Thread: Low Maintenance Garden in Khon Kean

That’s it!

Today we had the concrete driveway repaired (developed cracks from the weight of the small trucks backing over it with the ¾ rock).

I will post pictures from time to time (maybe every 6 months) to show the growth progress.

I still haven’t decided on a date yet (maybe the first week in February) to let any interested TD members come and look at the garden.

The final costs are:

Clearing: 13,000 baht
Earth work (revised because of driveway): 55,141.50 baht
Construct Structures: 120,404.17 baht
Landscaping: 48,767 baht

Total: 237,312.67 baht

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Total: 237,312.67 baht

Fek me. Could've built a house for that!

It does look good though.

Truly awesome mate, I love to have a look in March sometime if convenient when I return to KK

I will be back midd of March and hope to se your garden.

Originally Posted by SunTzu

Nice result, and I'm happy to see the aunt seems to get into it too.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

It does look good though.

^ Thank you both.

Originally Posted by kiwiman12

Truly awesome mate, I love to have a look in March sometime if convenient when I return to KK

Originally Posted by sssfqt

I will be back mid March and hope to see your garden.

^I will not be in Thailand during the months of March and April. However if you are in Thailand in May we might be able to schedule something.

I just caught up with this thread!
Excellent work, thanks for sharing all this.
When is the party!

^Thank you.

I was thinking about opening it up for interested TD members to come by and look the first week in February, but I’ll be in BKK that week. The second week looks better. I’ll give at least a weeks notice,….

Very nice project, the aunt must be very happy.

^Thank you. She does seem to enjoy it.

I have had requests from sssfqt and Kiwiman12 to come by and look at the garden, but I didn’t want to show it till it was completed. But now that it is completed and if any TD member would like to visit the garden, I will open the gate to the property on Thursday, February 11 from 10am to 12 noon.

If you send me a private message I will give you the address to the property.

sssfqt and Kiwiman12 you both are welcome to visit when I get back in May of 2010 (if you are in town). Just let me know when you’ll be available and we’ll set something up.

It’s been about 6 months since I last posted any pictures of the Aunts garden and I wanted to share some progress pictures.

This weekend we went over to visit her garden with a few plants (5 of them at a total cost of 2,400 baht) to replace some of the philodendrons that weren’t doing so well. I think they were either getting too much water or I hadn’t planted them deep enough.

The Iris’s are not doing as well as we would have liked and we’ll be replacing them with some Crinum Lily’s before I post another set of progress pictures in about 6 months.

The Gecko Feet Vine (in Thai,..Teen Tuk Kae) when we planted them,…………..

And now the Gecko Feet Vine, 9 months later. They seem to be doing well. Maybe 2 years and they’ll have the wall covered (or a good portion of it covered).

The Aunt is out most every morning (depending on rain fall) watering half the plants and then watering the other half the next day. She seems to have worked out a cycle and seems to be enjoying the place but not as much as the nephew (and friends) is. She’s also added some small plants herself (hanging and orchids).

Looks really good.

Much weed to pick ?

^Thanks.

Since finishing up with the rock about 6 months ago I have maybe pulled out 2 handful of weeds (the Aunt doesn’t pick them) and 90% of those weeds came from the plants we brought in and planted (the weeds were growing within or next to the new plants, which the filter fabric wasn’t covering). The other 10% were tiny hair thin like weeds (more like a thin grass) moving up through the fabric with no more than three blades to each weed.

The filter fabric has worked out well. I thought when adding the ¾ inch rock and people walking over it, it might pierce the fabric and cause weeds to start growing. But so far,..nothing much (except for that 10%). The fabric seems to be durable enough.

S Landreth, it's nice to see a big difference in the amount of green, in just 6 months. Well done, or should I say Aunty, well done?

Just one 'little' thing... Maybe it does not bother you at all, but every time I look at your photos, I think: "Aaargh!" That big red spot on the other side of the wall, that ugly chocolate drink banner at the shop or restaurant next door; a real eyesore and a big distraction whenever you look into the garden that way.

You spend enough money on plants... spend a little bit more. Talk to the owners next door and see if you can get it replaced by a dark green one, they also make them in moss green. Not sure what they cost, but my guess would be half of what you spent on plants this weekend. In Thai they're called "Pha Bai", written like this: ผ้าไบ
Your garden will be a lot greener, all of a sudden.

I know you have, or will have plants there that will, in time, block the view (or is it only the gecko feet vine up the wall, the palms in front of the wall?) but this will a few more years, a long time unless you put some fast growing plants like banana or Heliconia in big containers and move them once the other ones are tall enough.


Photo borrowed from Elemental Images Fine Art Photography - The Blogs: Color


Test... What you see first and at what you keep looking at?

^ I see your point.

The Aunt deserves the credit for keeping the garden green from here on out. She has done a good job caring for the plants. We just gave her that push (with the garden) to keep a comfortable place/yard to relax in and enjoy (Barbecuing/keeping cool) while she’s at home.

I agree with you about the awful gaudy red sign next door at the restaurant, but it has grown on me. I’m used to seeing it now and have learned to tolerate it. I don’t want to ask them if I can replace the sign (I am not that tactful and the girlfriend has told me she would not dare ask them). Over time, with them being next door I/we have visited their restaurant often and have built up a friendly relationship with them. However I might suggest to them,…that I have some extra canvas at our place and would like to pass it on to them, when theirs becomes tattered and torn. The one we’ll give to them will not be cherry red.

One more thing about signs. The Aunt has a problem with people peering into her place (high pedestrian traffic) and contacted a guy that wanted to place a Large sign along the entire length of her wall (where the sidewalk is located) that would raise to a height at least 6 feet above the top of the existing wall. Maybe he wasn’t willing to give her what she wanted, price/rent wise, because it isn’t up (yet). The Aunt seems to enjoy her privacy and this garden has attracted some observers, so I don’t think she minds that red sign (maybe the more the better).

About the plants growing to a height to cover the total area of the sign in the future,…..I only wish but I don’t think it will happen, because of the small amount of growing area under the sign. It’s narrow, because of the concrete patio table that we were told had to be a part of the planed garden. When replacing some of the philodendrons this past weekend I planted two plants which when grown will have large wide palms that should block some of the sign (years from now). We’ll see in time how they do.

Maybe in the future, we’ll see something like this.

And again, thanks for your input.

Very interesting thread, thanks for showing us.

A garden is an art work in progress. It is fun. Good luck!

^^You’re welcome.

^It is and thanks.

December 2010, pictures,……………..

The Gecko Feet Vine is all the way up the wall at some points. It seems to be doing better in heavy sunlit areas (in the shade, behind the bathroom the vine is very thin and just a third of the way up the wall).

The ponds are doing fine on their own (guppy population has increased at least fourfold), except for the occasional picking of weeds in the water.

With the next set of pictures in June 2011 I will have had the floor under the gazebo refinished/re-lacquered (needs about four coats of lacquer).

^looking good

This is really a very beautiful garden - not that what you typically see in Thailand!

You are using a lot of gravel. We had this in our SPA (outdoor shower) but removed it because it was hard to clean from small leaves.

Does the gravel don't heat-up more than grass?

Looks very inviting, good project and you seemed to have had everything pretty well sorted prior to commencement.

Incidentally, the lacquer on the decking around my pond started to peel after 1 year and i finally sanded it all off when it became unsightly. You may have continual problems also with yours. I used a woodstain perservative which did the trick and haven't suffered any problems since. Maybe something to consider as it may pay you in the long run to do something similar.

Lovely plants btw ( i used to work for a horticultural company in an earlier life) so i naturally appreciate what you have achieved. Well done, hope the climbers get a wee bit of a sprint on now they are becoming established.

^^Thank you. I don’t know if the rock will heat up more than grass. I have never tested each out there, but I do know to stay off the rock with bare feet, it’s sharper (than grass would be) and isn’t comfortable to step on. We use the stepping stones to get around on most of the time while walking in the garden.

^Thank you and I should reconsider lacquer. I forgot about it peeling outside (under the heat/sun). Maybe a wood stain would be better.

Top work mate.

beautiful garden,and it will only get better as time goes on.thanks for the detailed run down all the way through.
love your work CHAMP.
cheers and beers