Sugar beets for a winter crop are sown near Phoenix AZ in late August to early September. Harvest is April to late June.

So I think you are cool enough to plant right now. Then as a learning experiment plant again several times. This will spread out harvest and tell you what to do next year. Days to maturity will be longer in winter so don't think those growth periods are set in stone.

Beets will be fine, but carrots grown in hot weather have a harsh, hot taste quite different from frost-sweetened carrots in the midwest. But you have a number of other winter options, from lettuce to peas.

You should be ok. Just make sure you water if you aren't getting any rain. You could also grow tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and most other veggies in the winter there. My tomatoes and peppers are doing just fine and days have been in the 70fs and nites have been anywhere from mid 30fs to mid 50fs the past few weeks.

fruitnut -- oh... I wasn't expecting an answer that I can plant the seeds now!! Though the days are still in the low 100s to high 90s. And the nights are in the low 90s to high 80s. The heat now won't make the beets go woody and bitter?

glib-- The temperatures of December, January and February still aren't cool enough for carrots? I wish I could go make a border somewhere out in the middle of the desert just to grow a little bit of stuff... Its much colder out in the middle of nowhere in the desert during the winters here.

Do the carrots start to get the harsh, hot taste starting from the beginning of its growth? Or toward the middle of growth, or toward the end?

franktank232-- I have planted seeds for chili peppers, bell peppers, and tomatoes already! I got some to sprout and surprisingly they are surviving being out in full sun even in this heat (I have them in paper pots just so they don't absorb heat like ceramic or plastic would). Just waiting for more to sprout :)

The carrots will grow, of course, and if you use them in, e.g., a soup, they will make good soup. Their flavor will be similar to supermarket carrots but better. I never realized the difference between southern carrots and Michigan carrots until I moved here. They really need a few frosts to be at their best. In the South I could easily do without them, but not here where they are sweet and perfumed.

If you seed carrots and beets outside now they will not sprout, the soil is too hot. You have to do it inside, in 70ish temps, in seedling trays. They both transplant poorly, having a tap root, so do the best you can. We do the same all summer long with broccoli, kale or collard, the difference is all these transplant well.

Perhaps paper pots are your best choice. Or, if you have little experience in Dubai winter gardening, try as wide a selection as possible.

Glib-I've noticed the same. I picked carrots under 6 inches of snow once in December. Best carrots ever.

I used to garden in Kuwait but winters there are a fair bit cooler and longer than in Dubai. I didn't grow beets or carrots but I did grow other cool season crops/flowers like lettuce, potatoes and pansies. I seeded those in late October for a Jan-Mar harvest. Tomatoes and peppers were seeded in late September for a Jan-May harvest.

But because spring arrives earlier and hotter in Dubai, you might have to shift those dates earlier, so they don't mature in the heat. Seedlings can take heat better than mature plants, in the case of these crops. Still, I would wait until October for seeding any cool-season crops.

As suggested by others, starting indoors and transplanting is a good idea - just make sure you harden them off really well. Water very frequently when the weather is hot - deep, infrequent watering does not work there because of the sandy soil and high soil temperatures. Always do a moderate watering in the afternoon to cool off the soil surface a little, and a more substantial watering every morning.

If you're planting in the ground, amend with lots of compost. Otherwise, soil pH might be a bit on the high side for tomatoes and peppers.

Wow...Still very hot there:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=dubai

100F/86F... Probably going to be tough to get cool season crops going in that heat without a ton of water.

Thank you all for the advice!

Yes it is very hot here still! although in the last week, although it still feels just as hot as the week before, I noticed my tomato and pepper seedlings are staying moist for a bit longer.

I will wait a bit more for carrots--I will still try to grow them because I got some red, yellow, and white varieties.

I actually found good prices for potting soil so I am going to do a mix of potting soil, desert sand, compost, and shredded paper (I am growing in containers)