Slowly getting there

[SimonH]

9656965596589657

Couple of pics of the garden after a days work.

Well paying someone to do a days work :wink:

[fred]

Looking OK Simon... Need more plants though!!
Some Champagne palms would look good strategically located!

[stevewool]

Very nice,

[SimonH]

Looking OK Simon... Need more plants though!!
Some Champagne palms would look good strategically located!

Cheers Fred,

All of the plants apart from the existing palms were put in today, so all less than 1ft tall. They will mature to 3ft eventually, all in all over 100 planted.

[fred]

I see you have some established travelers palms... Apparently it doesn't matter which direction you plant them,they will turn to face south..Or is it north??

[Michael Parnham]

Looks nice Simon!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[SimonH]

More progress today, parquet floor has been sanded and the first coat of varnish applied, 2 more to go and then another 2 coats of sealer.
BBQ on the go, and a cold SMB to hand.
Think we may have to stay for another month :smile:

[Longweekend]

Sounds good, cheers...:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

More progress today, parquet floor has been sanded and the first coat of varnish applied, 2 more to go and then another 2 coats of sealer.
BBQ on the go, and a cold SMB to hand.
Think we may have to stay for another month :smile:

I'll drink to that :hubbahubba:

[Trefor]

More progress today, parquet floor has been sanded and the first coat of varnish applied, 2 more to go and then another 2 coats of sealer.
BBQ on the go, and a cold SMB to hand.
Think we may have to stay for another month :smile:

Where exactly is this? Looks like a nice pad. More pics of the place please :-)

[Arthur Little]

9656965596589657

Couple of pics of the garden after a days work.

Well paying someone to do a days work :wink:

:smile: Slowly but surely, you're getting there, Simon. And, :iagree: with the others ... your dream holiday home is already beginning to take shape! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[SimonH]

Where exactly is this? Looks like a nice pad. More pics of the place please :-)

Thanks, it's in a sub division on the outskirts of Angeles about 1/2km from Clark.

[SimonH]

:smile: Slowly but surely, you're getting there, Simon. And, :iagree: with the others ... your dream holiday home is already beginning to take shape! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Thanks Arthur, moved in 9 days ago and so far achieved:-

Garden landscaped
All furniture bought and delivered
TV's installed including a new antenna
Parquet flooring sanded, varnished and sealed
4 aircon units installed
Other little things like fridge freezer, washing machine, pots, plates, stove, cutlery, bedding etc

Phoned the airline this morning to change our return flight to Feb 7th as I now need a holiday :wink:

[Doc Alan]

Thanks Arthur, moved in 9 days ago and so far achieved:-

Garden landscaped
All furniture bought and delivered
TV's installed including a new antenna
Parquet flooring sanded, varnished and sealed
4 aircon units installed
Other little things like fridge freezer, washing machine, pots, plates, stove, cutlery, bedding etc

Phoned the airline this morning to change our return flight to Feb 7th as I now need a holiday :wink:

Very impressive Simon, you deserve a holiday :xxgrinning--00xx3:.

[SimonH]

Very impressive Simon, you deserve a holiday :xxgrinning--00xx3:.

Thanks for all your kind words Alan. Hope all your plans for the coming year are successful :smile:

[Tawi2]

How do you go on with the pool mate,i rented a villa for the season in spain a few years back and had to have a pool guy in monthly to clean it and change the filter,is the water recirculated to stop it stagnating?

[Longweekend]

I would have thought there would be a sand filter and possibly a 'Kreepy Krauly' pool cleaner....

[SimonH]

This is the filtration system, I vacuum the pool as required and have a man come twice a month to check the chlorine and do any general maintaining, cleaning etc.

[andy222]

Its looking good simon.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Tawi2]

Thanks for that simon,it had me wondering,my kids grandmother is having the beach modernised and is getting a pool put into the complex (i know,a pool 30 metres from a perfectly good beach:icon_lol: )i just wondered how yours was cleaned.

[Ako Si Jamie]

Hopefully this will be ready for the Filipina Roses get-together later in the year. We all appreciate your hospitality, Simon! :biggrin:

[SimonH]

Hopefully this will be ready for the Filipina Roses get-together later in the year. We all appreciate your hospitality, Simon! :biggrin:

No problem, you lot bring the beer and I'll do the BBQ :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Ako Si Jamie]

No problem, you lot bring the beer and I'll do the BBQ :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Deal! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Longweekend]

Simon, I'll bring my own sausages as I'm not too keen on the local ones that is unless the Aussie butchers is still in Angeles....:biggrin:

[SimonH]

Found a great deli called Brettos who do all sorts of meat and cheese, there's also another small diner who sell their own sausage which is one of the best I've tried.

[SimonH]

Can't wait for you lot :wink:

Just finished vacuuming the pool, and cracked the first old one of the day. I'll fire up the BBQ a bit later, far too hot at the moment :Rasp:

[SimonH]

967296719670

Decided to buy a few more plants, next time over I'll get the lawn sorted with Bermuda grass.

[jake]

Just finished vacuuming the pool, and cracked the first old one of the day. I'll fire up the BBQ a bit later, far too hot at the moment :Rasp:

Hot climate and alcohol are not good for you :Rasp: I am just jealous, as i try to stick to the 6pm rule at least once a week!

Looks like a nice area you have for the kids to play :xxgrinning--00xx3:
Did you manage knock down the price when you bought the property? The personal situation, of the owners can make a huge difference price wise here in the Philippines.

[SimonH]

Did you manage knock down the price when you bought the property? The personal situation, of the owners can make a huge difference price wise here in the Philippines.

Managed to knock 1/2M off, the owner was quite well off and there were other buyers lined up. I'll be looking for more desperate sellers in the future :smile:

[SimonH]

Lesson for today.
Never compare prices to those back home.

Had the garden landscaped as you know, but the chap I used took me to his preferred supplier of plants ( take that as he probably got a cut of the cost) and then charged me php 6000 labour to put all the plants in.
Today I pop along to a local garden centre to enquire about Bermuda grass and the nice man there says he'll follow me back to have a look. 250 sq/m of turf, old lawn removed and new grass laid which will take 2 men 6 days for a total of 22,000php.
He then said that any additional plants that I wanted, if bought from him (at a cheaper price than the original place) would be planted free of charge.
He will also maintain the garden for 500php a month as opposed to the 1500php which me original gardener was charging.
Ok, I learned my lesson but rather now than later and 1000's more.

[Terpe]

Last year we used Bermudagrass but it didn't like the shady part of the garden.
When we moved house last may there was no lawn at all so we turfed it all and this time we used a special turf variety of what is called here 'Japanese grass'. It's been perfect so far all around the house.
Our climate here is different.
Prices too by the looks of it. :icon_lol:
Much much cheaper here.

I've taken an interest in growing a banana plant. There's a dwarf variety here I could grow in a big pot. Looks interesting.

[fred]

Lesson for today.
Never compare prices to those back home.

Had the garden landscaped as you know, but the chap I used took me to his preferred supplier of plants ( take that as he probably got a cut of the cost) and then charged me php 6000 labour to put all the plants in.
Today I pop along to a local garden centre to enquire about Bermuda grass and the nice man there says he'll follow me back to have a look. 250 sq/m of turf, old lawn removed and new grass laid which will take 2 men 6 days for a total of 22,000php.
He then said that any additional plants that I wanted, if bought from him (at a cheaper price than the original place) would be planted free of charge.
He will also maintain the garden for 500php a month as opposed to the 1500php which me original gardener was charging.
Ok, I learned my lesson but rather now than later and 1000's more.


What we do Simon is buy it as its sold (Bermuda) by the square foot..P 10.00.. We cut it into 9 pieces and plant it about 6 inches apart and watch it grow together...If your not going to be around for a while,you wont even have to sit there and watch it grow!!
I was watching them do large areas in Manila once//They rip the squares up into a bucket of water into sprigs and plant it like rice,,In 6 months it looks great..
Freds Monday money saving tip.

[SimonH]

Cheers Fred,

We're being charged 60 a sq/m which sounds reasonable to me.
Shey's father has a birthday just before we go back and I said we could hold the party here otherwise I'd follow your advise. I'll take some before and after pics and post them up later.

[SimonH]

Thanks Terpe :xxgrinning--00xx3:

We should be ok I think, as the garden has the sun most of the day. But something I wouldn't have thought of if you hadn't mentioned it :smile: