Sorting the Garden

One morning I get some very bad news from home. No more details here but money is going to be a bit tight for a while. We put further expansion plans on hold and decide to plough the land, grow some stuff and try to ride out the storm. First thing to do is plant a few more Bananas and mark out the field. Here is the last of a long line of odd-job men, Khun Torn, showing me how it is done

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We planted six regular green/yellow jobs because, at the time, I was unaware of the more colourful varieties. Different ones will follow, now that I know what to look and ask for.

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Khun Torn later returns with the oldest, Isaan style, working tractor I have ever seen and sets to work. I am slightly dissapointed to see all that butterfly playground go to waste, but it will be better to weed it than than try to make it look like a lawn, just by cutting it.


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The tractor may be a little past it but it does a reasonable job of the back. The opperater was given strict instructions to avoid anything that remotely resembled a tree, if he expected any money. The back went without a hitch.

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Actually, not bad for a first pass. The little strip of green marks the path down to where the sala n' stuff will be going, at some point.

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Round at the front however, things didn't go quite according to plan. Now I am not a Farmer, but I am capable of looking at the grass and judging how damp the ground might be. It doesn't always work but water loving grasses don't often grow in dry soils. Anyway, here we are out the front and stuck.

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A couple of hours later and we are resting on the chassis and can't get the cutters off the back. That's his missis helping out. There wasn't much anyone could do untill the son came home.

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I decide to leave them to it for a while. Some time ago, I can't exactly remember when, we adopted this Dog, or she adopted us. She was very shy, not in the first flush of youth and looking for company. I named her Rose but settled on Rosie after the G/f had trouble with the single sylable (she said).

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Better than a doorbell and much cheaper than a sensor array. :)

Sorry to hear about your spot of bother Loom, I hope things sort themselves out soon. What are you planning on planting once you've finished tilling?

Thanks, I am detirmined to get some fruit trees in. Mango, Rambutan, Mangoteen, Rose apple and Tamarind, to see how they do. The bulk of it will be short season stuff, for starters. Ground nut and sweetcorn. If the fruit trees take ok, I'll bung a few more in and go on from there. A few more coconuts down the drive and a couple of trees for the blossom. There are too many nice ones to have one of each, so we are thinking hard on this.

Sounds like a good plan. Ever think of Jackfruit? My neighbour has one and it grows fast, the fruit came fairly quickly, and the tree has nice deep green leaves. Of course I'm down in Bangers so it might not be the same where you are. I planted a Betelnut palm here five years ago and the thing has now grown above my roofline (two story house), nice palms too IMO.

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Originally Posted by shunpike

Ever think of Jackfruit?

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Until you mentioned it, no, but I will certainly consider it.

The poor guy with the tractor, managed to escape at some point, as the front had been 'done at' when I got up the next morning. In his obvious rush to get home, however, he had caught a few things with the end of the cutter. This one was decidedly unsafe, but otherwise healthy.

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Faced with a similar thing in Blighty, it's an easy thing to do to pop down to the local garden centre and get a decent stake and some sort of tie. Unfortunately, I was in Rome and had to find a Roman answer. I managed to find a stake, of sorts, but I couldn't get it close enough. As the tree was weak in one direction only, I placed it on the pull side and then utilised some inner tube and a bit of wire. Later, I will find some strapping from a discarded truck mudflap.

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An extra helping of earth around the bottom will keep her tootsies warm, untill the important bits grow back.

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Almost as good as before the tractor came.

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Shortly afterwards, the other guy with a tractor turned up to give the fields their second pass. This is one of your modern things with four wheel drive and real brakes. It still had a Thai pilot though and I spent most of the time standing in front of things I wanted to keep.

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Time for a spot of farming. The Headman was given the task of finding someone suitable to do us a bit of groundwork and he found the poorest, and most deserving sisters in the Mooban. Here are the Piniaruwunannaporns, or beauty and both beasts.

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Beauty has two kids, basic English skills and the usual drunken husband. The other two are still available and would both like children, if anyone is interested *cough*.

Working as a team, one makes a hole with the jod,

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...another drops in four or five little nuts,

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...the third one fills the hole and shuffles it flat with her foot. Having seen these people dance, it's not hard to work out where the steps originate from.

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The Sisters soon finish the back and stop by the lake to take on water. We are out of nuts already and the chain has broken on LoomB's bike. They politely agree to weed the nursery bed and come back tomorrow to do the rest.

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Easy to get a bit jaded about some of the false smiles in LOS, but these girls' smiles really light up the joint!

Good save on the tree Loomb!

Some days, and several misunderstandings, later I finally wind up with a small assortment of decent, bloom bearing trees,

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.......and a handfull of other stuff,

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...so I get planting. :)

I've no idea what this is really called, but it bears no fruit,

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...and gets bladdy huge, if left long enough. This one is in the Mooban over the road.

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A couple of roses, this one is as close to a 'Harry Wheatcroft' as I've seen. Not much scent but a riot of colour and grows like mad.

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This one is cute. Quite small, very full and six rows. Trace of scent on the first full day after morning watering. Dries on the stem when it has had enough and keeps for ages. Fresh ones just grow around it.

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Hang on a sec

That was weired...um
couple of coconuts, down the drive. They are such fun to watch as they grow.

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Down the other end we have a Tamarind or tway. Big, envasive, surface roots (after a few years) the odd sharp 'thorn' (just enough to break the skin), nice bark and tasty fruity things. Perfect for the back boundry!

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This is the Tamarinds eye view of the rear plantation area. You can just spot the last remaing vestiges of wildlife park, over by the lake.

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Back around to the soi side wall, I fancy a Lilac, a Golden Bell flower and another, smaller, Lucky tree. Further down the run and closer to the house, a Kay Naa. It's a bit like a Judas tree, the flowers/blooms come straight out of the bark, but they are large, fragrant and white. That will be the hardest to find, and the heaviest to plant.

Anyway, the Lilac goes in a treat,

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....and, all of a sudden, I have more to water than the remaing Saak trees. Not exactly 'holding on', more 'waiting patiently'.

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My first groundnut (that got planted in the field and not down in the practice bed). No wonder them Sisters were smiling.

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Looking good Loom. Looks like you will have to sort out an irregation system soon, or buy a long hose. :)

Didn't know you could get lilacs in Thailand, not seen them out there before.

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Originally Posted by Propagator

Looks like you will have to sort out an irregation system soon

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Cheers Props. We are recycling the grey water into a tank, just beyond the wall. This is a lot closer than the nearest tap and it makes it easier to bucket out.

Meanwhile, round at the front, the blocks are stopping most of the traffic from driving all over the place. I'm going to put a little hedge between the end of the drive and the flower bed to make it a bit more obvious. We start with a trench, instead of a lot of little holes.

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The usual decent soil and droppings on standby. We only have four pots to lay out,

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.....but there are between three and four plants in each pot. They are easier to sepperate once out of the pot and go in with a bit of extra good stuff

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The trench is back filled as we go, leaving everything slightly proud of the surrounding soil level. This will allow for subsequent dressing, when I finish farting about. One or two of the plants are not the same but I leave them there anyway. This is Isaan, not Kew Gardens.
Here we are, suitably heeled in and waiting for a drink.

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Down on the soi side, I'm digging another hole. This is the worst stuff imaginable, and we put it here in the first place to fill the vast trench that drained the field down to the lake and subsequent boggy area.

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It's actually going to be the new rubbish burning area.

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I'm sharing this for two reasons. One is this wonderful herb type plant that is growing all down by the fence. It is a cross between a nettle and something that has a small blue flower. When you bruise the leaf, it smell a bit like a sweet summer morning. No idea what it's called.

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The other reason is this little tree that was growing close to the old burning area. Everytime we had a fire, the top got burned away because I didn't realise that it was there. Freed from disaster, it has now gone mad. The local name is 'Beep', another slow grower that gets a bit big.

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Later that evening, I heard this stange noise out the back and noticed a strong smell of smoke. OMG, I thought, they are burning my garden!!! I dashed out, like you do, and caught this.

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Looks like we may be having neighbours.

Time for another tree hunt. We 'borrow' a pickup for the day and head over to one of the local temples to talk with an expert. He has a tree farm just out from Khorat City and has been digging up and replanting an assortment of trees for over twenty years.

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This was his idea of a nice example.

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Ok in principle but he wanted extra for this and extra for that. I noticed his lack of teeth and the fact that his Wife and kids were well fat. Not to mention that all his trees were supplied as a stump, with no branches. We couldn't get away quick enough and were soon lost in the Sung Neon area. After chatting to some locals, we found this place.

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They had everything we needed, with lots of helping hands.

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Back home, I needed a hand to get this out, but it is a nice example. Notice the grass that is all self seeded and now needs a trim

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We got a few things that I just had to have, like this. Red flowers that slowly turn orange and white lowers that slowly turn yellow. They come in other colours but these were the most interesting.

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This little chap is a Macarm. It has little green and curved pods with little nutty things inside. Bitter as hell but the natives love them.

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Just one more Rose, for now. It's not a looker but It has a sweet smell that seems to linger.

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It's time for more food, for me, and what better time to discover my first mushrooms.

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Yummy!

good work Loomy..are you going to put in some lemon grass?

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Originally Posted by shunpike

good work Loomy..are you going to put in some lemon grass?

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Cheers. Yes, we have a load growing along the edge of the lake on the high side. That has been incorporated into the nursery bed. Babies have been planted 'here and there'. I should have shown a picture before, cos I was jolly proud of it, when it first came up. I will try to find one.

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Originally Posted by Loombucket

We got a few things that I just had to have, like this. Red flowers that slowly turn orange and white lowers that slowly turn yellow. They come in other colours but these were the most interesting.

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Lantana camara. Watch out for this one... the first year you'll have the ones you just bought, flowering and attracting a lot of butterflies. Then come the seeds, and the birds.... Native species of Tropical America, Lantana is positioned as one of the ten most invasive plants in the world. Before you know they grow all over your garden, and you need some good gloves to attack them. Enjoy them, but keep 'm at bay...

Also read this: Lantana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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^Thanks for that Gipsy, I will keep my eye on them. I did notice a few other colours growing wild here and there. I had no idea that they were rampant.

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Originally Posted by Loombucket

...here and there. I had no idea...

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I think you should have had. :)

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Originally Posted by Gipsy

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Originally Posted by Loombucket

...here and there. I had no idea...

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I think you should have had. :)

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Let me rephrase that. I have seen them in the hedgerows, along small sois leading to various dead ends. I assumed that someone put them there, because they were pretty to look at. Now I understand why I never saw them in a public park or Temple garden. :)

Always happy to take advice though. Based on your info, it might be a good idea to move them a bit.

Thanks for the link.

Lets have a look at some of the stuff that we have put in already. The fairys have been hard at work, doing their magic, and stuff is growing fit to bust. Groundnuts,

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Chompoo or Rose apple

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Rambutan

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...even the Kay-Naa is enjoying it's new home.

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Meanwhile, down the other end, between the lake and the side fence, I keep a little pathway open.

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One reason is that I have already slipped of the bank into the lake, more than once, and lost a couple of flip-flops. The other reason is to get a good look at this tiny little thing. About as big as a two pence piece and bright gold in the centre.

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Nothing else to report down by the lake, but the Bua Dang are slowly taking over.

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I managed to relocate the broken drain pieces, from the tree garden by the high lake end. They now mark the path to the back gate and are sporting a few odds and ends. They will have to come out when they get bigger, but they are ok for now. As soon as a white bloom falls, another one takes it's place.

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This is a view of the front bed from the bend in the drive. Not many flowers here, just different shaped green things.

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Lovin' it Loomby, thanks. I wonder if you could give us a nice shot of the lake, bit wider angle than the Bua Daeng pic.

More bad news from home and some really terrible news. I have to go home, like now.

I need to put this one to bed, again, and dust it off at a later date.

Thanks for some great support, good suggestions, greens and kind comments.

For now, cheers everyone.

Sorry to hear that Loom. Hope all goes well for you.

Keeping a good thought for you Loomby..

Good luck, Loom, hope you'll be back in no time to continue this wonderful garden and great thread.

What a great thread and photos, hope all is well at home, you have inspired me to do something with the home in the village at KK when I return in March
Cheers