Showing 181 - 190 of 236
Casting a dry spell: Moist not a must for plants
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 03/03/2013
» Call me ignorant, but I was already an adult when I realised the value of dried flowers for interior decorating. Until then, the only flowers I had seen, in my native Philippines as well as in my adoptive home of Thailand, were fresh, plastic or made of cloth or paper.
Weed out your worries by gardening in new year
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 06/01/2013
» How time flies! It seems like only yesterday when 2012 started, now another year has begun. What does this new year have in store us? Will it bring peace to the world, or more political turmoil? Will the world economic situation be better, or worse? Will mother nature be more benevolent, or bring stronger storms and even more floods?
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."
Possibilities bloom for gardeners at annual flora fair
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 03/02/2013
» Since I really have no more space for them, buying plants was the farthest thing from my mind when I attended the opening of the eight-day Eastern Flora Exhibition and Contest in Chon Buri, which ended last Sunday. But my resolve vanished when I saw adenium, or chuan chom in Thai, hybrids I had never seen before. Many had double petals and looked like roses, and came in different colour combinations, like dark red bordered by black, or light green splashed with pink. In my mind, I suddenly found space for them on the small balcony in my bedroom, and my husband, ML Charuphant, and I went home loaded with plants.
Once again, Kaset fair blossomed brightly
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 10/02/2013
» The national agricultural fair annually held at Kasetsart University, commonly known as the Kaset Fair, has become synonymous with sweet tamarind. Every year, tonnes of Phetchabun's most famous product occupy a whole block and this year's fair, held from Jan 31 and wrapping up yesterday, was no exception.
Trees to eclipse an eyesore
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 17/02/2013
» Mark Lockwood-Sykes wanted to make sure that the bamboo planting distance I wrote of in ''Green Fingers'' on Jan 27 was not a typographical error. ''You talked about planting bamboo six to eight metres apart. Is there a good reason for this?'' he asked. ''I live next to a khlong and although there is a two metre fence, the shambles of a house on the other side is an eyesore.
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.
Rising rental fees could cause premier plant expo to wither
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 20/01/2013
» The annual agricultural fair at Kasetsart University's Bang Khen campus is coming up this Feb 1-9, and if you are looking for improved varieties of fruit trees to plant, you are likely to find them there. Last year's offerings included edible fig and Indian gooseberry, or emblic, with fruit as big as your big toe instead of your thumb. There were also mangoes that weighed one kilogramme or more each, jackfruit with red flesh instead of the traditional golden yellow or yellow orange, sapodilla with fruit the size of Vietnamese guava, marian plum or maprang with fruit the size of a hen's egg, dwarf coconuts that bear 30 to 50 fruit per bunch, bananas with metre-long bunches of fruit with hands bearing up to 21 fingers instead of the usual 12 to 14, limes with fruit as big as golf balls, and many others. Either the actual fruit or photos of them were shown, so that buyers would have an idea of what to expect from the trees.
The secrets of citrus
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 28/10/2012
» Having a fruit-bearing lime, lemon or calamondin tree is like having a kitchen herb garden. It is very convenient to just pick a fruit or two if and whenever you need it to prepare a dish or refreshing drink. However, what would you do if you had a five-year-old tree that does not produce fruit?
Scientists, Step away from the pineapple
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 16/12/2012
» Arose by any other name would smell just as sweet. Similarly, a pineapple by any other name would still taste like pineapple. But what if the pineapple tastes like coconut? According to an AFP report, researchers from Australia's Department of Agriculture in Queensland are in the final stages of developing a new variety of pineapple which has the taste of coconut. The new variety, to be known as the AusFestival pineapple, is reportedly sweet and very juicy.