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, particularly during the rainy season, and on sloped walkways or terraced patios. 
7. 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

   
   
8. The cleaning of walkways, driveways, patios, and seating areas, if on community grounds, is the subject of the landlord's gardener, but any help from tenants would be much appreciated. However, cleaning private garden areas is the sole responsibility of the tenants, except for major maintenance work for garden plants within that area, e.g., trimming trees, and cutting branches.
9. 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. Usually, the leaf litter should not be raked onto the side of the driveways, walkways, and patios, and left there. There are a few sections of these ways where small amounts of leaf litter can be raked into the bordering vegetation areas, but only if existing ground cover plants and other plants will not be covered. Such sections can be shown to the tenants by the gardener.
10. 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 gets dry. Wet leaf litter on coarse gravel surfaces cannot be removed easily; the best is to sweep after it has become dry.
    
    

    

    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 mouth

    
    

    

    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)

    
    
11. 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.
12. 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, the container can be transported to the compost heap with a wheelbarrow.
13. 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.