Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Jack of all fruits
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 09/10/2016
» The world population was listed at one billion in 1804. Statistics show that 123 years passed before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to hit the three billion mark in 1960. From then on it rose by leaps and bounds, taking only 14 years to reach four billion in 1974 and 13 years to rise to five billion in 1987. I still remember reading about the world population reaching six billion in 1999. It now stands at 7.5 billion, and it took only 17 years to reach that number.
The plants are bugged
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 03/04/2016
» There’s a sad footnote to the story about Petchsuporn Rapley’s date palms in Doi Saket, Chiang Mai (Green Fingers, March 6). For those who did not read the article, Ms Petchsuporn planted some 100 date palms as an experiment a little over three years ago. A year later two trees started to flower, followed by a few more last year. Braving sharp-as-nails giant thorns, she and her workers cross-pollinated the trees manually and these successfully bore fruit for the first time last year.
All the small things
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 20/03/2016
» Records show that the Japanese have practised the art of bonsai, or cultivating miniature trees in pots and trays, since the 9th century. However, for hundreds of years it remained the preserve of monks and the nobility. It was only at the beginning of the 19th century that it gained popularity at every level of the Japanese society.
A prune with a view
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 04/10/2015
» A friend of mine has a roadside tree in front of his house. It had become so dense that he could not see through it from his second-floor window. Last month he had it trimmed.
Nature’s melodious alarm clock
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 25/05/2014
» Every day around 5am, I am awakened by a riot of sounds from an assortment of birds. As if by cue they start all at the same time, with sounds ranging from the loud “kawow kawow-kawow-kawow” of the common koel or Asian koel, known in Thai as nok kawow (Eudynamys scolopacea), to the explosive “chee-yup, chee-yup” of the common tailorbird, or nok krajib (Orthotomus sutorius) and the plaintive coo-crooo-crooo of the spotted dove, or nok kao yai (Streptopelia chinensis).
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."
Help the medicine go down
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 12/01/2014
» In Green Fingers last Sunday, we learned about how hybridisers developed new hibiscus cultivars. The procedure is easy to follow for gardeners who would like to meet the challenge of producing their own hybrids, but for those of us who do not have the time or perseverance to do so, new varieties are sold cheaply at Chatuchak's plant market and nurseries in and around Bangkok.
Get going with guava's natural goodness
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 13/01/2013
» Guava is one of the best gifts presented by nature, according to a Korean company producing health and beauty products. I couldn't agree more. The US Department of Agriculture's handbook No8, which details the composition of foods, says the fruit is rich in vitamins A and B, calcium and iron, and contains five times more vitamin C than oranges, five times more fibre than apples, and more potassium than bananas. But there is one other reason why I think every backyard should have a guava tree: It is medicinal.
Family's roots grow strong on farm
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 29/04/2012
» Our farm is small, but it is the only place where my whole family can indulge in our favourite activity, gardening, to our hearts' desire. It is a seven-hour drive from Bangkok or six if we don't stop for petrol and lunch or dinner, but we take every chance we can to go there and the long Songkran weekend was no exception. Once there, I immerse myself in my own world, forgetting everything but the people I hold near and dear to my heart, as I spend most of the day and put all my energy into repotting and propagating bromeliads, and planting shrubs and trees.
Jack of all trades
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 29/01/2012
» James Anderson wants to know what causes the fruit of a large jackfruit tree behind the school where he teaches in Thung Lung, Songkhla province, to turn black and rot. "The fruit are huge _ the size of the trunk of a small child _ but they are covered with disease," he wrote. " [They have] large gaping dark black or dark brown holes with putrid brown juices dripping from them, and all eventually just fall to the ground rotten.