Desert gardening - clueless needs help (Doha)

Hello,

In the never give up spirit of diy i'm planning to turn a patch of dirt in my backyard into a desert wonderland of flora. Unfortunately, I'm no green thumb. But I figure someone here might know or be able to point me in the right direction. I don't want to succumb and hire a gardener just yet, want to have the feeling of achieving something by planting some living thing. Anyone have any ideas? All thoughts welcome :)

thanks guys