Strawberry is one of the most favored consumed fresh fruits worldwide. However, the major constraint limiting future sustainable production and sales of strawberries is post-harvest decay. Thus, taking a deep look into the effective preservation measures including pre- and post-harvest techniques to retain freshness and inhibit the pathological spoilage of strawberries in the supply chain is of great significance and necessity. At present, relying solely on post-harvest technology is not enough to fix the aim of strawberry fruit preservation and longer shelf life. On the contrary, pre-harvest treatments could be extend shelf life of strawberry fruit and adapt to the diverse post-harvest environments. This review give the latest pre-harvest treatments, their effects on post-harvest quality and storability of strawberries, and develop the expectation of strawberries pre-harvest methods applicated in the future.

To achieve higher economic returns, we employ inexpensive valley electricity for night-time supplementary lighting (NSL) of tomato plants, investigating the effects of various durations of NSL on the growth, yield, and quality of tomato. Tomato plants were treated with supplementary light for a period of 0 h, 3 h, 4 h, and 5 h during the autumn–winter season. The findings revealed superior growth and yield of tomato plants exposed to 3 h, 4 h, and 5 h of NSL compared to their untreated counterparts. Notably, providing lighting for 3 h demonstrated greater yields per plant and per trough than 5 h exposure. To investigate if a reduced duration of NSL would display similar effects on the growth and yield of tomato plants, tomato plants received supplementary light for 0 h, 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h at night during the early spring season. Compared to the control group, the stem diameter, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis rate, and yield of tomatoes significantly increased upon supplementation with lighting. Furthermore, the input–output ratios of 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h NSL were calculated as 1:10.11, 1:4.38, and 1:3.92, respectively. Nonetheless, there was no detectable difference in yield between the 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h NSL groups. These findings imply that supplemental LED lighting at night affects tomato growth in the form of light signals. Night-time supplemental lighting duration of 1 h is beneficial to plant growth and yield, and its input–output ratio is the lowest, which is an appropriate NSL mode for tomato cultivation.

School gardening (SG) is the practice of using school grounds to establish horticultural spaces that are collaboratively designed and managed by teachers, students, volunteers, and others. SG offers plant cultivation areas, locations for students to cook, socialize, and relax, and a stress‐relieving environment. Now SG has gained popularity worldwide. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the benefits of SG, current challenges faced in the realm of SG, countermeasures to these issues, and precautions that should be taken account into when implementing SG. This paper is intended to serve as a valuable reference for guiding the continued advancement of SG initiatives in the future.

The front cover picture, designed by Michael Shevchuk, illustrates difluoromethylene phosphonates as bioisosteric, non-hydrolyzable analogs of natural phosphates, reflecting on their prominence as molecular tools to study intricate phosphate biochemistry and beyond. The review comprehensively summarizes the recent synthetic advances in the chemistry of difluoromethylene phosphonates, such as visible light-driven photocatalytic transformations, and highlights compounds that have found significant importance in biochemical research. Details can be found in the Review by Gerd-Volker Röschenthaler, Jianlin Han, and co-workers (M. Shevchuk, Q. Wang, R. Pajkert, J. Xu, H. Mei, G.-V. Röschenthaler, J. Han, Adv. Synth. Catal. 2021, 363, XXXX–YYYY; DOI: 10.1002/adsc.202001464).