I've been away from Thailand for the last 5 years, taking my wife's 3 children and my infant for schooling (the infant starts kindergarten in August). We have a caretaker at my house, one of my wife's friends, who does very basic cleaning and cutting the grass for a place to stay and 4,000 B a month. I got back yesterday and was surprised to see how much the trees and plants had grown in the 2.5 years since I was last here. Unfortunately, so have the weeds and other unwelcome vegetation. My intention is to rent the place when we leave the middle of August (its been listed on Thai Visa and Craigslist for 5 years and have had a few serious potential renters over the years but no takers). There are many things that i have to do in the next 3-4 weeks, like arrange to have a leaning perimeter wall taken down and replaced, replace the sprinkler heads in my underground sprinkler system, some simple carpentry and electrical work (the carpentry work i can do, the electrical work i'll find someone). But the thing that will change the house/landscape the most is to hire a gardener to clean the place up and then maintain it when I'm gone, by including it as part of the rent for the house, which sits on one rai of land. I've been advised to go to the plant are next to Tesco lotus on the super highway but if anyone can recommend someone, it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance..

If its near bosang as you say then I probably have the perfect guy for you. Problem is he speaks no English so you would have to communicate in Thai. He is fully equipped ladders, branch cutters, chain saw, lawn mower etc. He does excellent work and he looks after the gardening for several houses near us with absentee owners. Pm me and I will give you his phone number.

Thanks. My wife is Thai and her 3 children speak both Thai and English fluently, so communication isn't a problem. I do have a 5 year old Husqvarna lawn mower and weed eater, so he is welcome to use them instead of having to bring his own. My wife hired someone to cut down several bamboo trees and replace them with longran trees, so hopefully the gardener just has to maintain what is there and fertilize and cut the grass. I live just north of Borsang, near the temple in Ton Pao. If you can PM me the details, I would appreciate it . Or you can call me at 0892270114. My name is Dean. All of my contacts from 5 years ago are pretty useless. Now, I have to find someone to replace some rotten wood on my front gate and the gazebo, replace one side of my perimeter wall. When I was last here, it leaned out 3 inches. Now, it is 7.5 inches. And a little bit of electrical work. But the garden and wall are the most important things to settle while I'm here. Thanks again, Dean

Should have told you in my PM to you. This man is capable of more than just gardening. He has done some electrical and plumbing work for us and I am sure that replacing rotten wood in your fence and sala would be very easy for him.

Thanks, I'll have my wife ask him about that.

I've held off contacting the gardener until several things are done to my lawn. First is fixing the sprinklers for the underground sprinkler system. I screwed up and brought the wrong sprinklers with me, pop ups instead of rotors. I brought. One of the old rotor sprinklers back to the. US and bought the right type and mailed them (fortunately, no taxes were collected by Thai Customs). I replaced my Raibird 5004. Rotors with the Hunter I20 rotors because of the recommendation of several people in the sprinkler business. As they are shorter than the Rainbirds that they are replacing, I sent everything that would be needed; PVC connectors and a flexible line for the extension and various nozzles for the sprinkler heads. ( even plumbers tape). I had my step daughter translate to Thai the instructions for installation and to adjust the heads and nozzles. Now, I just need to find someone to do the work. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Just contact the gardener, he will be able to get the sprinklers installed for you.