【推荐1】Tomatoes are the most popular crops among American home gardeners. The smell of homegrown tomatoes will make you think of lovely summers. An advantage of growing your own tomatoes is variety（品种丰富）. If you visit a garden center, you will find seeds（种子）and small starter plants for yellow tomatoes, purple tomatoes, huge tomatoes, and even very small tomatoes. There are kinds you simply can’t find at a local food store.

Garden writer Jessica Damiano loves tomatoes. She created and hosted The Great Long Island Tomato competition while working for a local newspaper in New York. The celebrations of people who love tomatoes or “tomatophiles” continued for 13 years. One tomato that was entered into the competition weighed more than 2.3 kilos.

Damiano also got to meet and speak with the competitive tomato growers who raised the winning fruits. It did not take long for her to notice some common practices among them.

First, start seeds early indoors and then plant them into larger containers before moving them outdoors. Plant them deeply into the soil, about 30 cm above the ground. This will produce strong plants.

Then, give the tomatoes plenty of water, soft soil, heat and light. It is best to grow tomatoes in a place that receives at least six hours of sunlight each day. Remember to remove weeds because this can protect tomatoes from diseases.

Last but not least, tomatoes grow best in soil with a pH level between 6.0 and 6.8. If the pH reading is lower than 6.0, you can add about 2 cups of lime（石灰）into the soil for each plant. Make sure to mix it deep into the soil.

If you want to grow really big tomatoes,try those tips from expert growers and you may have a big harvest!

【推荐2】I’m Jane. Here are three photos of my family.

This is my room. It is white. You can see a desk, a chair and a bookcase. A computer and a photo of me are on the desk. A tape player is on the bookcase. You can’t see my model planes. They are on my bed.

This is Tom’s room. Tom is my brother. His room is yellow and it is big. You can see his photo on his desk. A clock and two books are on the desk, too.

This is my parents’ room. It is brown. A big bed and a big bookcase are in the room. Many books are in the bookcase. My parents love reading (喜欢阅读).

【推荐3】What is the biggest treasure in your school? In Beijing 101 Middle School, it must be the two alpacas(羊驼)!

“They came to our school in 2019.” said Zhang Ruixuan. The 15-year-old boy is one of the volunteers who take care of the alpacas together with the school’s workers.” We all love them because they are so cute!”

During the break, the alpacas always come to the playground to watch the students exercise. At the end of the day, they sit in front of the school gate to see students off. “They give us great company.” said Zhang.

Zhang’s volunteer job is to stop students from hurting the animals. For example, some students may feed the alpacas with the wrong food. That’s not healthy for them. Some students may also scare the animals for fun. It is Zhang’s job to stop them.

“Alpacas are very timid(胆小的),” said Zhang. “If you scare them, they will spit (吐口水) at you to protect themselves. But they are smart and gentle in nature. They will treat you the way you treat them.”

The volunteers also need to help school workers clean the alpacas’ home. “We need to put dry grass inside. The smell there is quite strong,” said Zhang. “But by doing this, we learn to take responsibility(责任). After all, the alpacas bring us so much fun and comfort us when we feel sad. We should take good care of them in return.”

【推荐2】There are lots of fun-filled ethnic (少数民族的) festivals in our country. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Interested in these Chinese festivals? Go and experience them yourself.