Your first winter season, month by month

Qatar’s growing season runs from September to April, and the winter vegetables start in October. This is a practical checklist that follows the traditional calendar. Each crop’s details are on its own page, and exact sowing windows are in the Calendar.

Late August and September (Suhail)

• Prepare the beds: compost and well-rotted manure, and repair irrigation and replace blocked drippers.
• Order seed early, and start nursery trays under shade: tomato, eggplant, pepper, cabbage, cauliflower.
• Do not transplant into open ground yet: it is still around 38 °C.

October (Al-Wasm opens on 16 October)

• Transplant your seedlings and shade them for two weeks, or buy ready saplings from a nursery if you did not start seed.
• Direct-sow radish, beetroot, carrot, turnip, lettuce, coriander, cucumber, zucchini and green bean.
• Start mulching, and put trellises up before the plants grow.

November (peak planting)

• Finish sowing leafy crops, roots, onion and garlic, and repeat radish and rocket every fortnight.
• Check for pests weekly: whitefly, aphids, tomato leafminer. Put traps up now.

December and January (Al-Murabbaniya)

• The coldest days of the year, and leafy crops are at their best. Water less, and cover tender seedlings on cold nights.
• Harvests start: cucumber, zucchini, lettuce, radish. Hand-pollinate if there are no bees.

February (Ash-Shabt, then Al-Aqarib)

• The second wave: sow okra, cowpea, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, melon and watermelon as the soil warms.
• Fit shade netting before you need it, and windbreaks before the shamal gets strong.

March and April

• The harvest crunch: bring everything in before the heat. Leafy crops bolt, and tomatoes stop setting fruit.
• Pull what is finished, add compost, and note what worked and what did not so you can adjust next year.

Every week

Water in the early morning, check the undersides of the leaves for pests, feed about every two weeks, harvest in the morning, and record what you plant in My garden so the app can work out the stage and the day’s task for you.