Thread: Greenscaping our Retirement Home in Nan Province

BIP, no, they are not the Ratchapruek tree, aka Indian Rain tree, golden shower tree (who thought of that name?), golden rain tree, and lots of other names.
The ratchapruek has long strings of flowers, and does not flower until next month or so.

^ Some are flowering now but the majority aren't in full bloom for a month or so.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

....short answer is I really don't know.

Most likely Cochlospermum religiosum, very easy to propagate by taking big cuttings (the wood itself is as yellow as the flowers after cutting). Flowers in january and february. My garden is yellow...

Update 24 February 2019

Been a while since I made a substantive post on the thread. While things have been moving forward we lost quite a bit of momentum a couple of Thursdays back when I stuffed up my hands from using a heavy digging bar and then had a bad head cold for several days. Even the general duties guy hurt himself and needed five days off. So between he and I being laid low the only real work in the yard was being done by the wife. Nevertheless we are all back in the saddle and I've taken on another local Thai to assist. Next week I'll likely take on two more for 3-4 days as there is some heavy work required for the retaining wall.

We've now planted six advanced foxtail palms, six advanced Yellow Indian trees, an advanced frangipani, two lime trees, a kaffir lime tree, several Thai and Australian passion fruit vines, two Flamevines, three bananas, two coconuts and approximately twelve mango and other fruit trees. I'm also deep watering the existing rambutan and lychee trees to try to get some new life into them. And the vegetable gardens are going well with lettuce being harvested everyday and chilli, melon, bok choy and corn now well established.

We got the back hoe in for a second day (4,500 baht) and finished clearing the boundaries including the teak tree stumps and also removed the concrete posts that supported the temporary fence on the west boundary.

Reminder in the picture below green text is a completed task, orange in progress and black not started.

The lettuce garden is booming. We've only planted out the seddlings in the last days of January and have been harvesting lettuce for two weeks now. Can't eat it quickly enough so donated ten heads to a restaurant in Nan a couple of days ago.

The back hoe guy doing his thing.


Got a bit artistic on one of my sunset photos. Only good thing about the smokey atmosphere is the great start and end of day colour.

Some views of the west side of the front yard. Still very much WIP.

BiP
Looking good so far. I am jealous of the lettuces as I can't grow that sort of stuff as it is too hot even under the shade cloth.
I finally got some broccoli to grow but it won't flower and produce any heads, from what i have read online they get stressed by the heat.
So you must be in a cooler place than me.

I was however disappointed in you never posted any pictures of the teak stumps being dug out. I love digging out stumps with my little digger.

Anyway just remember labor is cheap so pay some locals and just sit back and supervise don't do the work yourself as you might not live to see it all grown up.
Cheers

Loving this thread BiP (and chief horticulturalist Ahe!)

its taking shape real fast now. i just hope those 'lil tree' dont grow into monsters and take the place over!

im especially liking the raised veg beds and will be looking to do something similar.

we already have mangoes and bananas, and a plan for that fruiting bush out side the boundary.

I really need to check now what will actually grow in Chonburi! (LOL I'm guessing its cooler 'oop Narth')

Very nice!

Thanks ootai, the lettuce has been a revelation, jumping out of the ground and no pests. But things are not perfect, for some reason not a single bean seed sprouted. Quite surprised. I remember back in June when I planted tomato seeds at the rented house in Nan, not a single one sprouted, the first time in recorded human history I think. Also neither the Australian nor Thai passion fruit vines are growing yet. Been in the ground two weeks and while still looking healthy, not yet any new growth.

I found a couple of photos on the iPhone of the teak tree stumps. My God they are tough. This back hoe struggled on most of them. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by ootai

BiP
Looking good so far. I am jealous of the lettuces as I can't grow that sort of stuff as it is too hot even under the shade cloth.
I finally got some broccoli to grow but it won't flower and produce any heads, from what i have read online they get stressed by the heat.
So you must be in a cooler place than me.

I was however disappointed in you never posted any pictures of the teak stumps being dug out. I love digging out stumps with my little digger.

Anyway just remember labor is cheap so pay some locals and just sit back and supervise don't do the work yourself as you might not live to see it all grown up.
Cheers

Thanks TD. Enjoying myself again after the hands stopped hurting (blisters) and the head cold subsided. Ahe is going great guns in the yard but there has been a bit of tension between us on several aspects. We've probably had more tense discussions in the last few weeks than in ten plus years we've been together. But we are able to work it through. We'll probably end up over planting and as others have mentioned spend time in the next several years pruning and culling plants. However Ahe is accepting that she has maybe 15-20 fruit trees we just cannot find space. I've got her focusing on what she wants most.

It was any easy decision to go raised beds for the vegetable gardens. Firstly, we could do it quickly by laying down the edges and importing soil and compost, second it would have been a nightmare trying to do something productive with the rocky fill that comprises the backyard now. Turns out the silent partner we were buying our compost off was the build team lead for our house. Small world...you might remember I commented our house build electrician said he could also sell us the garden edge blocks. Still don't know if he is an electrician that dabbles in landscape supply or the other way round. (But he did eventually fix the current leakage out of the kitchen under sink hot water heater.)

See your about to crack 100,000 views on your build thread. Congrats on that. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by Thai Dhupp

Loving this thread BiP (and chief horticulturalist Ahe!)

its taking shape real fast now. i just hope those 'lil tree' dont grow into monsters and take the place over!

im especially liking the raised veg beds and will be looking to do something similar.

we already have mangoes and bananas, and a plan for that fruiting bush out side the boundary.

I really need to check now what will actually grow in Chonburi! (LOL I'm guessing its cooler 'oop Narth')

Thanks CSFFan.

Originally Posted by CSFFan

Very nice!

Originally Posted by Norton

Had same here. Building the house no issues the missus left all to me. Sensing a bit of tension, I quickly conceded landscaping decisions to the missus. A wise move as all came out nicely. With the exception of a few very nice flowers and shrubs, her philospy, "if ya can"t eat it don't plant it", worked to perfection.

Yep.
Never question the boss, as they know well how things are.

...the yard work is coming along nicely...I'm trying to imagine what the finished product will look like...

A veritable Garden of Eden tomcat, except we'll be dressed, there will be no apple tree and I suspect we may have more rocky soil than it had. Oh, and it appears we'll have multiple snakes. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by tomcat

...the yard work is coming along nicely...I'm trying to imagine what the finished product will look like...

Got some traction on the new fences with the fence posts along the front west boundary concreted in this morning. Took about an hour and a half this morning for the two locals to correct the post heights. I gave then a system to use yesterday but apparently according to the wife they decided to change it for some reason or other. The result was all of the posts they positioned after they made the change were ten centimeters too high...sigh! The two Thai are stringing the barbed wire this afternoon but I've told them not to tighten it until tomorrow. They can have an early day today.

In a rare outcome this morning I actually managed to find both the fasteners and tensioners I wanted. The fasteners are being used to tie one end of the fence to the trellis we put in for the Flamevines. The tensioners attach to the fasteners and the barbed wire.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

...See your about to crack 100,000 views on your build thread. Congrats on that. Regards, -BiP

I am speechless and a bit humbled TBH... never imagined in a million years there would be so much support and interest.

Clearly I chose the right forum too, when I was deciding where to tell the tale, with the good advice from members along the way.

Roll on the end of zone 1 and 2, and the wall... I need a breather!!!

thanks, BTW

Originally Posted by Thai Dhupp

I am speechless and a bit humbled TBH... never imagined in a million years there would be so much support and interest.

Clearly I chose the right forum too, when I was deciding where to tell the tale, with the good advice from members along the way.

Roll on the end of zone 1 and 2, and the wall... I need a breather!!!

thanks, BTW

Shouldn't be terribly surprised, Dhupp - as TD has always favoured construction/building threads of the sort. Promoted and popular.
Remembering that TD was initially a start-up with a strong emphasis along these lines by a construction contractor/carpenter-type.