#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Farming & Gardening In Thailand >  >  Buadhai's New Garden

## buad hai

I guess this is sort of a branch from this thread: The Construction of Ms. AC's House. I imagine this thread will go on for some time.

The house itself is pretty much finished, but we won't be moving in for a while as there still is no water or power.

However, I'm anxious to get the garden going, so I've already begun.

My last house (on Saipan) was on a 13,000 square meter block of land. The new house is on a block that is just over 300 square meters, so I've had to scale down my thinking quite a bit. (The Saipan house had three ponds, over 100 coconut trees, about 100 betel nut palms, half a dozen mango trees, etc.)

Most of the new garden will be in these two spaces; each of which has about ten square meters:


This is the "back" yard and will be for a few fruit trees and maybe some herbs and spices.


This is the "front" yard. The pond will go here. The plants that go here will serve several purposes:

To provide some privacy by screening out the street and neighbors.To provide nice vistas with a little color.To provide some fragrance.

Our plan is to use lots of palms for screening, some plumeria for color and fragrance, plenty of orchids (we have about 100 now) and whatever else strikes our fancy.

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## buad hai

Until recently Plumeria (Frangipani) was not commonly found in household gardens. The former common name, lantom (ลั่นทม) was too close to a Thai word for sadness or sorrow, ratom (ระทม). Less than a decade ago a group of dealers renamed the plant lilawadee (ลีลาวดี). I don't think this name has any meaning, but the change has caused the popularity of Plumeria in Thailand to soar.

Two years ago we were looking for a plumeria for our garden. After visiting dozens of nurseries we found but a single small plant that cost us 450 baht. It has never flowered. Now the nurseries are full of all sorts of varieties with colors galore. It's even possible to buy huge mature trees that were probably harvested from wats, the only place you used to see this plant. According to one article I read a three meter Plumeria tree costs about 10,000 baht in Bangkok. Thankfully, they are much cheaper here in Korat.

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## buad hai

You can actually buy Plumeria online:

PlumeriaThailand

Plumeria In Thailand : Plumeria Flowers

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## buad hai

A couple of weeks ago we decided to start the landscaping, even though we knew the house wouldn't be ready for occupancy for quite some time. Not far from us, near the village of Khok Kruat, is a big nursery center with dozens and dozens of retail outlets which sell every plant imaginable along with gardening supplies, paving stones, etc. The first batch of plants we bought included a Plumeria obtusa (the one with the shiny green leaves and abundant fragrant flowers) and a bunch of palm trees.


I also bought a shovel. Hard to find a decent one.


Palms to block the view of the street through the fence.


The Plumeria viewed from the front porch.


We plan to put one of those bas-relief sculptures that Thais call "jigsaw" on this wall.


More palms along the front wall.


Orchids do pretty well when hanging on a Plumeria. Here I've tied some new orchid shoots along with some coconut husk using plastic raffia.

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## Marmite the Dog

I see the lawn has started to sprout. Can you give us details about that?
(And, no, I'm not taking the piss)

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## buad hai

> I see the lawn has started to sprout. Can you give us details about that?


Weeds. I just bought some Roundup this morning to kill it all. The developer is supposed to put turf over all the ground. That will happen "real soon now", I suppose.

In the photo with the "lawn" you can see a pile of granite stones. I found those outside of a gravel yard about a half kilometer from the house. I'm assuming they discarded these stones as an inappropriate ingredient in the gravel they sell. They will be perfect for around the pond.

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## Thetyim

I found this motorcy outside an empty house.
I have assumed they have discarded it as an inappropriate form of transport.
It will be perfect for nipping down the village.   :Very Happy:

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## Sir Burr

I've always thought the nicest Plumeria is Plumeria Singapura. It's the one with the large white flowers that are yellowish in the middle. It has the strongest scent of all the varieties of Plumeria I have come across.

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## buad hai

> I've always thought the nicest Plumeria is Plumeria Singapura.


It's the common name of obtusa. My favorite as well.

From Wiki:




> Another species that retains leaves and flowers in winter is P. obtusa; though its common name is "Singapore", it is originally from Colombia.

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## dirtydog

> you can see a pile of granite stones. I found those outside of a gravel yard about a half kilometer from the house. I'm assuming they discarded these stones as an inappropriate ingredient in the gravel they sell.


Just thought I should mention that if your down my way those stones I have in the front garden are not discarded, they are placed in artistic posititions, so don't bloody nick them  :Smile:

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## Butterfly

it's going to look to great if you are going to add a few banana fan trees

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## buad hai

> it's going to look to great if you are going to add a few banana fan trees


I'm afraid they'd get too big...

I like them very much though. When I was out buying the Roundup this morning I picked up some golden bamboo and spotted a Traveler's Palm that would look great.



Is that the one you had in mind?

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## Thetyim

> this morning I picked up some golden bamboo


Good choice, that looks great, wonderful colour and gives  nice shade

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## Sir Burr

> Originally Posted by Sir Burr
> 
> I've always thought the nicest Plumeria is Plumeria Singapura.
> 
> 
> It's the common name of obtusa. My favorite as well.
> 
> From Wiki:
> 
> ...


Thanks M, I didn't know that.

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## buad hai

Roundup (Glyphosate) is sort of a controversial herbicide. Some claim that it's a scourge on the earth while others claim that it is one of the least toxic to animals herbicides in general use.

I find it to be enormously effective and without it would have been unable to fight back the jungle surrounding my hectare plot of land on Saipan.

I bought some yesterday to kill the weeds that have germinated at the new house. I was surprised to see that a liter bottle of the stuff only costs 250 baht. That same amount cost $32 on Saipan.

I bought a separate sprayer for the Roundup as I don't want to inadvertently kill plants that I've put in. I labeled the spray bottle so that yours truly (AKA "Mr Clumsy") will not err in application:

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## buad hai

I found this photo in DD's gallery. I've been looking all over Korat for a place like this that sells the sort of stones that are in the foreground. No luck so far. Any ideas? Where was the photo taken DD?

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## Propagator

I agree with you about the Roundup.     Is that the undiluted brand variety?    I used to get it a few years ago (undiluted and it cost around 100 pound per 5 litres.    Unfortunately you cant buy the undiluted Roundup in the UK unlass you have a spraying licence.

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## buad hai

> Is that the undiluted brand variety?


It's Roundup brand and it's 48&#37; Glyphosate. The "Super Concentrate" they market in the US is 52%.

The package is all in Thai and the only address I see is in Bangkok.

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## Thetyim

> I've been looking all over Korat for a place like this that sells the sort of stones that are in the foreground.


We got loads of then here.
I fetched them myself from a nearby stream.

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## buad hai

> We got loads of then here.
> I fetched them myself from a nearby stream.


I'm afraid all I'd be able to fetch from the Mun River around here is mud....

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## dirtydog

That picture was taken in Salaburi, loads of stone places there  :Smile:

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## buad hai

> That picture was taken in Salaburi, loads of stone places there


Of course, we pass them all the time. I was hoping for something a little closer to Korat and a little less risky than nicking from the local gravel yard....

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## dirtydog

They deliver, I normally just phone them with what I want, 10 wheeler to Jomtien is like 2,000baht.

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## klongmaster

> Just thought I should mention that if your down my way* those stones I have in the front garden are not discarded, they are placed in artistic posititions,* so don't bloody nick them

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## buad hai

Ms. B's day off yesterday so we decided to buy some more plants. We usually shop for plants at a big nursery center which is at the village of Khok Kruat, about 20K west of Korat on the main highway (Thai 2) to Bangkok.

This place has probably a hundred vendors selling everything from orchids to fruit trees to ornamentals and lots of pots and gardening supplies.



About half way down this row of shops is a coffee place that makes wonderful ice coffee. A great place to relax after a hard morning of plant shopping.


In the middle of the place they have this huge pond with a rather formal Thai garden. I'm not much in to formal gardens, but I do like the palms at this end of the pond.



I'm not sure why they don't fill up the pond to cover the liner....



This is the older section of the nursery center on the opposite side of the road from the pond. I think there are a total of six or seven sois with shops on both sides.



Lots of pots and gardening supplies at this place.



This is the soi for big trees.


We bought all this for about 1000 baht and managed to carry it all in our little Toyota Vios.

I think we got one palm, five Heliconia, two bird's nest ferns, a Jumpee (ylanylang) tree, and about a dozen smaller ferns and ornamentals and two bags of mulch.

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## Jet Gorgon

> This is the productive part of the garden: banana, papaya, guava, lime, lemongrass, peppers, basil, mint, etc.


I cannae see the lemongrass or the manao tree...but it all looks absolutely fantabulous, BH! Thanks for sharing.

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## jizzybloke

> Originally Posted by zipcode
> 
> make one from modeling clay or plaster-of-paris.
> 
> 
> You're presuming talent that may not exist....


 
Come on BH you'be done wonders so far in that garden a little thing like this is not above your talent!

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## Propagator

Looks great BH - really shows what a years growth can do.

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## zipcode

> Originally Posted by buad hai
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> This is the productive part of the garden: banana, papaya, guava, lime, lemongrass, peppers, basil, mint, etc.
> 
> 
> I cannae see the lemongrass or the manao tree...but it all looks absolutely fantabulous, BH! Thanks for sharing.


Unless i am wrong, them's mango leaves at the extreme left edge of picture.

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## buad hai

Here you can see a guava in front of a lime tree, some lemon grass, a dwarf coconut and the compost heap.

ZipCode's right about the mango leaves in the other photo.

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## zipcode

> ZipCode's right about the mango leaves in the other photo.


You can take the boy out of Ratnagiri, but you cannae take Ratnagiri out of the boy!

[Never mind...an Indian would know that Ratnagiri is where the best mangoes in the whole entire multi-verse are grown, and my family going back many generations were the initial founders in the region.

When I thought my youngest might be allergic to mango sap, i was devastated!  Fortunately, he isn't. 

Sorry for hijacking BH's great thread; send me reds.

But also blame Jet for asking where are the mango trees, and BH for confirming my reply.

But it is mostly my fault.

OTOH, you have learned where the best mangoes in the world are grown.

I will stop now.]

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## buad hai

There's nothing quite like the mangos in South Asia. I remember coming out of the Khyber Pass into Pakistan and, after several parched weeks in Afghanistan, being absolutely astounded at the quality, quantity and variety of the mangos we saw for sale from carts absolutely everywhere we went. Thanks for the memory.

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## zipcode

You are welcome!

Ratnagiri region (Konkan) grows the variety called 'Alphonso' or 'Happus'.  Incredible stuff!

Sadly, they are thinner-skinned, bruise easily, and ripen fast.

So, until a railway line was built to that area about a decade ago, the best fruit were sent by coastal boat to Bombay, then air-freighted to Dubai/UAE/Saudi, where they sold for huge amounts.

Now, due to the rails, they can be shipped/sold throughout India, but unfortunately that means the price is even higher since all Indians are competing for a limited supply.

Fortunately, my second cousin (our grandfathers were brothers) is now in charge of the estate, so he sends a few cases each season to relatives outside the area.  Kind of interesting how the transactions works; good example of the system of 'societal bartering':

He will send 14 crates to the railway station; twelve are marked with our address in our other city.  The station manager is expected to take one of the 14, and manifest the other 13, and send them on their way.  The station agent at the destination is expected to take one of 13, and deliver the dozen ASAP.  The delivery man is given 3 or 4 mangoes as a tip.

At the end of the season (or whenever the mangoes have been et), we fill the crates with any items that our relatives have requested (usually textbooks or speciality items), and send them back the same route.  The station managers dont get anything for this leg of the journey, other than the memory (when they see the crates) of the yummy mangoes they ate a month back.

Which is how my verbiage relates to your comment about your memory!

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## zipcode

> There's nothing quite like the mangos in South Asia. I remember coming out of the Khyber Pass into Pakistan and, after several parched weeks in Afghanistan, being absolutely astounded at the quality, quantity and variety of the mangos we saw for sale from carts absolutely everywhere we went. Thanks for the memory.


Quite a lot of Persian and Afghani poetry praises mangoes.

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## hillbilly

Your garden is looking great!

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## The Gentleman Scamp

Nice, I want one.

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## Propagator

^ a garden or mango?   Seriously to have a good garden, you will have to have the garden 'gene.'     Many people love to see a good garden, but really have no idea as to what to do, and how to organise their working in it.     Too many people are what I call 'instant gardeners', they buy a plant and expect it to bloom the next day and keep going for years.

You have to have patience and to learn to know the plants and their growing enviroment.    There is a lot of truth in the saying that you need a green thumb.  You either have it or not, and with no disrespect Scampy I dont see you being a person with a green thunb.

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## buad hai

> You have to have patience


in abundance. And, you have to be prepared for both failure (lots of it) and many, often unpleasant surprises.

A fine example is my "Growing Lotus From Seed" thread. I have tried that dozens of times over the years. I ordered seeds from the US, bought them at Chatuchak, "harvested" them from lotus ponds from Korat to Hua Hin, retrieved them from Chinese instant soup packs, etc. Never got a plant to survive into maturity. But, I kept trying and finally got a plant to grow from seed to flower.

Of course, I don't photograph and display the failures. But, believe me, there are many.

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## zipcode

> retrieved them from Chinese instant soup packs


 :rofl: 

You planning a 'ramen vine' next? :Smile:

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## Jet Gorgon

Thanks for the lemon grass photo BH and the explanations, guys. I love lemon grass when it gets big -- reminds me of a Hawaiian hula dancer (grass skirt). Too true about patience. One English neighbour bought tons of baby plants and just let them grow -- all spindly and sickly they were, I kept telling her to hack them back (especially hibsicus and those palm/bamboo-like plants that get a few new branches when you hack off the tops and then stick in the ground to root a new plant). She'd come over and ask why mine were so bushy -- I showed her the machete. She just didn't want to lose that growth in height.
Anyway, thanks again for the pics and updates, BH.

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## buad hai

I often see about a half dozen of these bees congregating around a rock outcrop in my stream. It looks like quartz, but I'm no expert. It's obvious that they are after something in or on the rock but I can't tell what it is. Any ideas?

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## Norton

> I often see about a half dozen of these bees congregating around a rock outcrop in my stream. It looks like quartz, but I'm no expert. It's obvious that they are after something in or on the rock but I can't tell what it is. Any ideas?


Calcite maybe.  Wasps use it for nest making if I recall correctly.

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## buad hai

Maybe so. I'll try and taste it. These look more like bees, about 1 cm long.

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## Norton

Could simply be salt deposits.  Bees and other insects do need salt in their diet.  Guess the taste test is in order.

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## buad hai

^No taste at all. I remain baffled.

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## Happyman

We used to get a load of bees/ wasps on opencast coalsites whenever we uncovered a layer of fireclay(?)

- maybe the same thing ?

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## El Gibbon

Maybe just the moisture ？？

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## buad hai

> Maybe just the moisture ？？


But they're always in just that one exact spot. It's a hunk of granite or gneiss with big vein of quartz in it.




> a layer of fireclay(?)


Don't see any clay there, but one of the nearby pebbles that are mortared in might have something like that.

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## Norton

Have it analyzed.  You may well have discovered a previously unknown mineral.  We could call it Buadhaite. :Smile:

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## a. boozer

> Have it analyzed.  You may well have discovered a previously unknown mineral.  We could call it Buadhaite.


Nice One!   :rofl:

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## buad hai



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## Jet Gorgon

> Originally Posted by Norton
> 
> 
> Have it analyzed. You may well have discovered a previously unknown mineral. We could call it Buadhaite.
> 
> 
> Nice One!


Second that.

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## sunsetter

> We started planting this garden nearly a year ago. This morning I took a few shots to document the progress:
> 
> 
> It's Wan Pra, so Ganesh got a couple of garlands, candles and some incense.
> 
> 
> The pond with some new construction in the background.
> 
> 
> ...


love it all mate nice work looks great, green!  couldnt green ya gotta spread some love

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## buad hai

We added a little statuary over the weekend.

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## buad hai



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## Norton

Looks very cool and peaceful place to start the day with a cup of coffee!!

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## ChiangMai noon

you've done a great job there bh.

if you have any free time, i could do with your help.
 :Smile:

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## buad hai

> if you have any free time, i could do with your help.


Your previous garden looked very nice. Just my style. What do you have in mind for the new place, or are the existing surrounds sufficient? (We haven't seen many photos, you know....)

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## ChiangMai noon

^
we have tried seeding it to start, right now it's a big mass of black dirt.
first seed has started to show but the fukking chickens from next door are doing their best to kill it off.

today's job is fencing off the barbed area that the chickens are coming through.

i'll get a thread started today.

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## buad hai

> i'll get a thread started today.


Promises, promises....

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## ChiangMai noon

^
actually, we have a whole load of wood left over from the old house that was here.
planning to make a little pagoda surrounded by a pond.

just showed my wife your latest pics and she is inspired by them.

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