cooked

We have plenty of stuff in our local market that you can't grow here. I despaired initially at the lack of choice of seeds in the stores until I realised that they weren't in demand locally, they won't grow. I repeat: there is no correct season for planting most things, the beginning of the rainy season is a good time, I love pepper but the soil isn't suitable here although I have managed to make one grow. I imagine that you haven't latched on to the fact that you are now in the tropics, and I don't mean that in an insulting way, I went through the same process. I planted beans at Christmas, onions in October, plant cucumbers and beans every few weeks throughout the year.

Winter in the tropics? When does that happen? There are many mysterious things that you come up against here - some veg. needs long nights/long days to do its stuff. European onions won't grow here due to the day length problem (found out the hard way). Thai veg seems to come to maturity quickly, thus avoiding disease, giving it another taste of course. European lettuce won't germinate at temperatures above 22 - 23°C.. potatoes just sit there and sulk. Garden peas don't like the heat..

Another reason you won't see indications of sowing times is that Thailand has a vast variety of climate zones and soil types, What is good for Chiang Mai isn't good for Buriram or the South.

Maybe you should concentrate more on improving your soil and then just bung stuff in that takes your fancy, I can't give you advice from here in Buriram, I guess everyone finds out for themselves, which for me is part of the charm of gardening here.

I have had good luck with seven different kinds of lettuce. The seeds are from the US and I plant them in little cups, then transplant them to other cups and finally transplant them to the garden. I have raised beds and use compost (make my own) vermiculite, peat moss, rise hulls, and a bit of pig manure.

I have been planting all year and just have to water and then harvest the lettuce. It finally goes to seed but takes about one and a half months.

Good luck!

Peat most? Maybe you mean coconut peat?

The best tomato plant we have appeared by magic in the flower garden. No fertiliser, no spraying, no shading. I try to collect seeds of stuff that works.

Nice article from Stickman and spot on as far as I'm concerned. We do occasionally see Farang/Thai couples that we are presumptuous enough to 'approve' of. I am very happy with my Isaan girl but have seen too many cases of relationships gone sour, sometimes expensively. It helps if you don't have any money, like me.

Stuff still gets sold wrapped in a banana leaf in this village. They do put it in a plastic bag though.

Wont spay in heat as too many veins or capillaries so responsible vet wont do it. U have 9-12days of bleeding then 3-5Days of fertility.(Cant remeber in english)so either let her run with boys and then spay or day afterr shot or cage her. In same position with my lhasa bitch..Never pull a mounted male from the bitch u can cause serious damage to both sets of genitals...spelling frm android...

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thanks. We kept her in a room where she couldn't be 'got at'. Big joke, 'somebody' managed to break the lock on the door and it happened. I guess a cage is the only solution but I have a soft heart. Father would be a black Affenpinscher, mother a white poodle. My wife reckons we can sell them...

I haven't. Some veg. doesn't like the hottest time of year. Planting at the beginning of the rainy season is a good idea.

We usually getting people telling you that you won't manage with less than ฿120 000.- and others (like me) that manage very well on ฿50 000.-.in a similar situation. Just stay sensible and watch your budget initially..

Anyone searching 'Pope John hell' on Youtube will see some shocking stuff. Whether he deserves to be a saint will be questioned for ages given his 'do nothing' stance on child molestation in the church.

Have to wonder what the real reason Benedict decided to leave his post. Anyone?

That was the first thing I thought when I saw his foto the first time.

We got yellow when we married. Given by friends and relations.

He went to Africa and told them "have the courage to make children". Meaning make more Catholics. A bit cynical on my part but that's the way the bottom line works out.

Paying 50,000 to a village elder for permission to build a home... they must think you are a complete idiot.

I would recommend

1. get away from the in-laws and extended family

2. rent, don't build

He he. The boss lady is our neighbour and she sometimes asked when I think I will be finished building the extension (answer: when I have some money..). The decision as to whether to build or not is up to you, I live from my pension so I won't be losing any capital, I live here for free anyway. Since I've been here, together with the brother in law, we rebuilt two houses and will be building a new one after the rice planting is finished. I have a great extended family, we all live in a compound and get on very well. Isn't that sweet?

For what it's worth: I dug a trench around the perimeter of where the slab would be. Reinforced this with iron, 'with bits sticking out'. I then built in one layer of 8cm blocks all around said future perimeter. I built the slab inside of that, with reinforcement attached to the 'bits sticking out'. This means that the slab is 15cm above the surrounding ground. I will continue using ACC blocks which are very light but load bearing. I will be building in steel supports, so that, as mentioned above. I can get the roof done and work away from the sun. My brother in law didn't even do this, he just built up with 15cm concrete blocks on the edge of the slab, no movement so far.

I used Classic theme restorer also, which caused a minor glitch, now fixed. I have so many lovely addons with Firefox which Chrome (just uninstalled it for the umpteenth time after an Avast security update very kindly installed it for me) doesn't have. I also don't like Chrome because after ticking the 'import bookmarks from Firefox' button, I got a little grey square next to all my bookmarks on the bookmarks toolbar, meaning that they ran off the bar altogether. No way of changing this apparently. Why anyone should use IE or Chrome is beyond me.

By the way, I don't have to reboot frequently and my computer is 4 years old, Windows XP

I forget the details but the dealer told me that it was much more complicated if I wanted the car in my own name. I investigated and so it proved to be. It is now in my wife's name. I had to show proof of residence, a bit like applying for a visa extension. They then turned up at our house to see if I was in fact living here, and checked us out. They must have had many bad experiences with credits going sour. I showed them a copy of my income statement and things went ahead rapidly from there.

Having said that, many people will tell you not to put it in anyone's name but your own. Quite right too if you are not here permanently. If the worse should ever come to the worst, I have a new car at my disposal which I will then just leave here and stop payments.

Maybe you should buy a second hand car from a reliable dealer, cash.

Can I come back to this topic? On Windows XP (yes yes, I know), I can change keyboard input language from English to Thai easily. However I have Microsoft Words 2003 installed and it has the menu bar in Thai. A Google search has several results, all of which assume that I can read Thai. I only want to use this when I am sending files to people that don't have Open Office. ...? thanks

Theoretically if the airline permits you to fly without making sure that you fulfill immigration regulations, they are liable to a substantial fine and must pay your ticket back home. I never heard of this happening. You need proof of an onward flight (not return) so if the airline gets difficult you take your credit card and book yourself a flight to Phnom Pen or somewhere similar. Get there early...

Good idea.

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-No-Dig-Garden

I know people who used old railway sleepers for the sides, might be hard to find here though.

Straw bales. I asked one time if I could buy sleepers and eas told that they were reserved for railway employees.

The English is ok but the question is very badly put together, you lose interest after a line or two. Maybe the OP is German or Slavic and went to an expensive 'schooled'.

The question has been asked before (by me amongst others) and never got answered satisfactorily.

Bet your pics end up on the floor , there is only one way and that is to drill, rawl-plug and screw. Just measure and mark the spots and get a guy to drill the holes, about 5 minutes work.....

I have to agree. I worked in a sport center and despite advice from colleagues I tried with adhesive hooks. Clean with soap, rinse. Clean with alcohol, wait. Stick up picture or whatever, great. Walk in one morning and it was on the floor.

Bet your pics end up on the floor , there is only one way and that is to drill, rawl-plug and screw. Just measure and mark the spots and get a guy to drill the holes, about 5 minutes work.....

I have to agree. I worked in a sport center and despite advice from colleagues I tried with adhesive hooks. Clean with soap, rinse. Clean with alcohol, wait. Stick up picture or whatever, great. Walk in one morning and it was on the floor.

I know many people think I'm crazy for growing vegetables myself. Many farmers have one crop for the market and a small one for their family. Bear also in mind that it can be difficult to find information about correct dosages and even more difficult to find measuring devices.