Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Turns for the better
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 11/12/2016
» Unlike the Philippines, which is battered by no less than 24 typhoons a year, Thailand is hardly hit by typhoons. Thais, therefore, did not know what to expect when Typhoon Gay hit the Gulf of Thailand on Nov 3, 1989. With gale-force winds of 120kph, it killed 529 people, including fishermen and offshore oil rig workers, and rendered 160,000 homeless in the southern provinces of Chumphon, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Desert bloom
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 04/09/2016
» Arun Kumar Paul sent me an email from Kolkata, India, to say that he loved plants like his own life. "I have a few adenium plants," he added, "but I have little knowledge of their culture. Could you give me some ideas?"
Chasing waterfalls
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 23/08/2015
» It was only 3.30pm but with rain threatening to fall at any time, darkness descended fast on Lam Nam Kok National Park in Doi Hang, Chiang Rai province. It had rained the night before and parts of the trail were slippery. One false move could easily send someone rolling down the steep mountainside to the point of no return.
High and dry
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 26/07/2015
» Where have all the flowers gone? Last time I was on our farm six months ago, the flowering plants and shrubs were blooming in all their glory. But during a visit two weeks ago, there were very few flowers, and even the bougainvilleas, which bloom nearly all year round, were missing.
Cloning a cash crop
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 04/05/2014
» After reading about mulberry and its many health benefits in Green Fingers recently, Kanneegar Pindavanija came upon the idea of promoting it as a supplementary cash crop for rubber plantation or orchard growers. “While waiting for their rubber or fruit trees to grow, agriculturists can plant mulberry between the trees and earn money from either harvesting their fruit or leaves,” she wrote. Ms Kanneegar wants to know where saplings for such a purpose can be bought cheaply.
Casuarina and effects
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 23/02/2014
» For some people, the mention of “sun, sea and sand” calls to mind a clear blue sea and a beach fringed by coconut fronds. For others, it evokes having a picnic or lazing the day away by the sea under the shade of a casuarina tree. The truth is that the former is a sight common only in travel brochures; from Rayong in the East down to Phuket in the South, it is Casuarina equisetifolia, commonly known as ironwood or horsetail casuarina (son talay in Thai) that is an integral part of Thai coastal areas. There are more casuarinas on Thai beaches than coconuts.
When your chilli's not feeling it
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 26/01/2014
» Tessie Piyarom wrote to say she planted chilli in her backyard. They looked healthy but only grew to about 15cm in height. Some bore fruit but their leaves later turned yellowish and became curly and small. "I used cow manure as fertiliser but it did not seem to nourish the plants," she added. "What particular fertiliser do I need? The soil is sticky and very hard when dry. Please advise."
How does your mango go?
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 19/01/2014
» My friend, Femy, is excited. For the first time her mango tree is in bloom, and her husband can hardly wait to share the crop with relatives and friends. But it is not as simple as that; just because a tree has plenty of flowers does not mean these will develop into fruit.
Stop the madness _ let roadside trees reach their full glory
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 14/07/2013
» I was travelling along Rama IV Road last week when I saw that some of the Pterocarpus indicus, known in Thai as pradoo, trees on the roadside had flowers. Pradoo usually flower in April and it is now July, so these were late bloomers. Especially spectacular was a tree across the streets from Chamchuri Square. It was small but it completely shrouded by flowers, which was unusual as pradoo shed their leaves two or three months after the end of the rainy season and develop new ones before or during blooming time in the summer, so the golden flowers are always accompanied by lush green leaves.
Raising Cane: Explore the bounty of bamboo
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 27/01/2013
» I had only seen bamboos with round culms, or canes, so when the late Dioscoro Umali, former regional representative for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organisation, told me that he had a square bamboo in his collection, I thought he was pulling my leg. "Yes, there is a square bamboo," he said with a laugh when I expressed disbelief. "I got my square bamboo from Bhutan."