if not you should water the vegetables at least once a day, and twice when it's very hot."
If your timing, soil, weather conditions and watering regime is right there's very little to stop you from gaining excellent results - apart from insects, pests and other garden nasties. Khan offers a solution: "You can use insecticide to deal with pests such as aphids, white fly and leaf miners. Leaf miners are very common in the UAE, especially with tomato plants. There are also fungal diseases to watch out for. Vertimec is good for getting rid of leaf miners. You have to take care, though, because they are systemic poisons. You must always wash the vegetables before eating."
Growing vegetables often requires a lot of space in your garden, but if square feet and inches are in short supply, growing herbs makes for a very satisfying alternative. Chef Gabriele Kurz of Magnolia vegetarian restaurant in Dubai's Qanat Al Qasr hotel is envied by many a UAE-based chef because of her restaurant's herb garden.
"Where I come from in Germany, it is very common to have herb gardens beside restaurants, so I wanted to do one here," she explains. "I had many emails from other chefs saying: 'How did you set up your herb garden?' But I didn't do it all on my own. I had a little help from the gardeners in the resort. I had lots of ideas, but some herbs we just couldn't do here, no way. For example, chervil - no way," she laughs.
"What's growing perfectly is lemongrass, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, parsley, mint and roquette leaves," she says proudly. "Sometimes what is very challenging is sage - it likes the heat but probably not the soil that we can provide here. In the summer we have things like chives and a variety of cress, which has lots of nice orange, yellow and deep-red flowers that are edible. I can also grow some calendula (pot marigolds) which are edible flowers. And then, of course, we have our own bananas and green papayas, which we use for our detox mocktails."
Kurz keeps salt to a minimum in her all-vegetarian cuisine, so she has become reliant on all kinds of herbs from her garden to balance out the flavours in her cooking. "I have one dish, it is couscous-stuffed baby eggplant," she reveals. "In the couscous I put marjoram, mint and parsley. It goes with tomato and cardamom ragout, and I also use lemongrass in the dish. It has Asian, Arabian and European flavours."
Even during the grip of a harsh UAE summer, the garden at Magnolia keeps on giving thanks to some surprisingly hardy little herbs. "Marjoram is very successful," says Kurz. "It's very good during summer. When I see it in the Magnolia garden it's very green and grows very well. Lemongrass is also good, I use a lot of that in my cooking. Also Thai basil is good, and aloe vera, which I use for some desserts. Aloe vera grows all year long."
Of course, most people won't have the luxury of a team of gardeners and an automatic irrigation system to ensure their home garden is a success, but nether will they have to supply a full service restaurant with a daily crop of fresh produce. "For people at home, it's easier to grow herbs than vegetables," Kurz states, by way of offering hope to the amateur agriculturalist. "Even if you have a balcony, you can grow herbs there; it's very simple. You can even grow tomatoes. I use far too many tomatoes to be able to grow them on my own, but for home use you can grow two or three tomato plants on the balcony and that will be enough."
In general terms, her advice is simple: whatever you decide to grow, try to enjoy the experience. "It's a lot of fun to do. Your garden should be nice to relax in and nice to look at. But it's even better when you can eat from it. Create some space, buy good soil - it needs to be a 50/50 mix of sand and compost - and make sure you have a good irrigation system. It's a lot of fun!"
Quite. If tending a vegetable garden is the sort of thing that makes America's first lady get her Wellington boots on and start digging, it really ought to be a lot of fun.
jbrennan@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20S%20Frederick%20Starr%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Oxford%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20290%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20January%2024%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Shipping%20and%20banking%20
%3Cp%3EThe%20sixth%20sanctions%20package%20will%20also%20see%20European%20insurers%20banned%20from%20covering%20Russian%20shipping%2C%20more%20individuals%20added%20to%20the%20EU's%20sanctions%20list%20and%20Russia's%20Sberbank%20cut%20off%20from%20international%20payments%20system%20Swift.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE%20SPECS
%3Cp%3EBattery%3A%2060kW%20lithium-ion%20phosphate%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20Up%20to%20201bhp%3Cbr%3E0%20to%20100kph%3A%207.3%20seconds%3Cbr%3ERange%3A%20418km%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh149%2C900%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dual%20electric%20motors%20with%20102kW%20battery%20pack%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E570hp%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20890Nm%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Up%20to%20428km%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh1%2C700%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Bridgerton%20season%20three%20-%20part%20one
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nicola%20Coughlan%2C%20Luke%20Newton%2C%20Jonathan%20Bailey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Results
1.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Al Suhooj, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2pm Handicap (TB) 68,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
3pm Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Alla Mahlak, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly
4pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m
Forced%20Deportations
%3Cp%3EWhile%20the%20Lebanese%20government%20has%20deported%20a%20number%20of%20refugees%20back%20to%20Syria%20since%202011%2C%20the%20latest%20round%20is%20the%20first%20en-mass%20campaign%20of%20its%20kind%2C%20say%20the%20Access%20Center%20for%20Human%20Rights%2C%20a%20non-governmental%20organization%20which%20monitors%20the%20conditions%20of%20Syrian%20refugees%20in%20Lebanon.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%9CIn%20the%20past%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20General%20Security%20was%20responsible%20for%20the%20forced%20deportation%20operations%20of%20refugees%2C%20after%20forcing%20them%20to%20sign%20papers%20stating%20that%20they%20wished%20to%20return%20to%20Syria%20of%20their%20own%20free%20will.%20Now%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20army%2C%20specifically%20military%20intelligence%2C%20is%20responsible%20for%20the%20security%20operation%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20Mohammad%20Hasan%2C%20head%20of%20ACHR.%3Cbr%3EIn%20just%20the%20first%20four%20months%20of%202023%20the%20number%20of%20forced%20deportations%20is%20nearly%20double%20that%20of%20the%20entirety%20of%202022.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ESince%20the%20beginning%20of%202023%2C%20ACHR%20has%20reported%20407%20forced%20deportations%20%E2%80%93%20200%20of%20which%20occurred%20in%20April%20alone.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIn%20comparison%2C%20just%20154%20people%20were%20forcfully%20deported%20in%202022.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Violence%20
%3Cp%3EInstances%20of%20violence%20against%20Syrian%20refugees%20are%20not%20uncommon.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EJust%20last%20month%2C%20security%20camera%20footage%20of%20men%20violently%20attacking%20and%20stabbing%20an%20employee%20at%20a%20mini-market%20went%20viral.%20The%20store%E2%80%99s%20employees%20had%20engaged%20in%20a%20verbal%20altercation%20with%20the%20men%20who%20had%20come%20to%20enforce%20an%20order%20to%20shutter%20shops%2C%20following%20the%20announcement%20of%20a%20municipal%20curfew%20for%20Syrian%20refugees.%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CThey%20thought%20they%20were%20Syrian%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20the%20mayor%20of%20the%20Nahr%20el%20Bared%20municipality%2C%20Charbel%20Bou%20Raad%2C%20of%20the%20attackers.%3Cbr%3EIt%20later%20emerged%20the%20beaten%20employees%20were%20Lebanese.%20But%20the%20video%20was%20an%20exemplary%20instance%20of%20violence%20at%20a%20time%20when%20anti-Syrian%20rhetoric%20is%20particularly%20heated%20as%20Lebanese%20politicians%20call%20for%20the%20return%20of%20Syrian%20refugees%20to%20Syria.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
