Gardening

Headlines
- Royal Project: Vetiver Grass Development Project
- Plants for condo and house
- It’s hard to keep up with how quickly Hua Hin is changing...

Royal Projects: Vetiver Grass Development Project
Padoong Chaipat, HM King's Huay Sai Project, Baan Khao Tao

To celebrate the occasion of His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary, I would like to introduce one of HM the King's projects which is being studied and conducted in Cha-Am. This Royal Project center is one of the 6 centers in Cha-Am and Hua Hin areas. The projects being studied here have been used to help farmers to improve their farming techniques and help them to maintain their self-sufficiency economy.

The Vetiver Grass Development Project has been in operation in Thailand since 1991. Due to the internationally recognized results of the project, Thailand has organized international seminars on vetiver grass twice. The first, in 1996, was on "Vetiver: A Miracle Grass," and the second, in 2000, was on "Vetiver and the Environment." The success of the royal-initiated vetiver operation has allowed Thailand to organize vetiver training and field trips for foreigners from 15 countries around the world. Officials from agencies such as the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines, the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, and the US Ministry of Agriculture have taken special interest in vetiver operations.

Sumit Tantivejkul, Secretary General, Chaipattana Foundation, Bangkok in his keynote address on Thailand's experience with respect to vetiver and water, underpinned the significance of vetiver grass for its deep penetrating root system that forms an underground wall barrier and helps to filter silt and maintain topsoil. He stressed that exhaustive experimentation on vetiver system covering over 30 initiatives by the Royal Development Study Centres has since been implemented all over Thailand by the Governmental agencies for realization of benefits of vetiver system in soil and water conservation, forest rehabilitation and restoration of degraded soil, as well as environmental protection of water bodies from effluent contamination and garbage decomposition.

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Plants for condo and house
Advised by Khun Padoong Chaipat
HM King's Project Gardener (Head of Huay Sai Project, Baan Khao Tao)

1. Plants for condominium

In this Great Year, the year that His Majesty the King Bhumibol is 80 years old, I would like to recommend you to grow yellow leaf trees in your houses for this auspicious occasion. There are 2 kinds of yellow leaf trees that I would like to introduce to your garden: croton and lettuce tree. As you know, there are many kinds of croton. Croton is very easy for you to grow and take care of and it is suitable to plant it both into a plant pot and ground. Croton is suitable anywhere in your condo rooms, but you have to make sure that it gets enough sunlight because croton loves a lot of sunlight. As for the lettuce tree, which is normally bigger than croton, it is more suitable to grow a lettuce tree in the ground, but a lot of condominium owners usually have lettuce trees in big plant pots on their balconies. At night, when moonlight shines on lettuce tree leaves, it gives a warm bright light, which creates warmth and happiness to its owners. Apart from these yellow leaf trees, you could add this simple yet special plant called Orang Jessamine into your garden. Orang Jessamine gives good smell, beautiful, white flowers, but its flower last for 5-7 days. If you put lettuce tree and Orang Jessamine together, you will enjoy the night away by sitting in your garden.

The 3 types of tree I recommended you above tolerate drought. If you are interested in planting these kinds of tree, please write to The Hua Hin Mirror for more details.

2. What to plant at the entrance of the house?

You should try growing ornamental plants around your house. When the night comes, you will not be able to go to bed because you will be busy enjoying the plants all night.

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It’s hard to keep up with how quickly Hua Hin is changing...
Padoong Chaiyapat

40 years ago Hua-Hin was often described by those who knew it as a peaceful beach town. Of course today, with its fascinating beaches, and the peoples' modern way of living, the character of our city has changed considerably. The most obvious change is that many people from other parts of Thailand and other countries have been attracted to live and work in Hua-Hin. This change has happened to other places in Thailand but our city is, I believe, more fortunate than most of them.

Normally when the holiday industry develops in a seaside city the changes are not all positive. Many of the other cities in Thailand that have become tourist destinations are packed with people from different cultures and many problems seem to arise. Without naming any place in particular I think it would be fair to say that, accompanying the more positive changes brought by the holiday industry, certain problems like irritating traffic jams, inadequate facilities, and a more expensive cost of living, tend to arise.

We in Hua Hin have been fortunate. The undesirable criminal element knows it is not welcome here and chooses other destinations. The government and policing of our city is efficient, reflecting the pride we all have in the city's long association with the Royal family. But the rapid development that the town has experienced over recent years has certainly given us all a taste of some of the other structural problems associated with this growth. I think it’s fair to say that there are very positive results from the changes in the population of Hua-Hin.

We have a vital hotel and hospitality industry that continues to grow rapidly. Substantial new hotel properties seem to open almost every month and we can all see that there are a lot of new guesthouses, resorts and property developments under construction around the city. This influx of people creates a tremendous demand and the choice of businesses and services available in Hua Hin grows more comprehensive every day. And I am sure that many people are slightly overwhelmed when they want to choose from the large selection of restaurants that serve all kinds of Thai and foreign food.

In contrast to some of the other cities that have experienced rapid growth in the tourism and hospitality industry, the quality of living in Hua Hin has assisted the establishment and development of a number of important educational institutions. If our students wish to go on to third level studies many of the more popular courses are available locally. For the local students the most popular vocational schools around town, and in Cha-Um, are Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin Wangklaikangwon Campus, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University (Bo-Fai), and Petchburi Rajabhat University.

The availability of educational resources can determine the economic growth of Thailand. According to Lom Plian-Tith's recent column, "Mai Hade Pra-Ted Thai", page 5, date 17th January, 2007, Thai Rath newspaper, the biggest business problem in Thailand is not the issues affecting the nominee status of foreign investors. It is a labor shortage in certain sectors. The government has recognized "the lack of experts and craftsmen in each business" that drives out the foreign investors says Kosit Punpiemrath, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Industry. Thailand does not have enough craftsmen. In almost all industry there are shortages of important skills.

It has been suggested that this is because of the emphasis on university degrees in the educational system. A system that aims to produce college level students with degrees seems to be a misappropriation of resources in an already troubled society with high rates of unemployment. Most of these so called graduates do not possess the potential to compete in the real world and therefore end up working very low paying jobs and not fulfilling roles that their scholarship should have entitled them to.

I remember a time when high school offered workshop classes. The skills that were taught the mechanic classes and vocational education were practical. These classes helped students to refine their talents and some of the students who would not normally be involved in such things were exposed to skills not taught in an academic way and not really considered prestigious. In some ways these skills are simply an extension of the scientific learning that all school students should be exposed to. While a basic knowledge of technology and science is very important in today's world. We are now living in a time when technologies exceed imaginations and those who do not possess the basic scientific knowledge taught in school can be left behind. Sure, today everything is plug and play and all we need is an electrical socket and we are ready to go. But we do not possess the knowledge to understand the appliances and the things that we normally use in our lives. As well as a more practical approach to the subject of science, educationalists should change their attitude to agriculture. Thailand has and remains an agricultural society. And the true knowledge of the world that we live in should include an understanding of fruit of the earth. We should prepare more of our students to add to the workforce with the skills and knowledge of a skilled worker. Whether they live in the town or country it should be the case that if they own land they would know what to do with it. After all, we are a farming country and very famous for it.

The Department of Education had a great vision in setting up the many vocational schools all around Thailand. These vocational schools are not fully enrolled because there is a generally held idea that liberal arts schools are still the way to success. The students do not see that liberal arts teaches everything in general but nothing in particular. Eventually many of these students do realize that they need to compete in a much bigger world that the university. But by then it is too late and they and their degrees actually add to society's problems. By the time that they realize that they need to hone their skills to face the real world they have wasted much time. It’s time that we went back to the old adage. The brain of the country can only be a limited number of the smart and clever people. The limbs of the country are the "skilled workers" who have the talent to make what the clever people can only imagine. Both kinds of people are needed to make this country strong. And if we are truthful, we should admit that those who do not have the talent to succeed in the vocational schools can always turn to the liberal arts schools. The grading systems are different and some less talented people will excel in different conditions and environments.

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