Is it possible to grow cucumbers and tomatoes in an apartment in winter?

In winter, you really want fresh herbs, fragrant berries, fruits and vegetables. I would like to, but my hand unconsciously puts back the just taken package with Turkish tomatoes and cucumbers ... Just know how much real-life there is ...

And imagine: cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and greens in the midst of winter you can grow yourself without leaving your home - on your two or three windowsills! And along the way, create a summer cottage landscape right in your apartment. No, no, no kidding, if you decide today, and tomorrow you go to the store for seeds, then on March 8, the first cucumbers may already appear on your bushes, and the grown bushes of tomatoes, peppers and beans will make your windowsill green and joyful in summer !

And let us convince you that it is interesting, exciting, important, necessary and not difficult at all! We can grow at home cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet and bitter peppers, carrots, beans, garlic, celery, herbs ... oh-oh-oh, how many things!

Well, let's get it in order?

Cucumbers

Growing cucumbers at home is a very tempting idea. Just imagine: you wake up in mid-March, go to the window, pick a couple of young cucumbers from a green bush, and five minutes later there is a healthy vegetable salad on the table ... And what a smell all over the apartment!

If a thought flashed through you now: "Maybe I should try?" - here are some arguments to help you decide:

• Cucumbers grow very quickly: literally 7-9 weeks after planting, you can cut a salad from your greens!
• It is quite possible to grow cucumbers at home not only for a summer resident who has already "eaten a dog" in vegetable growing, but even for an inexperienced city dweller.
• And a control shot: just imagine how delighted your friends, colleagues and neighbors will be with young cucumbers on your windowsill! You will become an object of ah and ah for a long time))

Want to see how it might look? And here's how in this video:

Stop, stop, do not urgently run after the seeds that you have prepared for summer cottages! Everything is in order. First, we carefully read what you need to know and take into account when growing cucumbers at home.
 

Suitable varieties

Not all cucumber varieties are suitable for indoor growing. You need to choose

self-pollinated

hybrids ... It's best if they will

early maturing ... Even better - if they are also

bush ... And then -

shade-tolerant ))

Excellent proven themselves hybrids:

• ‘Marinda F1’
• ‘Onega F1’
• 'Masha F1'
• ‘Connie F1’
• ‘Legend F1’
• 'Claudia F1'
• ‘Tatiana F1’
• ‘Seryozha F1’

Good reviews are also about varieties:

• ‘Gribovchanka’
• 'Debut'
• ‘Zozulya’
• ‘Ragtime’
• 'Babylon'
• 'April'
• 'Flight'
• ‘Boyfriend’
• 'Athlete'
• ‘Kinglet’
• ‘NIIOH-412’
• ‘Cucaracha’

If you are just starting to grow cucumbers at home, choose from these varieties, you will not go wrong.

The necessary conditions

Cucumbers, like any other plant, have their own preferences. They are:

• photophilous, therefore, the eastern or southern side of the apartment (house) is best suited for growing them. If there is not enough light (and most often this is exactly the case), it will be necessary to organize additional lighting with fluorescent lamps.
• thermophilic, they need a temperature above + 20 ° C (at least + 22 ... + 24 ° C during the day).
• hygrophilous, therefore, the soil should always be moist (moderately, not overfilled).

Tomatoes

A red tomato is clearly not a winter or spring vegetable. Therefore, fresh tomatoes from your garden in April and May are an indescribable pleasure (and pride, whatever you say!).

Many do not dare to grow tomatoes in an apartment, fearing that they simply will not succeed. You know, the bushes strewn with red fruits on the windowsill are only at first glance "how difficult it is to be horrified." Anyone can grow tomatoes at home. Almost everyone grows flowers in their apartments, and this process is no less complicated 🙂

If you are eager to try your hand at growing homemade tomatoes, heed the advice of our experienced summer residents.

Suitable varieties

Suitable for a home garden self-pollinated hybrids... Do not mess with tall varieties - you will suffer. Better to chooseundersized (or even dwarf ones). It is also worth sacrificing love for large tomatoes, it is better to plant small-fruited varieties - they ripen faster and easier.

There are a lot of tomato seeds on sale today of those varieties and hybrids that are specially designed for home cultivation:

• ‘Balcony miracle’
• ‘Room surprise’
• ‘Balcony Red F1’
• 'Alaska'
• ‘Betta’
• ‘Pearl red’
• ‘Pearl yellow’
• ‘Bonsai’
• ‘Japanese room’
• ‘News of Canada’

They enjoy special love

dwarf:

• ‘Minibel’

• 'Bonsai micro F1'
• ‘Pinocchio’
• ‘Florida petite’
• ‘Cherry Pygmy’
• ‘Lisa F1’
• 'Greenfinch F1'

Ampel varieties that look great in hanging pots are wonderful - such as:

• ‘Cherry’
• ‘Talisma’
• ‘Yellow pear’
• ‘Peruvian home’
• ‘Ildi’

Advice

: The store will offer you quite a few varieties of tomatoes, assuring that they are great for home growing.Listening to this and believing the seller, you still carefully read what is written on the packaging: the bags we need have special marks “Home garden”, “Harvest series on the window” or “Recommended for pot growing”. Now, if you saw such an inscription - feel free to pay money)

The necessary conditions

Caring for "home" tomatoes is not much different from caring for them in the country or in a personal plot.

• Tomatoes - plants light-loving, therefore, it is advisable for them to choose the south, southeast or east side. In winter, in an apartment, they need illumination (you can read more about lighting in the article 10 secrets of a home garden).
• They do not like stagnant air, they are afraid damp rooms. 
• And here are not afraid of drafts, so feel free to ventilate the room where the tomatoes "live".
• Optimal daytime temperature for growing: before flowering and fruiting - + 22 ... + 25 ° C (night - about + 17 ° C), and then - preferably 2-3 ° C higher.
• Watering, as in the open field, requires rare but abundant.

Advice:

if you want the tomato bush to be symmetrically developed and beautiful, turn it 180 ° daily in relation to the light from the window - then it will build up the green mass evenly from all sides (some owners rotate the pots with bushes 90 °, considering what will be even more evenly))

Sweet pepper (bulgarian)

This southern juicy vegetable is quite suitable for "domestication", it is unpretentious, beautiful and very useful. Although you will have to be patient - you will be able to taste the first sweet peppers only 5-6 months after germination.

Growing it at home is interesting, to say the least. Yes, and profitable as well. How is it profitable? Yes, because pepper is a perennial plant, and the bushes planted today will delight you with their harvest for 2-3 years. Tempting? And then! If you decide to add bell peppers to your windowsill, get acquainted with the secrets of growing it.

Suitable varieties

As in the case of cucumbers and tomatoes, for a home garden you need to select early maturing self-pollinated hybrids... In home culture, varieties have proven themselves best. universal purpose, used both for planting in open ground and in protected:

• indoor pepper 'Patio-Ivo', which pleases with its bright yellow fruits at any time of the year on the windowsill or balcony;
• thick-walled peppers of the improved selection ‘California Miracle’ - up to 75 cm high, with beautiful bright red fruits with a ribbed surface;
• medium-early high-yielding hybrid of Dutch selection 'Jupiter F1' with very large fleshy fruits that change color from green to red;
• very sweet pepper of the 'Oda' variety - purple in color, undersized (35-50 cm) and very productive.

Good reviews received medium early varieties:

• 'Martin'
• ‘Bulgarian-79’
• ‘Gift of Moldova’
• ‘Novogoshary’
• 'Winnie the Pooh'

The necessary conditions

Bell pepper will not be "capricious" and will thank you with a good harvest, if you observe several important conditions for it:

• This plant is southern, so it must be placed in the sunniest room, where there is most of the light. If there is not enough light, it will be necessary to artificially illuminate it.
• Sweet pepper is a sissy, he does not like drafts.
• The optimum air temperature for its maintenance is + 20 ... + 26 ° C (at night + 18 ... + 20 ° C).
• Regular soil loosening necessarily.
• Pepper needs pest protection (aphids and spider mites).
• During the fruiting period, pepper is needed tie up to the trellis.

Advice: it is categorically not recommended to grow sweet and bitter peppers on the same windowsill (and in the same room) - as a result of cross-pollination, all your peppers will turn out to be bitter (a distance of 2-3 m to the next window sill is not an obstacle, you can not check it))

Bitter pepper

I think that bitter pepper lovers will never give up the opportunity to always have a bush with burning pointed fruits at hand ... for for them any dish with hot pepper becomes immeasurably tastier))

But to grow such a miracle on the windowsill is not difficult at all. To do this, you only need the presence of the sun in the window for 3-4 hours a day, a pot of soil, and the necessary seeds. And in 2-3 months you will have a gorgeous treasured bush, strewn with medium-sized fruits. And it can bear fruit in one place up to 5 years!

By the way, it is especially worth emphasizing that all representatives of "bitter peppers" are highly decorative and will certainly become a decoration of your home garden!

I don't think I had to persuade you)) It remains only to skim through a few lines of the necessary information.

Suitable varieties

For home cultivation, seeds of early-maturing self-pollinated varieties and hybrids are best suited. To the delight of hot pepper lovers, almost all varieties of hot pepper fully meet their purpose)

These are varieties and hybrids:

• ‘Astrakhansky 147’
• ‘Elephant trunk’
• ‘Ukrainian bitter’
• 'Indian summer'
• ‘Fire’
• ‘The Queen of Spades’
• 'Sweeties'
• ‘Carmen’
• ‘Superchile F1’
• ‘Curiosity’

Special feedback received two varieties of pepper:

• ‘Serpent Gorynych’ is a high-yielding, very spicy burning taste.
• The 'Elephant's trunk' is the largest-fruited of all hot peppers, reaching 27 cm in length.

The necessary conditions

In order for hot pepper bushes to grow and develop without problems, several basic conditions must be met from the very beginning.

• Prepare a quality soil substrate.
• Plants are best placed on south, southeast and southwest windows where most of the world... If there is a lack of lighting in winter, it is imperative to carry out additional lighting.
• To not allow drying out soil.
• Do not pinch, then the bush will be voluminous and "rich".
• During fruiting feedas it tends to be abundant and quickly depletes the soil.

Beans

Everyone can grow beans on the windowsill. Moreover, it is unpretentious, rises and grows quickly, does not require special care. It is a self-pollinating plant; in a month and a half it will bloom, and in two you will be removing young pods. They are extraordinarily tasty in vegetable stews, soups, in an omelette and simply stewed.

Believe me, you will not regret it if you decide to "get" a couple of bean bushes).

Suitable varieties

Practice has shown that it is most profitable to grow at home early maturing varieties of asparagus bush beans... But also curly varieties shouldn't be written off. At the very least, they are very decorative - long bright green vines with large flowers of pink, purple or white look amazing. And you won't be left without a crop either.

Which beans to choose?

• has proven itself well black Eyed Peas ‘Fatima’.
• good reviews of summer residents received varieties bush beans ‘Triumph Sugar 764’, ‘Sachs Without Fiber 615’, ‘Mask’ and ‘Green Pod 517’.
• from curly beans it is recommended to choose either ‘Golden Neck’ or ‘Violetta’.

The necessary conditions

It is easy to take care of the beans, it is enough to provide them with regular watering, loosening and feeding and fulfill a few simple requirements:

• The container for growing bush varieties should be at least 2 liters in volume, and for climbing varieties - 30-35 liters.
• Bush beans more photophilous, it is best placed on the windows of the south and southeast side, curly can "live" on either side. Beans, as a rule, do not need additional lighting.
• Curly beans need ropes (wire, mesh) to supports.
• The yield of beans is increased feeding superphosphate and potassium chloride.

Carrot

Have you ever heard that carrots are grown on a windowsill? In a simple flowerpot or container, you can get a very decent harvest.Most varieties will allow you to start picking fresh carrots as early as 3.5 months after planting: when the majority of summer residents just start sowing carrots, you will already be eating them!

Carrots, of course, are capricious, but the main thing is to know a few secrets, and then you will "make friends" with it for a long time:

Suitable varieties

Carrots are remarkable in that the root crop, even when it has just been born, is already suitable for consumption. Therefore, growing it is a win-win business))

• For growing at home, it is best suited mini carrot of the Parisian Carotel variety - these are the ‘Parmex’, ‘Sophie’, ‘Grandfather’ varieties. It grows in 80-90 days and does not require much space - a pot or container is fine.
• You can also opt for early maturity sort ‘Amsterdam’.
• And kids will love the Round Baby round little roots.

The necessary conditions

You need to start with preparation lightweight and well-drained soil. This is extremely important: the easier it is to penetrate oxygen into the soil, the juicier and healthier the roots will be.

• Tank depth (container, pot, flowerpot) must be large enough so that the roots can develop normally.
• Temperature the environment must be kept within the range of + 13… + 24 ° C.
• Carrot does not like direct sunlight.
• Watering requires regular (more often than in the open field). In this case, the presence of drainage holes is mandatory!
• To retain moisture in the soil, you need to carry out mulching.
• Do not get carried away nitrogen fertilizers, you risk getting a lot of tops, not carrots.

Advice

: Carrots can be grown in cut plastic bottles. And cheap, and convenient, and mobile))

Home garden with herbs

Well, what kind of vegetable garden is without greenery? Onions, parsley, dill, salads, basil, mint ...

If you are a fan of greenery on the window, we advise you to read the articles on our website:

• 5 types of greenery that are easy to grow on a windowsill
• Growing green onions in a plastic bottle
• How to grow parsley on a windowsill
• How to grow delicious onions on a windowsill - secrets and subtleties
• How to quickly and easily grow watercress on a windowsill
• 10 secrets of the home garden

And finally, we suggest admiring the home garden of Nadezhda Shcherbinina. Any of us can make the same branch of a summer residence ... you just want to.

The more snow outside the window, the whiter the landscapes, the more we miss the bright colors of the past summer, the fresh biting sound of a jet from a hose, the whisper of herbs - at our dacha. Hands have long missed the ground, and oh, how long to my favorite beds ...

But it is in our power to reclaim a piece of summer and a summer residence. There is everything for this - desire and ... a window sill! Let me remind myself once again: if we start right now, then by March 8 we may already have our own cucumbers! Let's start?

Growing cucumbers in an apartment: seeds, varieties, place, containers

Let's describe in detail all the stages of how to grow cucumbers at home in winter?

The right seeds

For growing cucumbers in the winter at home, the seeds must meet stringent requirements. Homemade cucumber should be:

• Short-fruited, with a length of zelents from 6 cm to 25 cm.
• Shade tolerant, not afraid of temperature changes.
• Early or mid-season, with a fruiting period of 4 to 6 months.
• Harvest.

Parthenocarpic F1 hybrids are preferred... These self-pollinating plants only have female flowers. Early and ultra-early are the most popular for growing cucumbers at home:

• April;
• Benefit;
• Zozulya;
• Carmen;
• Goosebump;
• Sail;
• Regina;
• Shchedryk;
• Crunch.

Of the mid-early varieties of cucumbers for growing at home, the following are preferable:

• Athlete;
• Full house;
• Balagan;
• Bianca;
• Berendey;
• Urban;
• Far Eastern;
• Claudia;
• Courage;
• Marinade;
• Masha;
• Pallas' cat;
• Romance;
• Solar.

IMPORTANT! Late ripening cucumber hybrids are not suitable for home cultivation.

Bee-pollinated cucumber hybrids, in indoor and greenhouse cultivation, require manual pollination.

The process requires certain skills and additional investment of time.

But despite this, vegetable growers grow at home bee-pollinated cucumber hybrids:

• Gribovsky 2;
• Zarya;
• Pallas' cat;
• Surprise;
• Khutorok;
• Relay race.

Grow and bee-pollinated varieties of cucumbers:

• Room Rytov;
• Marfinsky.

Advice! Manual pollination of cucumbers is carried out in the morning... With a cotton swab, a soft brush, they transfer pollen from a male barren flower to flowers with an ovary (female). You can touch the pistil of a woman with a male flower with torn petals.

Female single flowers grow separately. The males form groups in the leaf axils.

Pollination of cucumbers continues throughout the entire flowering period, up to the appearance of the first ovaries. To increase the yield of cucumbers experienced amateurs advise pollinating female flowers with pollen of different varieties.

Seat selection

It's better to grow cucumbers in an apartment on warm bright balconies, loggias, verandas, windows oriented to the south, east, west.

The north side is not suitable for cultivation. There should be no drafts in the room.

What to grow?

There are many options: hanging baskets, buckets, containers, boxes, flower pots, tubs. The main thing is that the volume of the container is at least 5 liters.... Drainage is laid out on the bottom - small pebbles, pieces of expanded clay, large sawdust. Holes are made to remove excess water.

Advice! To save money, they cut off large plastic bottles, use double cellophane garbage bags.

How to grow cucumbers in an apartment: step by step instructions

Landing dates

Timing depend on the selected variety of cucumbers, growing conditions. They take into account the area of ​​the room, the ability to provide optimal temperature and light conditions, air humidity, and climatic zone.

Cucumbers planted at the end of October will ripen to the New Year's table. From January plantings, they begin to harvest in March. The average time for the onset of fruiting from the appearance of the first shoots is 40-50 days... February seedlings ripen by the May holidays.

Soil preparation

In the store they buy universal soil or mixture for growing pumpkin crops.

They prepare themselves according to proven recipes:

1. Equal shares of peat, humus. A glass of wood ash on a bucket of mixture.
2. 1/3 of the turf, garden soil, compost with the addition of a small amount of calcined river sand, ash, rotten sawdust.

The earth is disinfected in one of the following ways:

• Steamed.
• Spill hot (+ 90 ° C) solution of potassium permanganate of dark pink color.
• Warm up in the oven.
• Process special industrial preparations.
• Apply nitrophosphate or complete complex fertilizer. Poured into containers, spilled abundantly, left for a day to seal.

Sowing

1. Cucumber seeds etched for 20-30 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate... Washed out. Dry. Leave for 2-3 days to swell in a saucer with warm water, wrap in wet gauze, spread on cotton pads. Learn more about preparing seeds before planting.
2. Hatching cucumber seeds sow to a depth of about a centimeter... Plant 1-2 seeds per liter volume at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other. Watering.
3. Exposed to a bright place... Maintain a temperature of + 22-25 ° С during the day, + 16-18 ° С at night.
4. To maintain the required humidity covered with foil, glass.
5. When cucumber shoots appear, the shelter is removed. A weak sprout is removed. Additional lighting is started.

Advice! To eliminate the danger of hypothermia of the root system of cucumbers, a sheet of foam plastic, drywall, thick plywood is placed under the containers with plantings.

Lighting

It is impossible to grow cucumbers at home in winter without lighting.... Daylight hours should last 12-14 hours.In the central zone of Russia, in the Urals, in Siberia, from December to February, supplementary lighting is carried out from 16 to 20 hours.

Lighting devices for supplementary lighting (energy-saving, luminescent, LED) are fixed at a distance of 30-40 cm.

To enhance the effect, light-reflecting foil sheets and mirrors are installed.

Temperature

Until the plants form lashes, the temperature is maintained not higher than + 16 ° С... After the formation of lashes, the temperature on sunny days is maintained at + 24-26 ° С, in cloudy weather and at night + 18-20 ° С.

Watering

Water in sunny weather every day, in cloudy - every other day... Water must be defended, brought to room temperature. Several times a season they are watered with a weak pinkish solution of potassium permanganate.

It is useful to spray the plants twice a day, but the leaves should dry out by night. Watering cucumbers is carried out at the root or water is poured into trays.

Advice! To increase the humidity in the room, cover the heating batteries with wet towels. They put dishes with water next to the cucumber bushes. Includes humidifiers.

Support

Home-grown lashes reach heights of up to two meters and require a garter... The garter is made with a sliding loop. Use twine or nylon cord.

Bush formation

After the appearance of the fifth true leaf, pinch the top to form a bush in two stems. When the next five leaves grow, the procedure is repeated.

The pinching of the lateral lashes is carried out in the lateral lower nodes above the 1-2-3 sheet.

Top dressing

The first feeding is carried out after the appearance of two true leaves... They are fed with a solution of 3-4 g of nitrophoska per liter of water. The consumption rate for a plant is a glass.

Can be used solution of one teaspoon of urea in 5 liters of water... Feed once every 2 weeks.

With the advent of zelents, the plant is fed every week, alternating mineral and organic fertilizers. As organic additives, 20% solutions of chicken manure or superphosphate are used. For minerals, dissolve 30-40 g of nitrophoska in a bucket of water, add a teaspoon of Agrolife or 2 caps of the Growth preparation together with watering.

Alternatively, after a week, feeding cucumbers with biohumus agents... The bushes are sprayed twice with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

Advice! Excellent organic matter is a solution of fermented crushed banana peels and rye bread.

Diseases

Cucumbers grown in the apartment suffer from spider mites and whiteflies. Spraying with soapy water helps, it is dangerous to use insecticides in the apartment.

Harvesting

Zelentsy harvested every day, preventing them from overgrowing... This promotes the formation of new ovaries, lightens the load on the lashes, prevents plant depletion, deterioration of the palatability of cucumbers.

Growing in a private house

Does not differ in agricultural technology from growing cucumbers in an apartment. However, villagers and cottage owners have more opportunities to successfully grow cucumbers in heated greenhouses all year round.

Features of greenhouse agricultural technology

• Stop choosing greenhouse varieties cucumbers.
• When planting seedlings, be sure to add at least a bucket of well-rotted compost or manure to the hole, with the addition of 10 g of phosphorus, 5 g of nitrogen, 15 g of potassium per 1 m².
• When landing place seedlings of cucumbers at a distance of 40 cm from each otherleaving a meter between the rows. Water abundantly.
• Equip trellises, supports.
• The cucumber bush is formed as if grown at home.
• Remove yellowed and deformed leaves.
• First feeding after 4 weeks. For each plant, 1-2 liters of 0.3% aqueous phosphorus-potassium solution are consumed. During the fruiting period, feeding is carried out every week.
• At the optimum air temperature, watering is carried out at the rate of 2-3 liters of water per bush.

Disease prevention and control

• Should change the soil annually... Develop beneficial microflora. Introduce preparations such as Fitosporin M, rotted manure, nettle infusion.
• Observe the ventilation mode.
• To combat spider mites, whiteflies, ants, the soil is disinfected. Once every 5 days, the bushes are sprayed with karbofos.
• Dill, mustard, coriander, garlic, basil, tobacco are planted between rows.... They repel pests of cucumbers.
• Aphids and whiteflies are washed off with a stream of cold water. Wipe the cucumber leaves with soapy water.

Can you grow in a basement?

In an equipped basement, up to 200 kg of cucumbers are removed from 1 m².

The main costs are to ensure optimal light and thermal conditions.

Requirements for the basement for growing cucumbers

• Temperature should not fall to minus indicators throughout the year.
• Absence of rodents, mold, fungus.
• Tightness, protection from drafts, penetration of groundwater.

Basement equipment

• Insulate the floor and walls insulating materials.
• Install heaters, thermal and lighting devices. Mercury arc lamps or incandescent lamps are the most suitable luminaires. For convenience, a time relay is used.
• Organize a ventilation system.
• Choose a growing medium: hydroponics or soil.
• The soil requirements are the same as for growing cucumbers at home and in greenhouses.

Hydroponics is more effective for basement gardening. Use quartz, granite granules with a diameter of 50-20 mm and a nutrient solution with a high content of nitrogen, potassium, calcium, phosphorus. The nutrient solution can be purchased at a store or prepared by yourself.

Growing features

• The seedling method is cultivated.
• Seedlings of cucumbers planted at any time of the year.
• They comply with the general requirements of cucumber agricultural technology.
• To combat insects, rodents, dust, smoke bombs, traps with poisoned bait, special paints with insecticides are changed.
• From fungal diseases, mold, moss primed walls with compounds with antifungal additives.

Advantages and disadvantages of basement growing

The undoubted advantages include high yield, obtaining cucumbers regardless of the season, weather conditions... Reduced time from emergence of cucumber seedlings to harvest. Already two months after planting the seedlings, the first greens ripen.

The main disadvantage is the high cost of cucumbers.

Is it possible to grow cucumbers at home in winter? If you wish, you can grow cucumbers all year round. From a home-grown bush, enthusiasts get 35-40 cucumbers.

Useful materials

Explore other helpful articles on caring for cucumber seedlings:

• Tips for growing in various containers, in particular in peat pots and tablets.
• The reasons why the seedlings are stretched and the leaves turn yellow?
• All the secrets of picking young shoots and planting them in open ground.

Useful video

Personal experience of how cucumbers were grown in 50 days on the northern balcony:

Vegetables are a valuable low-calorie dietary food product, the regular consumption of which has a beneficial effect on human health. In this article, we will tell you how to grow vegetables in a city apartment, we will deal with the peculiarities of agricultural technology for growing cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers.

Vegetables are the main source of vitamins necessary for humans. Eating various vegetable salads stimulates the body's defenses and protects us from the adverse effects of the environment. This is especially important in winter and early spring, when the body is in dire need of protection from influenza and respiratory infections.

You can grow the amount of vegetables necessary for a family in winter on window sills and insulated heated balconies. To do this, it is necessary to observe specially developed agricultural techniques for indoor cultivation. Let's see what they are.

We organize the beds correctly

You can grow cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers in an apartment all year round. It is not at all difficult to build beds on the windowsill. If your window sill is narrow, then first you need to expand it. This can be done in two ways.

You can use a sheet of plywood with a thickness of 7-10 mm, a width of 20 cm and a length equal to the window sill. Plywood just needs to be slipped under the frame with one side and secured - now the area for the garden will be quite sufficient.

You can increase the area using stools. To do this, we put two stools near the window near the radiator and put a board 20 centimeters wide on them. In this case, the upper part of the containers should be at the level of the windowsill. In this case, the vegetable plants will be both warm and light.

You can use any containers for growing, as long as the plants are spacious in them. We will talk about this in more detail a little later. It all depends on your financial capabilities. You can use expensive ceramic pots, or you can adapt a 5–6 liter water bottle for these purposes. For growing vegetables, you can make your own boxes from pine or spruce boards, again adhering to the required volume for each individual plant. We talked in more detail about the containers and drainage in them in the article “Vegetable garden on the windowsill. We grow greens, leafy vegetables and herbs. "

You can prepare the soil for growing vegetables on the windowsill yourself, or you can buy a ready-made substrate. If you use garden land, then the following proportions must be observed: 80% of the soil from the garden, 10% of humus, 10% of sand. It is advisable to disinfect the garden soil before planting seeds by spilling it with boiling water. A high-quality substrate can be prepared from vermicompost and coconut fiber. To do this, they are mixed in the proportion: vermicompost - 1 part, coconut fiber - 2 parts. These ingredients can be purchased at specialized stores.

A few basic rules

For the successful cultivation of vegetables on the windowsill, you must clearly follow the recommendations described below:

1. Choosing the right seed is important. Self-pollinated early maturing undersized or bush hybrids are suitable for growing in a city apartment. To date, special varieties have also been bred for home cultivation, in this case, the seed bags will be marked “suitable for growing in an apartment”.
2. In order for a beautiful lush fruiting bush to grow from a seed, the plant must be provided with a suitable temperature and the required amount of light. Vegetable beds should be located on the south or southeast windows. On short winter days, supplementary lighting with fluorescent lamps is mandatory.
3. It is necessary to water the plants with warm, settled water, at a temperature of 20-25 degrees.
4. The vegetables on the windowsill need to be fed regularly, especially during the fruiting period. For these purposes, you can use a universal fertilizer for indoor flowers or specialized growth concentrates.
5. Pots with seedlings and mature shrubs must be turned 180 degrees once a day. This is necessary so that the bushes are even, as plants tend to bend towards the light.

Basic rules for supplementing vegetable beds on the windowsill

On cloudy short winter days, it is simply impossible to grow lush bushes in an apartment without additional lighting. As you know, light is the main component of such an important process for a plant as photosynthesis, without which normal growth and development of culture does not occur.

It is recommended to organize additional lighting using white and daylight fluorescent lamps. Such lamps provide illumination similar to sunlight without generating heat. Therefore, they can be located close enough to the plants. Today, in specialized stores, you can also buy phytolamps, adapted specifically for indoor growing of vegetables.

Fluorescent lamps are suspended at a height of 10 cm for light-loving plants and 40-50 cm for shade-loving plants. For 1 sq. m of the window sill, lighting of 200-300 watts is required. You can organize additional lighting using the following formula:

• lamp power = 200/300 W * window sill area

It is best to choose the length of the lamp equal to the length of the window sill.

It is very convenient to connect fluorescent lamps using a special timer. In this case, the supplementary lighting will turn on itself, exactly at the time interval that you set, for example, from 7:00 to 10:00 in the morning and from 15:00 to 21:00 in the evening. The timer lamps will also turn off on their own.

Features of growing cucumbers on the windowsill

For growing cucumbers in a city apartment, the main thing is to choose the right seeds. For these purposes, specially bred self-pollinated greenhouse varieties are suitable. It is most convenient to grow bush species of this culture on the windowsill. If you want to grow bee-pollinated cucumbers on the windowsill, then pollination will need to be done manually.

Cucumber is a light-loving and thermophilic culture, therefore, the beds must be located on the southern or southeastern windows. This plant has an extremely negative attitude towards drafts. The window, near which the containers with cucumbers are located, must be well insulated, and the window must be covered with polyethylene to prevent cold air from entering during ventilation. You can get a good harvest only if the beds are supplemented in winter with fluorescent lamps.

It is best to pre-germinate the seeds before planting to speed up the emergence of seedlings. To do this, they must be placed in several layers of toilet paper and put in a flat container, pour warm water on top. Next, we keep the seeds at a temperature of 28-30 degrees and high humidity for 2-3 days. If the paper dries up, it should be moistened periodically. The emergence of seedlings 2-3 mm means that the seeds are ready to be planted in the soil.

Sprouted seeds can be planted in small plastic cups to obtain seedlings, or they can be placed immediately in a permanent place in a container. It should be borne in mind that one adult plant for full development will need a volume of 3–3.5 liters.

After planting the germinated seeds in the ground, the containers are covered with plastic wrap and placed in a warm place. After the seedlings have emerged, the pots are moved to the south window and, with a short daylight hours, provide additional lighting. If you grew seedlings in small cups, you can transplant them to a permanent place when the plant has two or three leaves.

After the cucumber grows 5-6 leaves and begins to release a mustache, you need to tie it to a peg or a taut twine. Pinch the cucumbers grown on the windowsill over 11-12 leaves. The faster you do this, the faster the cucumber will begin to bear fruit. The emerging side shoots must also be removed.

If you prefer to grow bee-pollinated cucumber varieties in your apartment, pollination can be done manually. To do this, they pluck a bright yellow male flower and touch the female flower with it (they, as a rule, do not have a bright color). Pollination can also be carried out using a cotton wool wound around a match. It is best to pollinate cucumbers in the morning. If you create optimal conditions for the plant, you can get 12-15 medium-sized cucumbers from one bush.

Features of growing tomatoes on a windowsill

Tomato is a light-loving and thermophilic culture, therefore, the beds must be placed on the southern or southeastern windows. Unlike cucumber, this plant has a positive attitude towards drafts, so the air temperature can be controlled by ventilating the premises. The optimum temperature for growing tomatoes is 28 degrees during the day and 15 degrees at night.

It should be noted that low-growing, early-ripening small-fruited tomato varieties are best suited for apartment cultivation.

You can grow tomatoes on the windowsill, like cucumbers, either by seedling, or by planting seeds immediately in a large container. The optimum volume for each adult plant is 3.5–4 liters. After planting the seeds, the containers must be placed in a warm place (25 degrees) and covered with foil. After sprouting, remove the film and place the plants on the windowsill. In winter, when daylight hours are short, tomato beds need additional lighting.

The main problem when growing tomatoes on a windowsill is their susceptibility to fungal diseases, which, in most cases, occur with increased soil and air humidity. Therefore, it is necessary to water the tomato beds on the windowsill very carefully, avoiding waterlogging. Watering adult plants should be 1-2 times a week with warm, settled water. If there is high humidity in the room, in order to avoid the development of fungi, you can spray the plants with a Bordeaux mixture. For its preparation, a liter of water is poured into glassware, 10 grams of copper sulfate are dissolved in it. Then 20 grams of slaked lime is diluted in 100 grams of water - this milk of lime is poured into a solution of copper sulfate in a thin stream and mixed well. This mixture can be stored for 24 hours.

Tomatoes do not need artificial pollination, but for better fruit setting, you can lightly tap the flower brushes several times a week. After the formation of the main part of the fruit, the top of the plant and flowering clusters must be removed. If this is not done, the formed fruits will not be able to fully ripen.

Features of growing pepper on a windowsill

Pepper belongs to those crops that are much easier to grow in an apartment than cucumber and tomato. This is especially true for bitter varieties. For growing peppers on the windowsill, any varieties are suitable for your taste. The most important thing is not to put sweet and bitter peppers next to each other in order to avoid over-pollination.

If you have a summer cottage or garden in which you grow pepper bushes during the season, for the winter several well-preserved bushes can be dug up and transplanted into a pot. Pepper is originally a perennial crop, so it can grow in a room for several years. With regular feeding (2 times a month), an adult plant needs a volume of 3.5-4 liters, and even less bitter varieties - 1.5-2 liters.

You can also grow pepper on a windowsill by planting seeds in the ground. For better germination, they must be soaked in warm water at a temperature of 25 degrees for 3-4 days. To do this, the seeds are placed in a piece of cotton cloth, placed in a flat container and moistened with warm water as it dries.

Swollen seeds are planted in permanent pots, covered with foil and placed in a warm place. After the emergence of shoots, the containers are moved to the window, in the winter time, additional lighting is organized. The first shoots appear in 2–2.5 weeks. When the plants have 5–6 leaves, we leave one seedling for 4 liters of soil volume, the rest can be transplanted.

The main care for pepper consists in regular watering with warm water as the soil dries up, loosening and feeding. When growing pepper, it should be remembered that this culture loves light and does not react well to sudden changes in temperature and drafts. Almost all varieties of pepper need pollination, therefore, during flowering, it is necessary to shake the branches with flowers.

As you can see, growing vegetables on the windowsill is not difficult. Vegetable beds in the apartment will not only provide your family with the necessary vitamins, but will decorate your home, giving it a stylish and unique look.

rmnt.ru

07.11.13

Good day to readers and friends of the blog!

Today's article will be about growing tomatoes on a windowsill.Right now, in January, it is already possible to sow "home" tomatoes in order to bring down the planting fever and not rush to sow other crops that are too early to sow. Here are some varieties that can be successfully grown at home, like flowers!

Tomato varieties for growing on the windowsill

• Balcony miracle
• Bonsai,
• Baby,
• Pearl,
• Room surprise
• Golden bunch
• Pinocchio.

Tomato seeds

I will sow the varieties Monetka and Pugovka. You can see their description in the article "Tomato varieties for the Urals". And a description of other varieties and many other tomatoes for growing on the windowsill can be found in the article "Cherry Tomatoes - Varieties".

Now in more detail,

How to grow tomatoes in winter at home

Growing tomatoes is

1. Seed preparation
2. Soil preparation
3. Sowing tomatoes
4. Features of home care.

If we sow tomatoes in January, then in May we can already taste the harvest!

Seed preparation

To know for sure that the seeds will sprout, you can germinate them. There are interesting ways in the article "How to accelerate seed germination." Or just put them in a damp cloth in a warm place for a couple of days.

Alla Shirokova gives wonderful advice in the comments to the article "How to sow seeds with all my heart":

“In the book of Vladimir Megre“ Anastasia ”in the chapter“ The Seed-Doctor ”there is very good advice: before planting, take one or several small seeds in your mouth, keep in your mouth, under your tongue, for at least nine minutes. Then put your hands between the two palms of your hands, hold them like this for about thirty seconds ... ... ... Open your palms, and the seed that lies in your hand, you gently present to your mouth. And breathe out the air on the seed from your lungs. You warm him with your breath, and what is in you, the tiny seed will know ... And the seed will determine the moment of its rise. The planets will all help him in that! .. AND NO PRE-TREATMENT OF SEEDS !!!!

But, if you think that seeds should undergo traditional treatment before sowing, then take a look at the article "Treatment of seeds before sowing".

Soil preparation

• Tomatoes love fertile soil, with the addition of humus. Loose, permeable, moist.
• Homemade tomatoes need a lot of moisture, and the roots do not like stagnant water and dampness.
• You need to make good drainage in the pots.
• Choose a suitable pot size for space and nutrition. For low varieties (up to 50 cm), a 2-3 liter pot will be enough.

Let everyone have such a tomato on the windowsill!

Sowing tomatoes

You can sow one seed at a time in a large pot (choose the largest ones). But it is better to sow a few seeds in a small container. Drizzle with warm water and cover with foil until germination. Then we remove the film and put it on a windowsill that is cool to 18 ° C so that it does not stretch.

We are waiting for two or three real leaves at the tomatoes. We choose the strongest of the seedlings and plant them. When transplanting, we deepen the plants to the very cotyledonous leaves, let more roots form. The plant will be more powerful.

Features of caring for a "home" tomato

1. Watering... It is not necessary to water the tomatoes often. But make sure that the soil in the pot does not dry out. It is better to water twice a week, as it should, completely moistening the entire earthen lump, than to water a little every day - the soil inside may remain dry. If the air at home is very dry, spraying will help.
2. Spraying... Tomatoes are not very fond of water on leaves in cold weather, but in an apartment in dry air you can spray them with water. Just do not do this during the flowering period.
3. Supplementing.With such an early planting, the plants need to be supplemented. The days are still short, there is little light.
4. Top dressing. While the plants are growing and gaining strength, they need nitrogen fertilizers. And during the period of formation and ripeness of fruits - potash.

Growing tomatoes on a windowsill in winter is no longer a secret for you.

If you have any questions about growing tomatoes at home, I suggest watching the video.

I tell you what came out of my growing tomatoes in 2015.

These are the bushes of the "Monetka" variety in the spring

Tomato variety "Monetka"First harvest!

The children really liked the tomatoes - I just took a sample and never saw them again. The younger one regularly checked the bushes and collected the crops.

Until late autumn, the bush was just as small and compact. New stepchildren were constantly growing and at once new tomatoes bloomed and sang. Nice sweet taste! They would still delight us with fruits even now, but we had a fire at home. Unfortunately, all the plants died, maybe something could have been saved - but we had no time for that.

I liked these little Coins. This year I will plant it again))))

And here is a photo of the Pugovka variety

The first tomato

He became the only one that ripened on the bush))) My baby was harvesting green. Didn't let them sing at all! But like ordinary tomatoes, they ripened later.

And here are 2 bushes nearby

Baby and giant)))

They are on the window

Coin and Button

I was very surprised at the height of the bush - there were even thoughts that the seeds of the wrong sort were caught. But the stepchildren were also constantly growing and blooming. He grew up to a meter and did not grow anymore.

You can read other interesting articles:

• Growing tomato seedlings at home
• About seedless tomato cultivation
• Growing cucumbers on the windowsill
• How to grow remontant strawberries from seeds

Best regards, Sophia Guseva.

Recently, growing tomatoes on the windowsill has become a popular activity among amateur gardeners. However, due to a lack of knowledge, it is not possible to harvest a good harvest: tomatoes are sick, grow poorly, or set few fruits. What conditions need to be provided for tomatoes in an apartment so that they bear fruit well at home?

Features of growing tomatoes on a windowsill

The technology for growing miniature indoor tomatoes is very similar to the cultivation of ordinary tomatoes on the site. At the same time, there are several features that must be taken into account when deciding to acquire low-growing tomatoes in an apartment:

• for good fruiting, they need to be supplemented with phytolamps;
• in the room where the pots are located, you need to maintain a stable temperature and humidity;
• you cannot pour tomatoes, otherwise they will get sick with a black leg;
• growing containers must match the size of the plant;
• tomato flowers need to be pollinated on their own: during the flowering period, a soft brush is applied to the flowers 2-3 times a day.

Taking into account the specified nuances, which are described in detail below, the chance that growing tomatoes on a window in winter or at any other time of the year will be crowned with success at times.

What varieties are suitable for growing on a windowsill

For growing in an apartment, it is better to choose determinant (undersized) varieties of tomatoes that do not need tying, are unpretentious to the composition of the soil and the length of daylight hours. Most varieties with such characteristics are standard hybrids. Depending on your wishes, you can plant super early or mid-season varieties. Such varieties of tomatoes as Bonsai, Balconnoe miracle, Pygmy, Pinnochio, Room surprise have excellent characteristics.

Despite the fact that the tomatoes of these varieties do not grow more than half a meter, the plants form about 2 kg of yellow or red fruits weighing from 15 to 100 g. Among the many tall varieties of tomatoes for growing on the windowsill, cherry tomatoes are suitable, which do not require special conditions.

How to plant and grow - features, conditions and step-by-step instructions

Growing tomatoes in an apartment is quite simple if the recommended requirements are followed exactly. Anyone who will take proper care of the plants will be able to enjoy bright juicy tomatoes in the middle of winter.

Video: how to grow tomatoes on a windowsill

What should be the place

To ensure that plants receive as much natural light as possible, tomatoes are best placed on south or east windows.If this is not possible, you can put the pots on the west window, but the culture will have to be supplemented. It is not recommended to grow light-loving tomatoes on northern windows.

Temperature

When growing tomatoes on a window, it is very important to maintain the correct temperature regime. Deviations from the established ranges are fraught with slow development and poor productivity of the vegetable crop. When growing tomatoes on the window at home, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

• Seeds germinate quickly and amicably at a temperature of + 23- + 25 C.
• When the seedlings are 7 days old, the temperature is reduced to + 20- + 22 C. Being in colder conditions, the seedlings will not stretch out, which often happens with tomatoes in closed rooms. You can lower the temperature by airing the room for half an hour - the plant is not afraid of drafts.
• The optimum temperature at night is + 15- + 16C.

Important! On the coldest days, when the batteries get very hot, in order to protect the tomato leaves from the influence of warm air, the heating devices are covered with a wooden shield from above.

Humidity

It is necessary to spray tomatoes grown on the window only if the air in the room is very dry. When the temperature in the apartment is below +20 C, it is not at all possible to spray the plants: excessive humidity and cold air are the main reasons for the appearance of a black leg.

Lighting

Due to the fact that tomatoes are plants that need a long day of light in order to form many high-quality fruits at home, they need to be highlighted. The lamps turn on from 8 to 11 am and from 16 to 19 pm. The latest invented hybrids are unpretentious in the amount of light, however, for better yield, it is even recommended to supplement them in the shortest days of winter.

Important! Indoor tomatoes can be grown without additional lighting from mid-February.

Despite the fact that tomatoes love to live on light windowsills, the leaves of young seedlings can get burned under the influence of bright spring rays. To protect the plant from such injuries, the pots are transferred to the east and north windows. If it is impossible to make such a rearrangement, in the brightest hours they are shaded with gauze or paper.

Tying and pinching

The vast majority of hybrids and varieties of tomatoes intended for growing in an apartment on a window or windowsill do not need to be tied up, since they are endowed with a low, powerful stem. Only some varieties, the height of which exceeds 50 cm, need support. Medium-sized tomatoes are formed into 2 stems, tall ones - into one.

What container to plant

Tomato seedlings are initially planted in seedling containers, and as soon as they become cramped, they are transplanted into separate peat pots or plastic cups with a volume of more than 200 ml. Using peat cups, you need to control the amount of watering, otherwise the containers may simply fall apart.

During the next transplant, when the plants have 4-5 pairs of true leaves, the tomatoes are planted in a permanent pot. The size of the planting container must be selected based on the characteristics of the cultivated variety: the more compact the plant, the smaller the planting container volume should be.

Based on this rule, for planting dwarf varieties, you need to use pots up to 2 liters. Indoor tomatoes are recommended to be planted in 3-4 liters containers, ampelous - in 5 liters. Regardless of the size, there should be drainage holes in the bottom of the planting tanks to drain excess water.

What soil to plant

For planting low-growing tomatoes in an apartment, use a special substrate of industrial production or a self-prepared mixture: mix garden soil, rotted compost and peat in a ratio of 5: 5: 2: 1. A potassium sulfate matchbox and about the same amount of urea are added to a bucket of potting soil. Pour a handful of wood ash into the mixture and mix thoroughly.The finished substrate is poured into a container and proceeds to planting.

Important! Regardless of the origin, the soil must be calcined or frozen: high or low temperatures will destroy pathogenic bacteria and insect larvae. Moreover, in order to prevent tomato contamination with dangerous diseases, you need to calcine the tool that will be used when working with the soil at home.

Preparing seeds for planting

First of all, bad planting material is discarded. Seeds are poured into a container with salt water and mixed thoroughly. A few minutes after the water stops spinning, good seeds will sink to the bottom, and bad ones will remain on the surface. The floating seeds are drained along with the water, and the remaining ones continue to be prepared for planting in the apartment.

To destroy pathogens on the surface of seeds, planting material is soaked for 15-20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. After the end of the time, they are taken out of the container and laid out on a paper towel. After drying, they are treated with a growth stimulant in accordance with the instructions. The substances contained in such preparations accelerate the germination of seedlings and increase the resistance of seedlings to diseases.

Direct landing

Indoor tomatoes are planted in the same way as ordinary ones, intended for growing in the open field. Landing is carried out in the following sequence:

1. The disinfected planting material is laid out in a damp cloth and placed in a warm place so that they hatch. Please note that if the fabric dries out, it needs to be sprayed, otherwise the embryos will dry out and the seeds will not hatch.
2. A prepared soil mixture or a special substrate is poured into the seedling container and grooves are made with a depth of 1 cm. It is not recommended to plant tomatoes at a depth of more than 2 cm: the seedling time is doubled. Seeds are laid out at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other.
3. The crops are sprinkled with earth and slightly moistened. Until the emergence of shoots, the box is covered with film or glass, which are removed from time to time so that the soil does not become moldy.
4. As soon as the seedlings throw out 2-3 pairs of true leaves, they are transplanted into pots of appropriate size, the bottom of which is laid with drainage material.

Video: how to grow indoor tomatoes in winter

How to care after planting and before harvest - tips

The health of tomatoes and the volume of the crop depend on the quality of care. In order for indoor tomatoes to quickly develop in an apartment and set the maximum number of fruits, they need to be watered and fertilized in a timely manner.

Watering

The soil in the pot must be slightly damp for the fruit to form and ripen. Tomatoes react poorly to both drought and overflow: in the first case, the fruits can be sprinkled during formation, in the second, the plant gets sick with a black leg, late blight.

Since chlorine is harmful to plants, you need to water indoor tomatoes only with well-settled water. In order for the particles of a chemical element to sink to the bottom, the water must be defended for a week. Using a filter, you can reduce the water preparation time to several hours. As soon as the soil dries out, the seedlings are watered moderately.

Subject to the temperature regime and normal air humidity, watering is carried out 1 time in 5 days. Out of turn, tomatoes are watered the day before transplanting: removing the rhizome from moist soil is much easier and less painful for the plant.

Top dressing

At the beginning of development, upon reaching the age of one week, indoor tomatoes in pots are fed with nitrogen fertilizers, which activate plant growth. During the setting of the fruits and pouring them into the soil, potash dressings are applied.

You can fertilize seedlings with ordinary mineral mixtures diluted in half with water. In order not to burn the roots, top dressing is applied 2 hours after watering. The optimal time for manipulation is cloudy weather.All types of fertilizers are applied no more than once every 2 weeks in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations.

Worth knowing! For adult plants, fertilizing can be applied to the leaf or under the root. For young seedlings with delicate leaves, leaf feeding is contraindicated.

Terms of germination and harvesting

When the right conditions are created in the apartment, tomato seedlings appear on the surface 6-10 days after sowing. The germination time may be delayed if the room is too cold or the seeds are sown too deep. In such cases, seedlings begin to emerge only on the 14-17th day.

Window-grown tomatoes ripen 85-110 days after planting, depending on the variety selected.

Growing tomatoes on a windowsill is not only fun, but also a useful activity, thanks to which you can replenish the supply of vitamins for the whole family, which is especially important in winter.

Video: growing tomatoes on a windowsill

Many people have long practiced growing greenery on the windowsill. This does not cause much trouble and provides the whole family with essential vitamins, even in winter. Urban residents of Germany, France, and other European countries grow cucumbers and tomatoes on the windowsill. Such seedlings perform not only an aesthetic function, but also provide people far from agriculture with a small supply of self-grown vegetables. Their experience shows that growing tomatoes on a windowsill in winter is possible. In this article, we'll take a look at how to grow tomatoes on a windowsill.

Growing conditions

Tomatoes that are planned to be grown on the windowsill in winter are also called "indoor". Indoor tomatoes do not require conditions that are fundamentally different from growing conditions in the open field. However, there are some peculiarities. Basic rules that even an inexperienced gardener can easily follow:

• the tomato loves light, therefore it is best to place the seedlings on the south side. Daylight hours of the plant are 13-16 hours;
• if there is no south side in the apartment or house, it is worth resorting to artificial lighting with fluorescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, energy-saving lamps. Recently, specially designed phytolamps have appeared on the market. In any case, the lamp should be placed at a distance of 25-30 cm from the seedlings;
• the ground should not be clayey. If you want to grow tomatoes with soil from the garden, you need to add ordinary sand to it, as well as a little potassium permanganate (for disinfection). Competently selected soil will ensure comfortable growth of tomatoes on the windowsill.
• it is not worth pouring water over the plant, because it threatens with diseases, for example, "black leg";
• the temperature during the day should be 20-25 degrees, at night it can be lowered to 15-16 degrees. On especially hot days, do not be afraid to ventilate the room, this will not harm the plant at all.
• Organic fertilizers will help you grow tomatoes. They are good in small quantities, but too much will lead to lush growth of greenery, but not fruits;
• the capacity should correspond to the size of the plant, which can be recognized by the name of the variety.

Which varieties are suitable

There is a huge number of different varieties of tomatoes on the agricultural market. How to choose the right ones that are not afraid of even winter and how to grow tomatoes on the windowsill? For growing on the windowsill, varieties of low tomatoes are best suited.
The fruits of these tomatoes are generally light and lightweight, ideal for growing in small pots with little soil. There are also incredibly many varieties that meet such requests. Here are just some varieties of tomatoes for the windowsill:

• Cherry;
• Bullfinch;
• Japanese dwarf;
• Mini;
• Yamal;
• Balcony charm;
• Room surprise;
• Rowan beads and many others.

If the windowsill is insulated, choose a tomato variety with a higher stem and large fruit for growing on the windowsill.The varieties of weighty tomatoes Bull's Heart and White filling are suitable for those who have very wide window sills with the ability to place flowerpots or boxes. But it should be borne in mind that over time, the bushes will become quite tall and it will be necessary to transfer the plants to the balcony or place them on the floor. Experienced gardeners know that different varieties behave differently on the same land. With growing tomatoes on the windowsill, the story is the same: only by trial and error you will find a variety that is ideal for the conditions of the apartment. For the first time, you can take several different varieties and observe the difference in their growth.

You need to be careful about the quality of the seeds you buy - always check the expiration dates on the original packaging. Often inexperienced gardeners cannot understand the reason why the seeds do not germinate. It is the overdue implementation that can ruin your first growing experience.

Growing instruction

Having chosen the necessary varieties of tomatoes for the windowsill, we begin the process of germinating seeds.

Before sowing seeds, it is necessary to carry out prophylaxis against late blight.

To do this, we soak the seeds in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for a quarter of an hour (maximum half an hour). The next step will be to prepare the land. Peat cups are ideal, you can also use plastic ones. For seedlings, such cups should have a volume of at least 200 ml. We fill the cups with a soil mixture (if purchased ready-made) or mix it ourselves according to the following formula: 5 parts of soil + 5 parts of humus + 2 or 1 part of sand + a little peat.

For 10 liters of the finished mixture, you need to take a small amount of urea (no more than a matchbox) and the same amount of potassium sulfate, as well as wood ash. All this can be purchased in specialized stores. Mix the mixture well and place in prepared cups.

We start sowing.

Tomato seeds should be at least 2 cm apart - this distance is very important for simultaneous germination. You need to sow seeds in damp ground to a depth of no more than 2 cm.

With a deeper planting, it will take a little longer to wait for seedlings.

Sprinkle the seeds in the dimples with earth, and cover them with glass or film on top. This will keep moisture in the ground until the seeds emerge. We place the cups in a warm, but not hot place, and wait for the first green stalks to appear. You can wet the soil from time to time.

After the shoots have appeared, we transfer the cups to the windowsill. Naturally, we remove the film or glass. At this stage, it is important to monitor the heat and light for the tomatoes, as well as ensure regular, rationed watering. A pick, that is, the seedlings of the strongest sprouts in a separate dish, are carried out after the appearance of two real leaves. The volume of the pot for the subsequent growth of the tomato should be much larger - 7-10 liters.

Next, we follow this care plan:

1. Once every 8-10 days, we carry out fertilizing with mineral or organic fertilizers, the instructions for breeding are always indicated on the package. A weak solution of potassium permanganate will also be useful for growing tomatoes on a windowsill;
2. Do not forget to loosen the ground at the roots. We do this very carefully so as not to damage the thin roots;
3. When the need arises, wooden or specialized plastic pegs should be placed in the ground, to which the tomatoes will be tied;
4. Over time, additional stepchildren will appear on the plants. The process of removing them - pinching - will provide better nutrition for the tomato fruit. One stalk can be left to form a second stem;
5. After the fruit is set, we only leave 3-5 clusters for growing on each stem. We also remove the top of the stem, the inflorescence. Such measures will help the rapid development of already set fruits;
6. We cut off the dried leaves, especially carefully monitor those that are closest to the root. It happens that it is they who block the access of water to the root system and slow down the cultivation;
7. You can also help the plant with the pollination process. To do this, lightly shake the plant and run it over the flowers with a soft brush or feather. We carry out this procedure very carefully.
8. Late blight is a typical nightshade disease. Tomatoes on the windowsill, like their counterparts in the open field, suffer from this fungal scourge even in winter. To prevent it, you need to process the stems and leaves with tincture of garlic and potassium permanganate (12 garlic + 12 grams of potassium permanganate + 3 liters of water). You can also use the phytosporin spray method.

Now you know how to grow tomatoes on a windowsill even in winter. In order to better understand some of the details of planting and care, it is worth watching the videos and photos that are presented on our website.

It is always a pleasure to taste homemade, lovingly grown tomatoes. Having the desire and diligence, you can please yourself and your loved ones with them all year round.

Video "Growing tomatoes on the windowsill"

The plot is about how to prepare tomato seeds before planting, how to plant them correctly and how to care for a plant when grown indoors.

In any season, you can buy fresh vegetables and fruits in the store, but their taste does not always correspond to the high price. You can grow greens, cucumbers and tomatoes on the windowsill in winter, even novice gardeners can do this task quite well. Do not tackle difficult tasks at once, start with a few bushes of the same low and most hardy variety. When you gain experience, you can twine the room with long vines with colorful fruits.

The easiest way

If you have never worked with the land, then preparing seeds, watching young shoots like a small child will be too tiring, and you will have to wait a very long time for tasty fruits. At the thought of growing and picking seedlings, lighting, problems with pollination, one gives up. Therefore, green onions, dill and parsley are grown on windowsills by many families, and vegetable crops are planted by a few. If you are afraid of difficulties, there is a simpler and faster method.

In August or September, cut off the stepchildren from the part of the tomato bush where there are already fruit clusters. Choose a plant with medium-sized fruits. Dip the cut in water, you can add a root formation stimulator to the liquid. When roots begin to appear, plant the shoots in boxes or pots of fertile soil. You need to take care of such plantings as for adult plants, a bush from a shoot will develop quickly, and you will soon enjoy delicious tomatoes.

Since different varieties have been bred for open ground and indoor cultivation, you will not get a rich harvest from your stepson. This method is good for beginners: the first winter you will learn how to care for adult bushes, the next season you will master growing from seeds. If there is no summer cottage, you can plant tomatoes in the room or on the balcony during the warmer months. Then you do not have to buy vegetables pumped up with chemistry, your garden will supply seven vitamins all year round.

Make no mistake when choosing a variety

When growing tomatoes indoors, difficulties arise that are unfamiliar to summer residents who work only with open ground or greenhouses. Breeders take these features into account when breeding indoor varieties. A novice gardener may not pay attention to whether there is an inscription on the package that tomatoes can be grown indoors or on the balcony.

If you take plants intended only for open ground, various problems can arise:

• a powerful root system requires a large amount of land;
• a tall, heavy bush can overturn the pot;
• there are no pollinating insects in the room.

For growing in a room, it is advisable to choose dwarf varieties or standard hybrids. They are compact and do not take up much space.If necessary, the pot can be easily transferred to another window.

Experts recommend the best varieties for breeding on the windowsill:

• "Dubok";
• "Pygmy";
• "Balcony Miracle";
• Bonsai;
• "Little Red Riding Hood";
• "Room surprise";
• "Leopold".

You can buy the most suitable varieties for home growing, but the seeds may not resemble, and all the work will be done in vain. To prevent empty boxes with single weak sprouts from spoiling the mood, check the quality of the seed in advance. You can wrap 10 seeds from each bag in a damp cloth and keep them warm for several hours. See how many seeds have swollen and are ready to release roots - you will get so many plants from a dozen seeds.

Good soil is important for the harvest

For growing tomatoes at home, you can purchase special soil or seedling soil. It is believed that the land is supplied for sale completely ready for filling in boxes. You can take the manufacturers' word for it, but it's best not to risk it. Go through all the soil, crush the dense lumps, see if there are large fertilizer granules in the ground. Only when the whole mass becomes fine, crumbly and homogeneous, can it be used for planting and growing any crops.

To grow strong bushes, you can prepare the soil yourself. Take 5 parts each of garden soil and rotted compost, 2 parts sand and 1 part peat. For each bucket of mixture, add a handful of ash and a matchbox of urea and potassium sulfate.

In any land, harmful microorganisms, fungi, insect larvae live. Both your own and purchased soil must be calcined in the oven to destroy the infection. Be sure to also disinfect containers, tools and gloves.

Before placing soil in pots and boxes, make sure that the drainage holes of the containers allow moisture to pass through. Pour a layer of gravel at the bottom, then backfill with soil. It is better not to tamp the soil with your hands or special tools - you will not be able to calculate the effort correctly. Pour water over the earth, and it will fall as it should. There are techniques for growing vegetables in a small amount of soil or in a single nutrient solution. You can try the hydroponic method, but tomatoes will absorb a lot of fertilizer. Healthy products can only be obtained from natural soil.

How to sow seeds correctly?

In rare cases, it is possible to keep the tomatoes harvested at the dacha fresh until the New Year. From late December until summer, tomatoes can only be purchased at the store. If you need fruit for the winter, plant the seeds in 2 stages: early October and late November. When the first plantings complete fruiting, the second batch of bushes will grow up. If you want to harvest from the windowsill all year round, add 2 more crops: in February and at the end of March.

If you have not tested the seeds for germination, before sowing, dissolve a tablespoon of salt in a glass of water and drop the seeds into the liquid. Drowned specimens can be sown, but floating ones are not suitable for this purpose. So that the seedlings are strong and do not hurt, put the seed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes, and then treat it with a growth stimulant. After that, you can wrap the grains in a damp cloth and leave in a warm place until they are pecked.

Seedlings do not like tightness. Sow the grains at least 2 cm apart. After sowing, sprinkle the seeds with a layer of soil 2 cm thick, tamp lightly and cover with foil. Before emergence, keep the planting at a temperature of about + 23⁰ C, it is desirable that the bottom of the boxes is also heated. In about a week, cotyledon leaves will appear, and young plants will need different conditions.

Advice

It is convenient to grow seedlings in a special greenhouse for the windowsill. When choosing a model, give preference to a design in which bottom heating is provided.

Care of young plantings

When seedlings appear, the temperature should be reduced to + 20⁰ C.If the room is cool, leave them under the plastic, but remember to ventilate daily. During this period, the greatest danger is the black leg, which can destroy all plants in a few days. The causative agent of the disease likes high humidity, low temperatures and stagnant air. Provide your pets with the right conditions and good care so that the fungus does not start in your home garden.

Plants need light, but the bright sun can burn the leaves. On a clear day, shade them with tulle or a paper screen. Do not let the soil dry out, but do not water too often and abundantly. The surface of the soil should always be slightly moist, then the root system will be comfortable, and the fungus will not settle on the plantings.

Advice

Chlorine is harmful to tomatoes, so it is better to use rain or melt water for irrigation. If you take liquid from the water supply, let it sit for about a week.

When the second true leaf appears, the seedlings can be fed with microelements. Dilute the solution to half the concentration recommended by the instructions, and water the plantings. The work must be carried out in cloudy weather or temporarily move the boxes to the north window. It is undesirable to pour the nutrient composition onto dry soil - water the plants, and feed them after a couple of hours.

How to grow strong seedlings?

You need to dive seedlings when the third true leaf develops. Take plastic cups with a volume of 200 ml and allocate a separate container for each bush. It is better not to use peat pots: in a warm room they either dry out or crack from moisture. Transparent vessels are also undesirable: in the light, an earthen lump will grow moss on all sides.

For the first three weeks, it is not necessary to water the plantings with nutrient solutions. The injured root system should take root and start working at full strength. After that, feed the seedlings with complex fertilizer, which includes manganese, twice a month. Pour the nutrient solutions gently around the stem to avoid splashing onto the green parts of the plant.

When the roots fill the entire volume of the glass, a transplant will be required to a permanent place. Containers and pots for them must have a volume of at least 3 liters, and for tall varieties, 5 liters may not be enough. Water the soil well the day before transplanting so that the moisture soaks the soil well overnight. It is easier to remove the root system from moist soil without damaging the processes.

Adult plant care

Too dense greenery is harmful to tomatoes even in open beds, and on a windowsill in a small amount of soil, this rule is especially important. If growing tall bushes, keep only one strongest stem. Medium-sized varieties can be allowed to grow in 2 trunks; dwarf tomatoes do not need shaping. Tear off stepchildren in time and remove the lower leaves - these processes are not useful, and they require a lot of nutrients.

In winter, the daylight hours are too short, because of this, the bushes grow elongated, and the fruits are poorly tied. It is not difficult to solve this problem: install fluorescent lamps above the plantings and turn them on in the morning and evening. Tomatoes grow and develop best if the daylight period lasts from 7 to 19 hours. For growing in a room or in a winter greenhouse, it is recommended to use self-pollinated varieties, but if you help the tomatoes, the fruits will begin to set more actively. You can "tickle" the flowers with a soft brush, or you can gently shake each bush.

With a limited amount of soil, plants constantly require feeding. Apply compound fertilizers twice a month. When choosing a composition, keep in mind that plants need nitrogen for the active development of green mass. When the fruits begin to set and pour, nitrates should be limited, but more potassium should be added. Foliar feeding will not harm adult plants, but solutions can be poured on young seedlings only under the root so that drops do not fall on the leaves.

In a small amount of land, tomatoes will not be able to develop all the fruits that have formed on them. When the ovaries appear, leave no more than 5 of the strongest brushes on the bush, and cut off the top and other fruit shoots. As soon as the tomatoes on the window start to turn pink, pick them and place them in a wooden box to ripen. In this case, the plant will have more strength for the development of other fruits.

Problems when growing tomatoes on a windowsill

Watch your pets carefully and they will inform you if there are any problems. Sometimes an inexperienced gardener himself creates discomfort for the plants. Tomatoes grow well at a daytime temperature of about + 22⁰C and a nighttime temperature of + 17⁰C. A thermometer in the middle of the room can show just such values, but on the window, the sun's rays heat the bush, or the battery blows up hot air currents. Yellow curled leaves show that the tomatoes are hot, and a bluish tint occurs when there is a sharp temperature drop from the wind from an open window or cold jets of air from unsealed window cracks.

Tomatoes can wither away from illiterate watering. It is useless to often moisten the topsoil, because the roots take water from the depths. Water the plantings about once every 5 days, but generously so that the liquid appears in the pan.

The wrong composition of fertilizers also immediately affects the appearance of the plants.

• With a lack of nitrogen, the lower leaves turn yellow, and with a calcium deficiency, the upper leaves.
• Wrinkled leaves indicate that you have overfed the plantings with calcium and this element prevents them from absorbing potassium.
• Leaves become thick and tough when the plant lacks sulfur.
• A yellow border at the edges of the leaf indicates a lack of magnesium.

If pests have attacked the plantings, look for traces of their vital activity, eggs, larvae and adults in the most secluded places, most often on the underside of the leaves. Noticing insects, treat the bushes with insecticides or folk remedies: infusion of garlic, tobacco, soapy water. If there are no signs of the appearance of parasites, but the plant differs from the rest of the specimens in growth, shape, color, if spots or other damage are visible on its parts, the infection is most likely to blame. Destroy damaged specimens or take them to another room - quarantine them and try to cure them in isolation from a healthy mass. Treat the rest of the plantings with a disinfectant solution.

It happens that a person does everything right, but tomatoes still grow very poorly. In this case, consider in what mood you approach the plants. If work is a burden, you force yourself to feed and water the plantings by force, it is better to give up this activity, there is no point in it. Plants are living organisms, they react to the emotions of the owner. Do not work with tomatoes after a quarrel or an unpleasant conversation: all the negativity will go to planting. Better take a walk in the fresh air, put your thoughts in order. Approaching the windowsill with plants, smile, talk affectionately with your green friends, and they will gladly please you with a rich harvest.