• The first rule for growing strawberries is to choose the right type of plant. With so many different varieties available, you should consult your local greenhouse to know the verities that are best-suited for your area.

• The best time to plant strawberries in cold areas is the early months of spring while they can be planted in the fall in warmer regions.

• Although strawberry plants can be placed inside the house, they do need sunlight for eight to ten hours in a day.

• The ideal soil for growing strawberries is the one with a pH of 5.3 to 6.5.

• Be regular in trimming off the old/dried leaves and other damaged parts of the plants.

• It is advisable to remove all the blossoms during the first six weeks of planting.

• If you have placed your plants in the hanging baskets, make sure to rotate them frequently.

• It is essential to protect your strawberries from spider mites and aphids. You can use a good insecticide for this purpose. However, strawberry plants can also be harmed by powdery mildew, which needs to be treated with fungicide.

• A monthly fertilisation is essential for nurturing your strawberries.

Gently pick up your strawberries when they are red and enjoy the naturally good taste of your organically grown strawberries. Even better, mix them up in a top notch blender, like the Kenwood HB 792, together with other delicious home grown fruits and vegetables, in order to start your day off with a tasty and healthy smoothie.

So let’s put our juicer to work this winter and make some really healthy juices from our favourite fruits and veggies. First off, having a quality blender like the Kenwood HB 792 is a necessity. Then if you prefer fruit juice, citrus fruits are a great choice for the season. Loaded with vitamin C, such fruits are also a great source of bioflavonoid, provided you do not remove the white inner skin. You can create your own menus with juicy fruits like oranges and lemon. You can prepare a Beauty Cocktail by putting equal quantities of oranges and cucumber in your juicer. However, if you are down with cold, go for a plain orange juice. You can also make a Vegetable Cocktail with tomato, pepper, pole bean and cucumber or Lemon & Lime Ginger Ale with grapes, lemon, ginger and apple.

Whenever making vegetable juices, try to include the leaves and stems for maximizing the proportion of vitamins and minerals. Vegetable juices are ideal for the calorie conscious people. Ingredients like beetroot, eggplant, cabbage, carrot and spinach can be used for creating smoothie drinks. You can also add strawberries, raspberries, grapefruit and kiwis to enhance the taste of these vegetable juices. The simplest and the best way are to try different combinations with your favorite vegetables and fruits.

So innovate your own recipes and serve your family with these healthy and yummy saps.

You can live a longer and healthier life now by consuming a new breed of tomatoes developed by the scientists of John Innes Centre, Norwich. The tomatoes contain an antioxidant pigment called Anthocyanin, which is generally found in fruits and is rich in anti-cancer properties. The tomatoes developed by the scientists, called Purple Tomatoes, contain genes from the snapdragon flower, which is a rich source of Anthocyanin.

Anthocyanins are also found in berries like blackberry, cranberry and chokeberry. Research has proven that it helps slow down the growth of colon cancer cells. Besides this, they also protect against cardiovascular disease and age-related degenerative diseases. These pigments have anti-inflammatory properties too, which manage to boost eyesight and provide strength against obesity and diabetes. The John Innes team is researching ways to increase the levels of health promoting compounds that are generally found in common fruits and vegetables. They chose the tomatoes for their experiment as they already contain precious anti-oxidants like lycopene and flavonoids in abundance. According to Professor Cathie Martin, “Most people do not eat five portions of fruits and vegetables a day, but they can get more benefit from those they do eat, if common fruit and vegetables can be developed that are higher in bioactive compounds.”

Scientists extracted two genes from snapdragon flowers that support production of anthocyanins and then turned them into a purple coloured tomato. This way, the Anthocyanins can be accumulated at higher levels as compared to the level of Anthocyanins found naturally in the peel and flesh of the original fruit. Of course, the culinary uses of tomatoes are also nearly infinite and this is another distinct advantage of the purple tomato. You can blend them into a purple smoothie using the Philips HR 1364 blender, for example, or use them on a tasty sandwich. The Purple Tomatoes were tested on mice and the results were incredible. Those mice who consumed these tomatoes had a longer life span as compared to those who consumed the natural red tomatoes.

Although this might seem obvious, it is critical to only purchase the fresh fruits and vegetables that you are sure of consuming. Waste can quickly and unknowingly pile up, and even though that twenty pound sack of apples might seem like a good bargain at the time, you might find yourself in way over your head. The next tip is both important monetarily and for cooking. Be sure to closely inspect the quality and ripeness of all fruits and vegetables, ensuring you do not discover some are rotten only after getting home. Moreover, examining your purchases is also helpful to guarantee the best tasting ingredients in your cooking. Try to also be careful not to lose sight of any of your groceries. Just because that tomato looked perfect when you first bought it, doesn’t mean it cannot be carelessly squashed on the way back home. Gently packing and handling your groceries should make sure no waste occurs while in transit. Finally, it is sometimes unavoidable that you buy too much, and have some leftover produce. Of course, the leftovers do not have to be immediately discarded and clever cooks will find many ways to incorporate any extras into making other delicious meals. For example, excess pears or apples can be boiled into a tasty stew, while fruits can always be blended into nutritious shakes. The Philips HR 1720 has a large capacity and is perfect for making healthy smoothies. If your leftovers are neither stew- nor shakeworthy, then it is always possible to add them to a stir fry or salad at some later point. There is no reason for healthy-minded eaters to give up just yet, because with a little creativity you can not only prepare completely delicious and healthy meals, but also do so at a reasonably low cost.