Thread: Greenscaping our Retirement Home in Nan Province

I had planned Malay back and front but with the purchase of Manila grass it will be in the back yard and Malay in the front. Personally will be cheering on the spread and smothering by the Malay grass in the front yard, trying to stay on top of the weeds is hard work. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by aging one

The Malay grass spreads and creeps like crazy. If near any other type of grass it will take over. Our house we only had Malay on the side with shade, and the rest was normal thin leafed grass. Within one year the Malay had spread and is now the dominant grass in our yard.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

Hi Neverna,

Below are a couple of pictures of some Manila grass I have not yet laid sitting on some recently laid Malay grass. Wikipeadia has a good article on Manila grass under the title 'Zoysia Matrella' although confusingly it says Malay grass is one of its other names.

Manila grass turf sitting on Malay grass.


Underside of Manila grass turf.


Hope that helps. Regards, -BiP

That's great. Thanks. I've seen the Malay grass before in Thailand but I much prefer to look at the finer Manila grass.

Originally Posted by Neverna

I've seen the Malay grass before in Thailand but I much prefer to look at the finer Manila grass.

Agreed but the Manila grass needs strong constant sun. No sun and it will die in weeks. My problem was shade from big trees. So in came so Malay which took over the whole grassy yard.

Finally got some steady rain on Monday night and yesterday and will be looking at how the Malay and Manila grass turf we laid responds over the coming days. Was a bit perplexed this morning to see decidedly sick looking patches of Manila grass. Fingers crossed it bounces back.

It's been just on a month since I laid this Malay grass turf. (See post #192.) Really happy how it has taken. It is lush, has filled in the gaps, stabilized the 12-15cm of fill underneath and I've even got runners spilling out the edges.

Got white and red frangipani flowers at the moment. We've also got a pink based multi-colour frangipani but that is still recovering from a near death experience caused by it being relocated twice by us. We've also reserved a spot for a yellow frangipani but have not sourced one yet.

The white frangipani fragrance is one of my favourites, up there with a good English rose, gardenia flowers and the vine like jasmine common in eastern Australian gardens.

Got a third and last load of topsoil today...500 baht. The wife and I will distribute it around the yard next week. Hard work means I can justify some type of sweet treat at the end of the day, maybe a beer or two at the end of the job as well.

Got asked about the Australian sourced passionfruit plants we raised from seeds. We got quite a few plants out of them. At the same time we also got some Thai passionfruit seeds to sprout so we planted both types in two places on the land.

Down the back corner we planted two Thai and one Aussie plant on the back side fence. The Aussie died but the two Thai plants are thriving.

On a trellis on the west side of the house we planted a number of Aussie and Thai plants. All are thriving. I've no idea when passionfruit plants in Thailand flower/fruit but am looking forward to it.

Aussie plants closest to the camera.


Aussie plant closest.


Aussie plants on the left. Much more lower foliage than the Thai plant.


Thai plants closest to camera here.


I had hoped the plants would use both sides of the trellis however it seems they are attracted to the radiant heat from the house. I'm already cutting off feelers/tentacles (there is likely a better term) sticking out too far.

BiP that lawn is looking good. How often did you and will you have to water it? Ref teh Frangipani, they are easy to take cuttings and grow your own, stem + three branches and rooting powder and you are good to go.

On the passion fruit, ours seem to prefer growing up through trees, so wee have 3, one in each Lam Yai

Maybe cotton buds could be used to fertilise the flowers.

Will give it a shot once they flower.

Originally Posted by docmartin

Maybe cotton buds could be used to fertilise the flowers.

Heavy hand watered it twice a day for three weeks NPT. Less so now that it is established even though the wet season has been a dud so far here.

We found a fantastic yellow frangipani outside a large local factory a couple of months ago. It was the weekend and so it was closed so after checking out the security guard/camera situation (paranoid wife) I took a decent cutting. F**king thing bled white sap over the Hilux interior then after getting the rooting powder and planting treatment up and died on us. Maybe will try again and take the cutting type you suggest. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by NamPikToot

BiP that lawn is looking good. How often did you and will you have to water it? Ref teh Frangipani, they are easy to take cuttings and grow your own, stem + three branches and rooting powder and you are good to go.

On the passion fruit, ours seem to prefer growing up through trees, so wee have 3, one in each Lam Yai

Thunder the chocolate Labrador has been with us two and a half weeks. He is 12 weeks old now. We let him sleep in our bedroom for two weeks in one of those big black plastic concrete mixing tubs. We moved him outside three nights ago and he coped really well. Not a peep, no wining/barking, no vengeful destruction of anything. The wife has got him walking on a lead and the only anti-social behaviour is he wees on the deck during the night. He knows his name and 'no' and 'sit'. He likes to spend time with us in our bedroom retreat during the day which tends to be the afternoon since it is hot. He is still a kid and hasn't got full control of his body...clumsy. But much to my surprise he is already demonstrating intelligence that in my experience takes a few years for a Labrador to exhibit. We love him. Twelve years was too long to wait for another dog.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

up and died on us. Maybe will try again and take the cutting type you suggest. Regards, -BiP

They are a type of succulent so will start to root without soil initially, they need drying out first or they'll rot.

How to take a frangipani cutting
Remove old wood. Choose a firm stem. Using sharp secateurs, make a cutting about 30–50cm long. ...

Rest wounds. Remove the leaves and place cuttings somewhere dry, well ventilated and in full sun. ...

Plant. When the area behind the wound swells, insert cuttings, one per pot, into a fast-draining propagating mix.

Thanks NPT. Will give it a second go.

Originally Posted by NamPikToot

They are a type of succulent so will start to root without soil initially, they need drying out first or they'll rot.

How to take a frangipani cutting
Remove old wood. Choose a firm stem. Using sharp secateurs, make a cutting about 30–50cm long. ...

Rest wounds. Remove the leaves and place cuttings somewhere dry, well ventilated and in full sun. ...

Plant. When the area behind the wound swells, insert cuttings, one per pot, into a fast-draining propagating mix.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

It's been just on a month since I laid this Malay grass turf. (See post #192.) Really happy how it has taken. It is lush, has filled in the gaps, stabilized the 12-15cm of fill underneath and I've even got runners spilling out the edges.

Thats taken well, should be well rooted by the next "dry season" that is if we get a "wet season" we got some good rains here in Udon but seems to have dried up now! strange weather. Doesn't need a lot of water to keep it alive in the dry season.
We have both Manilla and Malay, the Malay was put down where the Manilla died of under the trees, it hasn't spread very much at all, the Manilla in the sun is strong enough to keep it at bay.

The Manila grass I laid in the back yard is looking less healthy. Only got it because the nursery didn't have Malay grass on the day. Will keep up the heavy watering and consider prayer.

So the wife asked what I was doing when I took the above photo of the Manila grass. Told her I was posting in this thread so she insisted I post a photo of her cucumbers...quite proud of them she is. It would seem the outcome of our first several months gardening here we have excelled at lettuce, purple eggplants and now cucumbers. Although the wife tells me she has asparagus coming up.

Good looking cucumbers, is the netting to keep all the hungry bugs out?

Hi Dennis, we do have two gardens where the wife has used a king bed mosquito net to keep bugs out and that has worked quite well. But the other netting and certainly that near the cucumbers was to cut down harsh sunlight during the dry and hot season. Easier to leave it up than take it down. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by dennis4558

Good looking cucumbers, is the netting to keep all the hungry bugs out?

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

insisted I post a photo of her cucumbers...quite proud of them she is.

Tell Mrs BiP you are going to get her some Cucumber Condoms

Well...umm...thanks NPT but I'm not sure I want the wife to know there are condoms of any type that size...I can see too many tricky questions being asked.

Originally Posted by NamPikToot

Tell Mrs BiP you are going to get her some Cucumber Condoms

No one likes a bent cucumber, that's all i'm saying.

^There is even an EU standard issued against the cucumber bend - no kidding...

Yeah, actually there isn't.

No kidding.