13 — Driveways, Walkways, Patios, and Seating Areas

1. Driveways are part of the Baan Sammi community area; walkways, patios, and seating areas are either for the community or are within a private garden area, thus for private (a tenant's) use only. The map in Chapter 11 shows all the ways for the community and all the private garden areas.
2. The surfaces of driveways are fine gravel, except near the main entrance gate, where the surface is coarse gravel, and a few driveway ends, where a ground cover plant such as grasses may cover the surface.
3. The surface of the minor and narrow walkways is fine gravel or ground cover plants.
4. The surface of the main pathways is paved, as are private patios and seating areas. The paved surfaces are plates of laterite stone, called ศิลาแลง (silalaeng) in Thai. This is a porous reddish natural stone, with a non-slip surface when dry. If the surface is wet or covered with moss, then there is the danger of slipping. Be cautious when walking, mainly on sloped ways, and wear shoes with an anti-slip shoe sole.
   
   



Walkway, covered by moss



5. Some patios, those between Plumeria Bungalow and Khilek Pavilion, and between Dillenia Bungalow and Chom Doi Pavilion, have a narrow drain on the ground along the eaves of the building roofs. Initially, these drains used to be open and were later filled with coarse gravel.
    

   

   An ant's view of a narrow open patio drain (left, photo by courtesy of C. G., 15 Sep. 2016), now filled with coarse gravel and level with the patio surface (right, Dec. 2023)

   
   
6. If you walk on paved and unpaved driveways, walkways, or patios during darkness, do use a flashlight and wear sturdy shoes, particularly during the rainy season and on sloped walkways or terraced patios. 
7. When walking in accessible private garden areas and community areas, it is best to wear sturdy shoes. Unwanted encounters and contact with undesirable animals close to the ground may rarely occur, but if they do occur, sturdy shoes are the best safety measure against foot injuries. Sandals do not offer sufficient protection, but for convenience, may be worn outside, close to the house, during the day for a short time. Walking barefoot is not recommended, even in enclosed spaces. Sturdy shoes are available in many styles, but laceless ones are the most practical. Low-top rubber boots have proven to be suitable for use in garden areas; however, only high-top rubber boots (less than knee height) should be worn for gardening.
8. Some sections of walkways or outdoor seating areas, if terraced, border a dry laterite stone wall. The top rim of that stone wall should not be stepped on or sat on, as this could cause parts of the wall to collapse.
   
   

   

   Dry stone wall

   
   
9. Cleaning of private gardens: The tenant is solely responsible for cleaning paths, patios, and similar areas within a private garden (see Chapter 11.2 in Details on Rental Terms). In a private garden, the tenant's main task in garden maintenance is to rake or sweep up the leaves and then take them to the central compost heap in the communal garden. Other maintenance work on garden plants within a private garden, such as pruning trees and removing branches, is the responsibility of the landlord or the landlord’s gardener. The tenant should inform the landlord if such work is required. The necessary work will then be assessed by the landlord, and a date for carrying out the work will be agreed with the tenant. Watering planted areas in the private garden is also the landlord’s responsibility. This work only needs to be done during the dry season (December to April/May) and only occasionally, as almost all plants in the private gardens are drought-tolerant.
10. Cleaning of the community garden: The cleaning of walkways, driveways, patios, and seating areas on the community grounds is the responsibility of the landlord or the landlord’s gardener.
11. The main work for cleaning driveways, walkways, patios, and seating areas is removing the leaf litter. If leaf litter on the ground is abundant, the leaves should be raked into small piles using a leaf rake, the leaf piles shoveled into a container, and the container emptied into the central compost heap. Leaves should not be swept up and left at the edge of driveways, walkways, patios, and planted areas. Not only will the next gust of wind scatter the pile of leaves, but the low-growing and ground-cover plants will be killed off if they are covered by the leaves.
    
    

    

    Two examples of how leaf litter should not be disposed of:
    Here, the leaves have been swept to the side of the path (left-hand photo), and
    here onto an area covered with coarse gravel and a septic tank cover (right-hand photo)

    
    
12. When there is quite a lot of leaf litter on the pathways with sealed or fine gravel surfaces, it may be best to sweep using a leaf rake with metal teeth instead of a bamboo broom with coarse bristles. Furthermore, the latter may be best used if the pathways are covered with coarse gravel. If the leaf litter is wet after rain, it is best to use the leaf rake or wait a day or more until the leaf litter dries. Wet leaf litter on coarse gravel surfaces cannot be removed easily; the best is to sweep after it has dried.
    
    

    

    From left to right: A leaf rake with metal teeth, a broom made of bamboo with long coarse bristles, a broom with short coarse bristles, a broom with soft bristles, a stand-alone lightweight shovel with a plastic mouthpiece

    
    

    

    A large-sized green plastic sack as a leaf litter container (left), a black rigid PVC plant container used as a leaf and plant waste container (right)

    
    
13. The photo above (top) shows garden cleaning tools. Each tenant can receive, use, or get access to all of these tools for free. The broom with soft bristles and the stand-alone shovel can also be used for dry floor cleaning indoors.
14. The other photo above (bottom) shows two different types of containers. The green plastic sack can be supplied to tenants in three sizes, small, medium, and large, and the sacks may remain at their houses. The black rigid PVC containers are heavy and permanently stored near the central compost heap and can be taken by tenants upon demand. The easiest method to get the leaf litter on the ground into a container is to use a bamboo broom with short, coarse bristles and a short handle, together with the stand-alone shovel. If the container becomes too heavy, it can be transported to the compost heap with a wheelbarrow.
15. If a tenant would like to volunteer to engage in other gardening activities, such as growing vegetables and herbs and pulling weeds, see the final sections of Chapter 11 for further details.