Suttons Hanging Basket Tomato ‘Tumbling Tom’ Red

Suttons Hanging Basket Tomato 'Tumbling Tom' Red Sow: Mar - May, Flower: Jul - Oct, Produced in the UK, Grow your own local and sustainable food, Reduce food miles

Defense Genes in Tomato

Defense Genes in Tomato Plant defence against disease-causing organisms usually follows three steps: pathogen recognition, signal transduction and the resistance response. This book reviews...

Tomato Garden Pearl Seeds

Tomato Garden Pearl Seeds Cherry toms for large pots, even baskets or garden borders. Determinate (bushy habit) best outdoors. Excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants.

TOMATO YELLOW LEAF CURL VIRUS DISEASE

TOMATO YELLOW LEAF CURL VIRUS DISEASE Discusses the efforts aimed at breeding tomato plants resistant to the virus (using classical breeding marker-assisted breeding and genetic engineering). This book summarizes the techniques used for diagnosis eradication and certification and emphasizes the problems inherent to the control of the virus insect vector.

Greenhouse for home and family

If you’re serious about growing, you need a greenhouse.  And, like all houses, an efficient greenhouse will be double-glazed to give you the controlled and consistent environment your growing plants need.  Double glazing will give you a year-round greenhouse to beat the vagaries of the British seasons, one that you can bring up to temperature and keep there, at the right humidity, using little energy and without waiting costly fuel.  Not all greenhouses can be linked to mains services, so you may be heating using other means; the more efficient you can be, the better all round, and the more you derive benefit from the plants you’ll be able to nurture.  Double glazing will also make the most of solar gain, so any sunny day in even the coldest winter will add to the total of warmth in your greenhouse – it will get in, but it can’t so easily get out. [Read more...]

Grow Your Own Tomatoes

growing organic tomatoes

growing organic tomatoes

No summer salad is complete without a luscious home-grown tomato picked fresh from the vine. These health-promoting fruits are comparatively straightforward to grow if you get your planting time right and feed in the right way. Expect to choose your first ripe fruits from the end of July thru till October.

Soil and position – A rich soil improved with organic material and some fertilizer like Gro Your Own Fruit & Plant Plant Food is good, particularly if it’s a warm bright spot in front of a southerly facing wall or fence. Otherwise you can grow tomatoes in a Gro Your Own Fruit & Plant Planter or Tomorite Giant Planter with Seaweed positioned on a bright terrace or balcony.

Gardeners get superb results from a Tomorite Giant Planter as the compost is fastidiously mixed and improved with nutrient elements to help powerful early expansion prepared for optimum cropping.

Start to grow your tomatoe from seed in either a grow bag or small pot and when the seedling is about 4″ – 5″ high you can replant into a bigger pot and either grow outside or in a greenhouse.

Remember to water your tomatoes but don’t over water as this can cause the fruit to split as it grows, also regular picking of the fruit and nipping off new green shoots promotes more fruit growth.

Healthy ways to BBQ

BBQ

BBQ

There are plenty of ways in which you can turn your griddling not only into a tasty and nice way to cook, but also into a good way to eat. By selecting foods that are low in fats, high in nutrient elements and full of flavour you can get great meals that are also healthy.

Use marinades not only to add additional flavour but additionally to cut back the formation of cancer causing substances on foods.

A marinade containing olive oil and / or citrus juices can scale back the formation of these chemicals by as much as 99% and marinades tenderize meat and make a better meal.

There’s been lots of talk about barbecuing and cancer. While the chance is real and you need to keep this under consideration, there are some straightforward things that you can do to significantly scale back the cancer risk. The 2 first substances, for folks interested are : Heterocyclic Amines ( HCA ) and Polycyclic savoury Hydrocarbons ( PAH ). In the most simple reason these chemicals are formed by putting food, essentially meat in touch with intense heat and flame. They’re known cancer causing agents so you want to rein in their formation as much as you can. Now barbecuing isn’t the sole cooking technique that causes these agents and there is not a rationalization for you to give in on your griddle.

Lately scientists at the Food Safety Consortium project at Kansas State School have demonstrated that herbs of the Lamiaceae family ( Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, and Sage ) employed in marinades reduced HCA formation significantly. This is good news and a good reason to griddle with flavour. These herbal anti-oxidating compounds cut back the formation of oxidizing agents ( bad stuff ) when beef hits heat. HCAs and PAHs are formed typically from fat.

Either by fat being heated to extreme temperatures or by the smoke made by fat consuming.

For the most part this is applicable to beef fats and not simply the grease and fat from what you are cooking but the build up from the bottom of your griddle.

To scale back the hazards follow these starter tips :

* Keep you griddle clean. A clean griddle not only cooks better it is more safe in each way.

* Trim excess fats from foods. These fats are the troublemaker so keep it low.

* Use marinades primarily based on olive oils and / or citrus juices. This is the no 1 way to remain safe. * Avoid flare-ups. Flare-ups burn foods and this increase HCA formation.

* Don’t overcook foods. The burned bits on foods are the biggest sources of PAHs and HCAs so if you have burned sections of beef cut them off.

* Use herbs like Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, and Sage to add flavour and reduce HCA formation in foods.

If you follow these rules not merely will you significantly lower the risk of these cancer agents but you’ll scale back the fat in meat that you griddle. Naturally griddling is a good way to reduce fat, but this takes it even further. If you purchase lean cuts, use lite marinades and serve up your griddled foods with a good helping of fruit and vegetables then you will truly be barbecuing healthy.

The Food Standards Agency

Food Standards Agency

Food Standards Agency

“Natural foods” and “all natural foods” are generally used terms in food labelling and promoting with a spread of definitions, some of which are imprecise. The term is presumed to imply foods that are minimally processed and don’t contain made ingredients, but the absence of standards in some jurisdictions suggests that the term assures nothing. The term “organic” has similar implications and has a long-time legal definition in numerous states and a global standard. In some places, the term “natural” is outlined and implemented. In others, eg the US, it doesn’t mean anything.

In Britain, the Food Standards Agency released standards for the usage of one or two terms in food labelling. The direction, generally, proscribes the utilization of natural to foods that have “ingredients produced naturally, not the work of man or meddled with by man.” Natural flavours are explicitly outlined by separate laws.

There are several standards for assorted kinds of foodstuffs, like dairy foods. It also gives standards for some food processing methods, for example fermentation or pasteurization. The standard explicitly rules out “foods gleaned from novel processes, GM or cloning.”.

A Healthy Balanced Diet

food pyramid

food pyramid

A diet based primarily on starchy foods like rice and pasta, with masses of fruit and veg, some protein-laden foods like beef, fish and lentils, and some milk and dairy foods will give you all of the nutriments that you want.

When referring to a good diet, balance is the key to getting it right. This means eating a good variety of foods in the right proportions.

But achieving that balance in modern life can be tough. After a tedious day, it can be captivating to snatch the 1st prepared meal on the superstore shelf, which is OK infrequently. But the nutritive labels on these foods show that many prepared meals contain raised levels of fat, added sugar and salt. If you eat prepared meals too frequently, they will upset the balance in your diet.

All of the food we eat can be split into 5 groups. In a good diet you eat the proper balance of these groups.

They’re:

  1. Fruit and veg.
  2. Starchy foods, eg rice, pasta, bread and potatoes. Select wholegrain types if you can. Beef, fish, eggs and beans.
  3. Milk and dairy foods.
  4. Foods containing fat and sugar.

The majority in England eat too much fat, sugar and salt, and not enough fruit, plants and fibre.

Getting enough vitamins and protein

high protein foods

high protein foods

Meat, Fish, Eggs and Beans

These foods are all good for protein, which is vital for expansion and fixing of the body. They’re also good sources of a variety of vitamins and minerals.

Around 15% of the calories that we eat every day should come from protein.

Beef is an excellent source of protein, minerals and vitamins like iron, zinc and B vitamins. It’s also one of the primary sources of vitamin B12. Try to eat low fat slices of beef and skinless birds whenever it’s possible to ease back on fat. Always cook beef completely.

Fish is another critical source of protein, and contains many minerals and vitamins. Oily fish is very loaded in omega-3 trans-acids.

Shoot for at least 2 portions of fish a week, including one portion of oily fish. You can make a choice from fresh, frozen or canned, but canned and smoked fish can be high in salt. For more detailed info on the health advantages of eating fish and shellfish and on how much to eat, see Eatwell’s fish and shellfish pages.

Eggs and beats ( including beans, seeds and nuts ) are also good sources of protein. Nuts are high in fibre and a reasonable substitute for nibbles high in saturated fat, but they do still contain exaggerated levels of fat, so eat them sparsely.