Looks indeed very nice. Is the bottom closed? Is there a drainage system in there for strong rain?
Thanks. No drainage system and the bottom is open. I thought long and hard about drainage and decided to try it without, I could always dig it in later if I need to. Yeah I was worried that during the monsoon it would fill up like a swimming pool, but that doesn't happen. It for sure drains faster than a garden at ground level. The footer is 3 by 10 with rebar tied into the wall, rebar in the wall tied into the cap. It takes a lot of framing to build the form for the cap, but well worth it.
Nice job,
Just got back after a couple of years of absence, so a lot of things to do, but just as soon as I am done with them I am planning to build one also. Dont get mad at me if I copy you, It look really nice.
I have been told that the best time to plan is in the Fall , so I am thinking of starting building it in the summer,
What kind of dirt did you use to fill it up. The dirt I have seen being sold in bags here in Khon Kaen , does not look very good to me.
Near me is a farm, I was thinking of getting some cow manure from there, and mixing it with clay and some sand. What is your thinking on that? I would appreciate ant advice.
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.
The filling (talking about my own experience) has to contain a lot of that coconut shell stuff, the coarse parts. This is needed because the hard rains will compact the soil over time, you loose the oxygen in the soil, and your plants suffer. A good practice is to cover the filling with hay or leaves (watch out for seeds from grass!) and add this maybe every year. it will depend on the rainfall how fast it will decompose. This cover will also be a buffer for the hard rains, an addition to the soil carbon, provide some nutrients and keeps the soil temperature stable.What kind of dirt did you use to fill it up. The dirt I have seen being sold in bags here in Khon Kaen , does not look very good to me.
Near me is a farm, I was thinking of getting some cow manure from there, and mixing it with clay and some sand. What is your thinking on that? I would appreciate ant advice.
The mix of the filling depends on what you want to grow in it. as a general rule I keep my coconut shell parts at 60 to 70%. compost, some kind of manure, the black burned rice-husks, will provide most needs.
The dirt you buy looks nice and black but doesn't hold moisture. You will think everything is good and then stick your hand in and it will be like powder. It works in a mix but alone is not very good. I mix the stuff already here with bought dirt, sand and cow shit. Always remember that grubs love cow shit. My main crop is tomatoes. There is a thread on here thats says you can not grow beautiful heirloom tomatoes here...they are wrong. It took years of trial and error but now I have beautiful tomatoes at least 4 months out of the year. A man at the seed store told me that Sept. was the time to plant tomatoes, so I listened to him. I had 7 or 8 varieties of seeds sent from USA. I didn't keep track of what variety I planted, I didn't care. Whichever produced nice tomatoes thats the seeds I would grow from next year. The big problem was blossoms that just died and no tomatoes. I could have a beautiful 5 ft. tall plant with no tomatoes. One variety came through and I grew some fist sized tomatoes. So for the last 5 years I have been growing from my own seeds and harvesting so many tomatoes. If somebody wants some seeds, I have no problem sharing a few. Easy to drop a few seeds in an envelope and mail them.
I made a few last month and planted wild garlic, basil, bamboo,pansies and bluebells in them.
Will post pics soon, must be a 100kgs of earth in each.
Fvcked my back up making and filling them.
Trouble is that the bamboo is starting to die.
If I could grow good tomatoes I would be a happy man. The tomatoes they sell in my neck of the woods (Khon Kaen) are atrocious at best. If there is one thing I miss from the US (there are many LOL) it would be nice big beefsteak tomatoes that do not taste like cardboard.
A nice cucumber and tomatoes with red onion and feta cheese salad , is what the doctor ordered. I also love stuffed tomatoes and Bell peppers. Any remaining Toms I would make sauce and freeze.
I found descent Feta cheese for a good price at Macro.
I did the same with the seeds in the US.
I would love some seed. no need to re-invent the wheel. I was also told September -October as the best time to plant. I will PM you my mailing address, and would appreciate some seeds.
I will admit, I am into tomato porn, so some pictures would be appreciated.
Last edited by Buckaroo Banzai; 25-05-2021 at 07:28 AM.
In my last UK house I had an idea for a bit of bamboo and bought one pot full from a garden centre. Pencil thin bamboo and not tall, maybe 4 feet. I stuck it in the garden and it did nothing at all over about ten years. Never got taller or thicker, never spread, it just survived. Completely crushed my dreams of setting up a panda sanctuary.
Been quite accepted and determined that most hybrid/engineered varieties of tomatoes don't take well to the rich loamy soils of Thailand, as you might well know already.
You'll take notice that the commercially viable products here are nurtured in induced soil mixes.....and usually the wrong breed to sustain themselves of any quality.
Having success with one's own fabricated very high raised beds of a decent mix of soil/mulch composition with equal drainage will do the trick.
Good local nurseries will carry seeds that procure local characteristics without the aid of zapped or modified mechanics - meaning: that one can reproduced your own natural seeds generation after generation.
^ We've tried many varieties of tomatoes with limited success... in fact the only ones that have thrived were the hard green Thai tomatoes that go into curries... is it pronounced 'makuear' or something similar? All other tomatoes died due to pests. Now I only grow local species of anything... be it tomatoes, runner beans, pumpkins or basil. I guess the local varieties have evolved to resist the local pests but UK species, when I've brought over the seeds, have no resistance.
Our raised beds have none of Tunk's refinement of appearance, but they are functional. All the blocks have come from fly-tipped builder's waste in the vicinity and they've been loosely cemented together... just to stop the soil from being washed away.
Chicken manure is regularly dug in, but it s so strong that it should be left a few weeks to break down. Even with regular fertilisaton I've noticed that beds still benefit from being left fallow a few months before planting a new crop... but try telling the gardener that. Our most successful crops are long beans, kana (kale?), morning glory, coriander and lettuce. There is also currently a thriving bed of ginger type stuff (glangal?) but I have no idea what to do with that.
I just love going out back and picking a few beans half an hour before dinner time.
Buckaroo you are the same as me, one thing I missed from Ohio was a big juicy tomato. I also miss bell peppers, has anybody grown nice big juicy bell peppers. I will post some tomato porn soon. I have a laptop computer that died with 5 or 6 years of pictures in it. I know my mistake, I make many computer mistakes.
HuangLao talked about something I have been curious about, how long could you grow from your own seed ? After 4 or 5 years I get some weird shaped tomatoes, they still taste delicious, just some weird shapes. I planted some giant sunflower seeds from US and I got really giant sunflowers, I'm talking about 14 or 16 inch head. So I planted from those seeds but have never had giant again.
Mendip your set up looks good. It looks like you can drop the sides to keep sparrows out, the sparrows drive me nuts. In the dry season when they are very hungry, they gobble any fresh juicy sprout that comes up. I have thought seriously about a guard rail or fence around my garden, but hesitate because what I like best about my garden is it is so easy to reach. But I will probably surround it with something just to keep the sparrows out. I can control the pests and the weeds, but those damn sparrows ruin a lot. Also I have a dog that loves cucumbers. No problem sharing, but he doesn't understand how to harvest. He just grabs a cucumber and walks away destroying the vine.
I tried some kana (kale), some plants survived for a while, refused to grow though, and then they fell over one by one. I thought they would be easy, but no.
I tried lettuce from seed and just a few grew large enough to eat. Someone suggested starting them as seedlings then transplanting when they are growing. Do you do that?
My galangal is growing well enough. Very useful in many Thai dishes. The lemongrass, chillies and different basils too. With some leaves from the kaffir lime tree we have enough for various Isan soups.
^ When I had more energy I used to thin out and transplant the seedlings once they'd germinated but these days I tend to watch the gardener dump an entire packet of seeds in a pile and watch the seedlings come up in a tangled clump. I start eating the kana when it's very young so that helps with the thinning. I think if you have the spare time that transplanting seedlings will vastly improve your yield.
Nah, that's Tommy... a sharper, more pungent flavour altogether.
You may well be correct AO... but if my wife calls them tomatoes I'm happy to go along. I find life easier that way. She's still pissed off that I mentioned her cheap chicken satay was in fact old pork... and that was your fault.
This is the plant with a bunch of baby 'makuear' developing. They will get to about... well... tomato size!
'Makeur' - Thai Eggplant.
Thai Eggplant Information, Recipes and Facts
Most often eaten (at least by Westerners) in Green Curry.
I took seeds from the biggest tomatoes that grew.
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