Can tomatoes be grown at home?

Without your own land, you can feast on freshly picked fragrant tomatoes, growing them on a balcony or windowsill... Most often, people want to grow vegetables on the windowsill in winter, when the summer season is far away, but they want to tinker with the land. But even in the warm season, this is an excellent solution for residents, for example, apartment buildings. Of course, this is not a way to fully feed a family, but an opportunity not only to save a little, but also to get moral satisfaction. Everyone is pleased not only to see the result of their work, but also to taste it, because vegetables grown with their own hands are always the most fragrant and tasty, and most importantly, healthy and not treated with pesticides.

Growing tomatoes and caring for them in an apartment is not very different from growing them in open ground and caring for indoor plants. But there are also some peculiarities. Breeders have bred a large number of tomato varieties specifically for growing in the room. If you want to grow tomatoes on a windowsill, then it is better to choose undersized varieties, for example, Florida Petit (Little Florida) and Dubok. Outdoors, plants grow 25 to 35 cm tall. In the room, they stretch up to 40 - 50 cm, but at the same time, the trunk of the plant is strong enough and there is no need to tie up the plants.
They are distinguished by the compact size of the bush and high decorative effect. The fruits on them are small in size, but very tasty. And due to the fact that there are many of them on each bush, the harvest is quite decent. Also, such undersized varieties as "Pinocchio", "Balconnoe miracle", "Pugovka", "Bonsai", "Mikron NK", etc. have proven themselves well.

If you have a large, well-lit balcony or loggia, then you can try to plant large-fruited and tall varieties: "Bull's Heart", "Cream", "De Barao", "White filling", "Carlson". But in this case, it must be borne in mind that for one such bush you need at least 10-15 liters of soil.

Planting tomatoes

For seedlings to appear faster, the seeds must be pre-soaked. To do this, you need to place them in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate for 10-15 minutes. Then discard the seeds that have not sunk to the bottom, and remove the rest, wrap them in a wet cloth and wait for them to hatch. If the manufacturer has applied a special protective and nutritious film to the planting material, soaking is not necessary.

Suitable for planting tomatoes "Universal" soil, which you can buy or make yourself by mixing black soil, sand and peat in equal proportions. To enrich the earth with minerals, it is better to add sifted charcoal. Before planting, the soil should be doused with boiling water, and then allowed to cool. Thus, it is disinfected, warmed up and well moisturized.

For sowing seeds 200 ml plastic cups can be used.It is advisable to choose transparent cups so that you can control watering. Do not make holes for water at the bottom, since with a small volume, the soil will not have time to absorb a sufficient amount of water. The glass must be filled with earth, leaving a free space somewhere on the finger at the top. Make a hole 2 cm deep, plant 2 seeds, fill the depression with soil. After that, the glasses should be covered with plastic wrap to prevent moisture evaporation and placed in a dark place with a temperature of 24-26 ° C. On the third or fourth day, as soon as the first shoots appear, we transfer the crops to a cool windowsill with artificial lighting so that the seedlings do not stretch too much, and do not water until the top layer of the soil dries up to avoid the development of fungal diseases.

!!! A great danger to tomatoes is represented by fungal diseases, the appearance and spread of which is facilitated by dampness. The development of the disease is impeded by sunlight and free access to fresh air. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture is a good remedy for combating plant diseases. For its preparation, it is necessary to dissolve 10 g of copper sulfate in a glass container in 0.9 l of water, and dilute 20 g of slaked lime in 0.1 l of water. Pour the milk of lime in a thin stream into the vitriol solution, stirring continuously. The finished mixture is stored for no more than 24 hours.

When two or three "real" leaves appear, transplant the tomatoes into large pots. For dwarf tomatoes, a container with a volume of 4-5 liters will be enough, but the more space, the better. Put expanded clay or pieces of polystyrene at the bottom of the pot, pour a layer of sand 2-3 cm and a little soil. Water the seedlings lightly, and then carefully remove from the glass along with a lump of earth. Place the seedling in a pot and fill the free space with soil. If more than one sprout has grown, then it is better to leave one of the healthiest, and pinch off the rest with your hands at the root. Pour 2-3 cm of earth on top and water. Thus, there should be 5-7 cm free in the pot to the top edge. This will make it possible to pour soil into the pot as the plant grows, thereby replacing hilling.

Watering

Water the tomatoes it follows differently depending on the return and the time of year. In the first month of the life of tomatoes, the soil must be moistened often, every day or every other day, but in moderation. Further, the plants can be watered more abundantly and less frequently. When the tomatoes begin to bloom and the ovary appears, do not allow the earth to dry out. The tomato does not like high humidity. It is advisable to water the plants a couple of times a week, abundantly wetting the soil. For irrigation, it is better to use water with a temperature of 20-25 ° C. It is not necessary to erode the soil under the bush - just enough to keep it moist. It is best to water the plants in the evening. If it so happens that you need to water during the day, then it is better to do this through the pallet. Tomatoes should not be watered on a sunny day. Water should not fall on the leaves or stem of the plant, since water droplets, like small lenses, focus the sun's rays and plants can get burned. On particularly hot summer days or if the air at home is very dry, spraying can help. During this period, adhere to the rule "it is better to overfill than underfill." But the winter period and cloudy days, on the contrary, "it is better to underfill than to pour."

Lighting

Tomatoes are very demanding on lighting. In order not to use artificial lighting, it is better to plant seeds in late March - early April, and place the plants in the south or southeast. For even illumination, once every two days, you can turn the tomatoes with the other side to the window.

On cloudy short winter days, it is simply impossible to grow lush bushes in an apartment without additional lighting. It is no secret that light is the main component of the photosynthesis process that is important for a plant, without which normal plant growth and development does not occur.

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

Top dressing tomato

For better fruiting, it is recommended to carry out plant feeding with organic fertilizers... You should not use chemicals, since there is a high risk of overdoing the dosage and getting fruits full of nitrates, because if manure, ash and other organic fertilizers are provided by nature itself and the plants take exactly as much nutrients as they need, then the chemical fertilizers are absorbed by the plant uncontrollably. And if you overfeed, then at best the plant will die, and in the worst (for you) case, the plants will become lush and beautiful, but their fruits can be poisoned. Therefore, for fruiting plants it is better to use only organic fertilizers.

You can feed the tomato with well-rotted manure diluted in water. It can be prepared in advance at the dacha, given to perekryat, and stocked up for the winter, and put to perekryat on the balcony. When the manure is overheated, it smells strong enough. If it is necessary to fertilize, but there is no balcony, where manure in any container could be re-heated, then you can feed it with horse manure. When it is overheated, it practically does not smell. They can also be fed undisturbed. Feeding with water infused with manure should be carried out once a week or two. You can alternate it with feeding with ash.

Feeding with manure stimulates plant growth and flower formation. But the plants may not cope with the abundance of color, and the flowers will fall off without forming ovaries (when 2-3 clusters of tomatoes are tied, remove the rest of the peduncles and stepchildren to reduce the load on the plant). In this case, ash will be the way out of the situation. It promotes the formation of ovaries, as well as the growth and ripening of fruits. Ash can be simply sprinkled on the ground around the plant or diluted in water and fed with this solution.

For feeding with manure, it is enough to dilute two tablespoons of manure (with a slide) in a liter of water. For feeding with ash - one teaspoon of ash must be diluted in a liter of water.

Stepping

Further care of the plants certainly includes items such as pinching and shaping a bush. The so-called stepchildren grow from the axils of the leaves. Their growth requires a lot of nutrients necessary for flowering and fruit formation. In order to have more fruits, stepchildren must be removed so that the yield does not suffer. It is best to do this when the stepson has grown 1 - 3 cm long, breaking off with his hands, rather than cutting, in order to avoid infection of the plants.

When forming a bush, only one stepson is left - under the first inflorescence of the brush, thus forming a plant in two stems. Tie the stems to pegs as needed. In addition to stepchildren, it is advisable to remove yellowed and damaged leaves.

Tying

All varieties of tomatoes, with the exception of undersized ones, require tying. Otherwise, the plant may not support its own weight and its trunk may break. If tomatoes grow on the balcony, then you need to think in a timely manner where the plants will be tied up.

Medium-sized varieties can be tied to a peg. When planting tomatoes in a large pot, a peg, 50-60 cm long (from ground level), is also dug in along with the plant. When the plant reaches the desired size, it can be easily tied to this peg.
If you do not prepare in advance and dig in a peg, then later, when the plant is already large, they can damage the roots.
You can tie it up with an old nylon stocking, or with a strip of flannel cloth.Only this must be done carefully, the node should not be placed on the plant.

Pollination

Tomatoes do not require artificial pollination, but for better tying, you can lightly tap the stem several times a week, shaking the flower brushes. After the main part of the fruit is formed, the top of the plant, like the flowering brushes, should be removed, since they will not allow the already formed fruits to fully develop.

With poor ventilation, high ambient temperatures, insufficient soil moisture and poor illumination, plant leaves do not curl, but stretch upward, flowers and fruits fall off. It is necessary to often ventilate the room and water the plants, carefully monitor the temperature regime. With excessive watering and feeding, on the contrary, a powerful dark green bush with weak flower brushes is formed. In this case, the plant is less often fed, the soil is not watered for about a week, and the flowers are manually pollinated with cotton swabs.

Lemons grown in an apartment look very nice (and tasty).

The main recommendations for the successful cultivation of tomatoes on a windowsill or balcony

— It is better to give preference to small-fruited, but high-yielding hybrids and varieties of tomatoes. In a small area, it is difficult for a plant to feed large fruits, they will be few or they will ripen for a long time. Small fruits ripen gradually, which will provide fresh vegetables every day.

— Choosing the right seed is important... For growing in a city apartment, self-pollinating early maturing undersized or bush hybrids will be most suitable. Nowadays, special varieties have also been bred for home cultivation (in this case, “suitable for growing in an apartment” will be indicated on the seed bags).

- So that a beautiful, juicy, fruiting bush grows from a seed, the plant needs to provide 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.

— Do not allow the soil to dry out. In the heat, the plant can shed flowers and ovary. If there is no time to monitor soil moisture, you can arrange an "irrigation system". To do this, you need to dig a plastic bottle into the ground, having previously made several holes in it. Which side to dig it in depends on the size of the pot. The main thing is that there is a funnel on the surface for pouring water. Thus, the roots will constantly receive moisture, and the ground will not be covered with a crust on top.

- feed the plants once a month is enough. During flowering, the twigs need to be wiggled a little to improve pollination. For these purposes, you can use a universal fertilizer for indoor flowers or specialized growth concentrates. But it is very important not to overuse fertilizers, the saying "you cannot spoil porridge with oil" is inappropriate here. The rate specified in the fertilizer instructions cannot be exceeded. Better yet, divide it in half (it is better to feed it more often). In order not to burn the roots, the plant must first be watered with clean water, and only then with a fertilizer solution.

- 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. And, at the same time, it is necessary to protect the plants from the scorching rays of the sun. Burns on the leaves and the yield can be significantly reduced, and the appearance of the plant will spoil. To do this, you can "tint" the glass with white paper - and the room will not be so hot, and the plants will become more comfortable.

- Do not pluck the tomatoes unripe. Spreading on a bush, they become fragrant and juicy. This is what we lack in purchased fruits.

- Do not force the plants to compete. Having planted two bushes in one pot, you can not only not increase the harvest, but lose it altogether.If there is nowhere to transplant the extra plants, it is better to throw them away altogether, and then the rest will please with a generous harvest.

P.S. It is no secret that many insects, including mosquitoes and ants, cannot stand the specific smell of tomato tops. Several pots of plants tomatoes on the windowsill will become a reliable barrier against mosquitoes in the hot season.

Hello dear readers!

Well? Maybe it's time for us to take a chance and aim at growing tomatoes in our home garden.

Of course, we will not be able to grow so many vegetables at home to collect them in buckets, but you will definitely get a dozen or two red tight fruits in the middle of winter.

In addition, they will become a real decoration of your apartment, and you can feast on sweet tomatoes and admire a cheerful little vegetable garden with bright fruits, thereby satisfying your gardening addictions.

Want to ? So, let's start growing a tomato on the windowsill at home and create a unique, beautiful, home garden full of vitamins.

• Tomatoes on the windowsill have long ceased to be exotic. It is quite easy to grow and care for them, you just need to know the simple conditions of such an original agricultural technique.

Experienced gardeners will be happy to share with you the secrets of growing indoor tomatoes. Creating a home garden will bring you real pleasure!

This is a very pleasant and exciting activity, and your children will be happy to help you arrange your home garden and take care of it.

How to grow tomatoes on a windowsill? How to create the most favorable conditions for the ripening of the tomato crop on the windowsill?

This is what the further conversation will be about.

Choosing a suitable variety

For a mini-garden on the windowsill, of course, varieties of dwarf, undersized tomatoes are needed. Their fruits are small, and the plants themselves willingly inhabit small pots.

There are a great many varieties of tomatoes of such types.

• Experienced gardeners know that choosing a suitable variety of baby tomatoes takes a long time, choosing the best one is possible only by trying and making mistakes. Indeed, each apartment has its own atmosphere, different climatic conditions.

Tomatoes in different dwellings will behave individually, this gives a certain shade of surprise to the upcoming chores.

So, we choose:

♦ For small windowsill. For a windowsill of a small, standard size, tiny dwarf tomatoes will be ideal:

• Minibel. The height of the bush is about 30 cm. Tomatoes weighing 20-40 g are collected in compact bunches of 8-10 pieces.
• Florida Petite. Plant height up to 30 cm, bright red fruits weighing 30-40 g are very sweet. Up to 15-20 tomatoes are collected in one brush.
• Balcony miracle. One of the most popular ultra-early maturing domestic varieties. Pink tomatoes weighing 20-30 g will delight you with a bountiful harvest after 80 days.
• Balcony red. The bright red little tomatoes will be ready to eat 90 to 95 days after planting. The fruits are very sweet and aromatic.
• Bonsai. Each bush about 30 cm high will bring you 500-600 g of bright, tasty little tomatoes.
• Bonsai micro. The smallest variety of tomato on the windowsill. The bushes grow up to only 15 cm. They can be grown in a hanging basket, admire the beautiful view and enjoy the fragrant tiny fruits.
• Pinocchio. If you plant small cherry tomatoes in September, a harvest of fragrant fruits will be ready for the New Year holidays. This variety is considered one of the best for creating a garden at home.

♦ For insulated windowsill. If your windowsill is wider, has a good area for placing boxes or flowerpots, a vegetable garden on the windowsill can be created from varieties of tomatoes with larger fruits and a high stem.

• Balconies Elo. With the first harvest of yellow round tomatoes, the variety will delight you after 100-110 days. The taste of a tomato is sweet with a slight sourness, the bush grows to 45-50 cm.
• The pearl is red and yellow. The culture grows up to half a meter and has excellent decorative qualities. Pearl of red has a sweeter taste. Their weight reaches 50 g.
• Hermitage. This fruitful variety is recommended to be grown in the northwest regions. The fruits are large enough, their weight can reach 100 g.
• Native. An early type of tomato. Raspberry-colored fruits, large (up to 180 g). This variety is especially resistant to cold conditions.
• Igranda. An early variety, high-yielding and resistant to sudden changes in temperature conditions. The fruits are fleshy, round and bright red. Their weight can reach 150 g.
• Russian Troika. Tomato bushes are small, they grow up to 60 cm. But the fruits are very large and fragrant, their weight sometimes reaches 300g!

At first, you can try to plant several varieties of tomatoes at once on the windowsill and observe how the tomatoes will behave in order to focus on the types that are ideal for your apartment.

Arrangement of a vegetable garden on the windowsill

♦ What is the best window sill? Tomatoes love light (if it's not enough, flower buds will fall off), so the best lighted windowsills (best on the south side) will be the best home for them.

Growing on a windowsill should be carried out with additional organization of artificial lighting for your garden (use energy-saving fluorescent lamps).

It will be great if you use sources of short-wave radiation of red-blue light (phytolamps).

• Additional lighting must be placed at least 25-30 cm from the top leaves of the seedlings. Daylight hours for tomato babies are 13-16 hours.

Lamps should be turned on for tomatoes on the windowsill when cloudy weather reigns outside. They must be used in the early morning before dawn and in the evening after the sun has gone.

♦ When to sow seeds. There are two terms for sowing tomatoes:

1. Summer and autumn. Seedlings are grown in July-August, you will already receive fruits in November-December.
2. Winter-spring. Seedlings should be started in November-December. The first harvest will wait for the owner in March-April.

Growing features

When you purchase seeds, be very careful about the quality of the planting material. Always check the expiration dates.

Expired seeds may remain in the ground, or you will get weak, stunted plants.

♦ Disinfection of seeds. Immediately before planting, we need to disinfect the seeds and prevent them from becoming infected with late blight.

To do this, we soak the seeds for 20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Then, to increase germination and stronger growth, we will use "Epina" or any other growth stimulant - the seeds should be kept in it for about 10-12 hours.

♦ Germination. Having chosen the necessary varieties of tomatoes, we begin the process of germinating seeds. We place them in a small bowl, cover with moistened gauze and leave warm for 3-4 days.

As soon as our tomatoes have small roots, we need to plant them.

♦ Where we plant. For growing tomato seeds, plastic or peat cups with a volume of about 200 ml are best suited.

Shallow pallets can be used. We fill the containers with soil:

• You can use an earthen mixture (in the amount of 45% black soil, 5% sand and 50% humus). Add a little manganese to it for disinfection. Make sure that the soil is not clayey.
• Or use a mixture of soil, humus (5 parts each), sand and peat (1 part each).

Add urea to the finished soil (8-10 g of urea per bucket of soil). Stir in wood ash (1-2 cups), superphosphate (40 g) and potash fertilizer (40 g).

Stir the earthen mixture thoroughly and place in cups.

♦ Disembarkation. Place the tomato seeds in small depressions at a distance of about 2 cm between each seed. They should be placed at a depth of 1-1.5 cm.

Moisten the soil slightly before sowing. Cover the sown seeds with a film or glass, such a coating will retain moisture well in the soil.

We place the containers in a dark and warm place (+ 25-30 ° С) and wait for germination. The soil can sometimes be wetted.

♦ Transfer. After the tomatoes have sprouted the first shoots, we transfer the containers with them to the windowsill and create a daytime temperature regime of + 22-25 ° C, night temperature + 15-17 ° C. We remove the cover.

And when two true leaves appear, the tomatoes must be dived and planted for permanent residence.

• The volume of permanent pots for young tomatoes on the windowsill should be about 7-10 liters.

♦ Leaving. Small tomatoes are afraid of drafts and cold watering. Excessive watering also harms them (they can pick up infectious diseases).

Tomato seedlings can be gently ventilated on very hot days.

• To provide the tomatoes with normal humidity, when airing, place a glass filled with water next to them. After the end of airing, the glass is removed.

With the further care of our tomatoes, water and feed them regularly (in a liter of water, dilute 1 g of potassium and urea sulfate and 5 g of superphosphate). Fertilizers need to be applied every 7-10 days.

Plants can be fertilized with water-diluted mullein (ratio of 5 parts of water to part of mullein), chicken droppings (part of droppings 15 parts of water).

Use water for irrigation at a comfortable room temperature (+ 20-25 ° C). Plants should be watered as the soil dries up.

We water our tomatoes on the windowsill abundantly, wetting all the ground, while it is advisable to pour water on the soil near the bush, but not at the very root.

After watering, be sure to loosen the soil - this will slow down the evaporation of moisture.

• We begin to apply top dressing as soon as the tomato grows 5-6 true leaves, at the beginning of flowering, also in the process of ovary formation.

Do not forget to loosen the soil near the roots. But do it very delicately - the roots of the tomato are still too tender and may be damaged.

Simultaneously with loosening, carry out hilling of plants - this will contribute to the formation of new roots. If the soil has settled a little, add a portion of fresh (peat or nutrient mixture).

Sometimes stepchildren (additional stems) may appear in some tomato varieties. They must be carefully removed (pinned). Pickling will improve the nutrition of the tomato fruit.

We will also remove dried leaves (especially those located closer to the root of the plant - dry leaves inhibit the access of moisture to the root system).

We are waiting for the harvest

During flowering, our tomatoes can occasionally be shaken slightly and carried over the flowers with a gentle feather - this will improve the pollination process.

Once the fruit is ovary, the top of the stem and inflorescence should be removed to help the fruit form more quickly.

• To protect young tomatoes from late blight (this fungal disease threatens tomatoes even in winter), tomato leaves and stems should be periodically treated with manganese and garlic infusion (for 3 liters of water, ½ g of potassium permanganate and half a garlic head).

Experienced gardeners use another technique for faster formation of tomato fruits on the windowsill.

It is called "tearing the roots": take a tomato by the lower region of the stalk and very carefully pull it up, as if you want to pull the plant out of the ground.

During this movement, small roots break off. After the procedure, the plant should be watered and spud.

• During the flowering of tomatoes, experienced gardeners advise additional spraying of the second and third brush of plants so that the fruits are better formed and set. Tomatoes are sprayed with a solution of boric acid (dilute a gram of substance in a liter of water).

When our tomatoes are already ripe, the branches of the plant should be tied to sticks-pegs. Otherwise, the stems may break under the weight of the fruit.

It is advisable not to wait for the full ripening of tomatoes on the bushes, but to harvest them brown.

Under indoor conditions, tomatoes will ripen quickly, and the next crop will ripen better and faster on the bushes.

Balcony wonders

As a home greenhouse, you can perfectly use your own loggia. If you have them insulated, you can successfully grow tomatoes on the balcony from early cool spring to gloomy late autumn.

• On insulated balconies / loggias, it is best to sow tomatoes in early March, if your balcony is open, postpone the event to the end of April.

The most ideal loggias and balconies for tomatoes are southern or southeastern. On the northern windowsills, and on the balconies, tomatoes can freeze, and on the southwestern ones it will be too hot in the summer heat (if you grow tomatoes in such places, shade your plantings on hot days and ventilate them).

A balcony or loggia gives the plants more room to grow. Therefore, in such conditions, you can engage in breeding and tall small-fruited cherry (cherry) and cocktail varieties of tomatoes:

• Minibell, Tiny Tim, De Barao, Carlson, Angelica, Zhemchuzhinka, Butterfly, Ballerinka, Romantic, Verlioka, Red Banana, Gina, Max, Cascade Red and many other varieties.

Germinating seeds and replanting tomatoes for permanent residence should be the same as when growing tomatoes on a windowsill. Since you can grow taller tomatoes on the balcony, we will form them into two stems:

• To do this, we will leave one stepson under the very first inflorescence. We tie the stepson to an additional peg or on a trellis. Shorter varieties can be formed into 2-3 stems (in addition to the first stepson, we also leave the second one).

Stepsons tomato on the windowsill, also on the balcony, it is better not to cut it off, but gently break it off with your fingers. Break off carefully, trying not to touch the leaves and the central shoot.

Extra stems should be removed as soon as you can grasp them with your fingers.

At the same time, leave 2-3 cm of a column from the stepson. It is best to hold such an event in the morning.

Tomatoes have long stems and can easily break off. To prevent this, as the tomato seedlings grow, we will tie them to a trellis or pegs.

In the future, tomatoes are tied to the stakes two more times, and when using the trellis, it is necessary to twist the tops of the tomatoes every week around the twine tied to the trellis.

Do not forget to ventilate your pets after each watering by opening the balcony doors. If suddenly your tomatoes begin to curl the leaves during the day - do not worry. This is quite normal for tomato plants.

But if the leaves rush straight up, being located at an acute angle, while not twisting at all, this should alert you.

• The reason for this behavior of tomatoes may be too dry soil, insufficient ventilation or poor lighting.

You should not be zealous with watering and feeding (especially with fertilizers containing nitrogen and organic matter).

At the same time, tomatoes begin to "fatten" - to start up powerful, thick stems, to grow strong stepchildren.

But at the same time, weak flower brushes are formed.

To fix the situation, use the following techniques:

1. Do not water your pets for a week and a half.
2. To delay growth, carry out foliar feeding of tomatoes with superphosphates (for 10 liters of water, 3 tbsp. L). Tomatoes are processed at the rate of a liter of mixture for each plant.
3. Increase the ambient temperature to + 27-28 ° C.
4. The flowers of these plants should be manually pollinated using a soft brush.

Otherwise, the care and maintenance of balcony tomatoes does not differ from our actions when growing a tomato on a windowsill.

Of course, not all vegetables can be grown at home, but still there are quite a few of those that feel great when visiting us.

These are all kinds of greens (dill, parsley, cilantro), and citrus fruits (lemon, tangerine), and vegetables (peppers, cucumbers, etc.). The cultivation of cucumbers at home will be discussed in the next article of the cycle "Garden on the windowsill"

See you soon, dear readers!

You can also read on this topic:

Tags: tomato

The cultivation of vegetables has recently switched to a year-round process. And this is not at all about heated greenhouses in personal plots. Now many people practice to plant a mini-garden at home on a balcony or windowsill. You can grow different crops in this way, but we will consider the most common of them - tomatoes.

The specifics of home cultivation

Why choose tomatoes for experimental cultivation in winter? Firstly, it is not so difficult, we will tell you the nuances of the process, and you will be convinced of this. Secondly, the plant has a decorative look, therefore it will delight the eye and will not let you forget about summer. Thirdly, the tomatoes planted in September will delight you with the harvest on New Year's Eve, and it is so nice to serve fresh tomatoes to the table, surprising friends and relatives with their excellent taste. Therefore, we discard all doubts and create a mini-vegetable garden with tomatoes at home.

Home cultivation of tomatoes has its own specific characteristics, starting with the selection of a place and ending with care. You will not be able to grow vegetables of any kind on a window or balcony.

• It is important not to forget that your garden will be in a limited space, so we will exclude wide-ranging tall varieties right away.
• Tomato seeds are not suitable for greenhouses, because their root system is developing well, and at home they may simply not have enough food, and the plant on which you spent so much work may die, and please you with fruits.
• In order for the tomatoes to give an excellent harvest and ripen well in winter, it is worth choosing varieties with medium-sized fruits. Cherries are ideal for home cultivation - small neat tomatoes with excellent taste, decorative fruits and the bush itself. Moreover, it is a fairly productive variety, despite its diminutive size.
• In winter, the daylight hours will be much shorter than in the summer months, therefore, it is advisable to think over additional lighting for your future garden, put vegetables on the windowsill from the south or southwest side. With a lack of light, the tomato stalk will begin to stretch and develop poorly. If you are going to grow cherry on the balcony in the summer, then this question will not stand before you.

What is required

Growing a tomato at home will require some preparation from you. At the initial stage, landing will require:

• Seeds for tomato seedlings
• Container for growing
• Prepared soil
• A complex of fertilizers to grow an excellent harvest.

So, decide to start with the seeds. We advise you to take the Pinocchio cherry variety for your sample. Why are these tomatoes good? They are unpretentious to care for, have an excellent exterior, so they will look great on the windowsill. The bushes reach a height of only 20-35 centimeters, so they will not need additional support. The plant is especially beautiful when fruits are formed on it, of which there can be quite a lot on the bush. Pinocchio has excellent yields. Each seedling is ready to donate up to 1.5 kg of cherry tomatoes. For all the simplicity of care in winter, tomatoes are recommended to be highlighted for an additional couple of hours. This variety is highly resistant to traditional vegetable diseases. Pinocchio perfectly tolerates high humidity, but does not tolerate the accumulation of moisture on the leaves, so watering with a spray bottle should be excluded.

Any container for growing cherry is suitable. This could be a box, a flower pot, or a cut plastic bottle. By the way, many people prefer the latter, tk. in a transparent container, it is easier to monitor soil moisture and regulate watering.

All tomatoes thrive and thrive in fertile soil.Loose and slightly acidic soil is preferred. Ready-made mixtures can be purchased in specialized stores or you can prepare yourself. To do this, take the land from the garden, but not in the place where the tomatoes were planted, and dry it. We prepare the soil mixture on the basis of earth + humus + peat in equal parts, a little ash, sand and a few grams of phosphorus fertilizers are added to them for the full development of the stem and root system.

Growing stages

Even novice gardeners are quite capable of growing healthy tomatoes and getting a good harvest from each bush. The main thing is to follow the rules for growing and caring for tomatoes.

Before placing Pinocchio seeds in the ground, they must be disinfected and germinated. Pre-sort the planting material from the purchased bag, visually assessing its quality, remove damaged or rotten seeds. It is necessary to make a weak solution of potassium permanganate (2 g per glass of warm water) and soak the seeds in it for about 15-20 minutes. After that, the fabric is soaked, future cherry blossoms are placed in it, covered and placed in a warm place for several days until the grains hatch.

Further, the process can go in two ways: the seeds are sown in containers with soil for growing seedlings, or they immediately place 1-2 grains in prepared pots for the further growth of the tomato. Both methods are correct and give the same result. In the first case, you can assess the germination of seeds, select the most powerful plants, and then take care of them. In the second case, you immediately start growing without damaging the plants by transplanting.

When growing seedlings, the grains are buried shallowly - by about 1-2 cm, retreating from the holes by 3 cm, when planting in a separate container, the depth is the same. Then we cover the pot with transparent film and try to install it in a warm place. After sprouting, it is worth placing the container with tomatoes closer to the light source, i.e. transfer to the windowsill, and do not forget to remove the film. It is desirable that the room temperature does not drop below +16 degrees. During this period, tomatoes are watered not too abundantly, waiting for the top layer of the earth to dry out. Excess moisture should not be allowed.

When 1-2 true leaves appear, the seedlings dive, and after about 4-5 weeks the plants will be so strong that they can be transplanted into permanent containers for growth. Cherry can be grown successfully in a box, only to provide each bush with more space for development. Therefore, it is worth planting tomatoes at a distance of 30-35 cm from each other. This will give them enough light, moisture and fertilizer. For other containers, the rule is: one plant per pot. After transplanting, pour it with warm water.

With further care, watering is carried out no more than 2 times a week. Watering is recommended in the morning, abundantly moisturizing the entire layer of soil. In the box, try to pour not on the stem, but around it.It is important to know that you can not spray the leaves of seedlings, because the plant can get sick and die.

Tomatoes are good for feeding. The first time this can be done at the time of planting on a permanent "residence" with organic fertilizers. Then it is worth feeding the plants during the fruiting period 1 time in 10-12 days, but already with mineral fertilizers.

To grow tomatoes and get fruits, the bushes need to be shaken periodically when flowers appear. This will give you better pollination. When fruits appear on the bushes, no matter how pleasing they are to your eye, regularly pick off the ripe ones from the brush, this will lead to a more abundant harvest.

It is also worth noting that after the harvest, the Pinocchio variety will lose its decorative effect and gradually wither. Do not worry that your plant care was insufficient, just the bush has served its purpose, so replace it with a younger seedling.

Video "How to grow tomatoes on a windowsill"

On the record, Oktyabrina Ganichkina talks about how you can grow good healthy tomatoes on your windowsill, loggia or balcony.

Tomatoes all year round are no longer a wonder. But if not from a supermarket package, but from a windowsill in your own apartment, this is exclusive. Juicy, ripe, sweet and, most importantly, environmentally friendly fruits on your table will delight the whole family. At the same time - no expenses, neither money, nor time. This review provides a description and characteristics of the best varieties of potted tomatoes.

Tomatoes on the windowsill: is it real?

Thanks to the efforts of breeders, many different hybrid varieties of tomatoes have appeared, unpretentious, but very productive, which easy to grow on a windowsill at home in an ordinary flower pot... By maintaining a suitable microclimate for tomato growth, you can pamper yourself with the unique taste of homemade tomatoes in winter.

Growing a tomato on a windowsill

As the ripening time of various early ripening varieties varies from 90 to 110 days, it is easy to calculate the date of planting seeds so that fragrant fresh tomatoes ripen to the New Year's table. The main thing is to choose the right variety that meets all your wishes. You will be able to harvest a large crop from a limited area at any time of the year.

The best indoor varieties for a mini-garden at home

For a window bed of tomatoes, standard and ampel varieties are suitable. They develop in height no more than 35-45 cm, do not branch, which means that they do not need to be tied up. Many hybrids are adaptable to short daylight hours and lack of sunlight, good resistance to the most common diseases (black leg, leaf mold).

From neat small bushes, you will receive 1-2 kg of fruit per season.... If planted in batches in several bushes with an interval of 20-30 days, you can provide yourself with vitamins for the whole winter. In addition, indoor tomatoes have excellent taste and a higher content of sugar and vitamins in the pulp (compared to ordinary ones).

The best standard hybrids for growing on a window at home are:

Balcony miracle

Tomato Balcony Miracle

Forms standard bushes about 0.5 m high, tolerates a lack of light well, fruits are round, red, weighing 70-100 g, with a high sugar content. Tomato Balcony miracle begins to bear fruit within 80 days after germination.

Micron NK

Tomato Micron NK

The smallest of the known varieties, the height of the bush barely reaches 15 cm, sweet fruits of red or bright yellow color, weighing 10-12 g, ripening period 100-110 days. This variety is more decorative and does not depend at all on the length of daylight hours.

Pinocchio

Tomato Pinocchio

Compact bushes, one of the best indoor tomatoes, sweet, round fruits, weight - up to 20 g. You can grow it in the garden in the summer, and in the fall, transplant it into pots, bring it home. And if you sow the seeds after September 20, you will harvest the first harvest by the New Year. Pinocchio is mid-season, ripens in 105-115 days.

Bonsai

Tomato Bonsai

Early ripening variety (matures in 85 days), unpretentious to light, the yield is not the highest - 0.5 kg, but the fruits are very tasty and sweet;

Bunch of honey

Tomato Honey Bunch

Early ripening standard bush with a dense crown, height - 40 cm, fruits are sweet, juicy, yellow. Differs in high productivity.

There are a lot of indoor and balcony varieties, and they all enjoy well-deserved popularity: Cherripals F1, Balconies Elo, Pearl yellow, Bonsai micro, F1 Balcony red, Indoor surprise, etc. A unique feature is that they can grow for more than one season. Dried bushes can be left in pots, watered occasionally, and after a while green leaves will begin to appear again. Tomatoes can grow like this for up to 5 years, but the yield will decrease.The bushes bear fruit most abundantly in the first 2-3 years.

Proper seed preparation for planting at home

The principle of growing a tomato at home is no different from growing in a garden: first we get seedlings from the seeds, then we dive them into the pots to a permanent place. In advance, you should worry about preparing for planting seeds and soil.

It is better to buy seeds in specialized stores to be sure of the quality and compliance with the variety indicated on the package.

But nevertheless, before planting, it is better to check again and sort out full-fledged grains from empty ones. To do this, dip them in salted water for 10 minutes (1 teaspoon per 200 g of water). Half-dried or empty seeds will float, and healthy, full-fledged seeds will sink to the bottom. They need to be soaked for 20-30 minutes in a manganese solution, to protect future plants from late blight.

Manganese solution preparation

To accelerate the germination of seeds for a couple of days, you can put them in a damp cloth for "pecking". Tomato seeds prepared in this way are sown in a container for seedlings in moistened soil to a depth of 1 cm and at a distance of 3 cm from each other. After that, the soil is lightly tamped, covered with plastic wrap and removed to a warm place until shoots appear. The film must be chopped in several places so that excess moisture does not accumulate under it, as this can cause seedling diseases. It is desirable to maintain the daytime temperature + 22-25 degrees, the nighttime - + 15-17.

After about a week, the first leaves (false) appear, the temperature at this time is lowered to 20 degrees and the room is occasionally ventilated. It is also necessary to monitor the humidity - do not overdry, but also do not overmoisten, so that the seedlings do not get sick with a "black leg".

After 7-10 days, you can observe the first shoots of the tomato

You can prepare the soil yourself or buy a ready-made substrate. For healthy plant growth and a good harvest, the following mixture is most suitable:

• the soil itself should be from 50% humus, 45% black soil, 5% sand;
• to enrich 1 glass of wood ash is added to one bucket of soil, 1 matchbox of superphosphate, potassium sulfate, urea.

Fill containers with this mixture - plastic cups with drainage holes or wooden boxes with pallets 10-12 cm high.

Transplanting tomato seedlings and further care

After 2-3 true leaves appear on the seedlings, it is necessary to pick the seedlings, i.e. you need to choose the strongest and most developed sprouts and plant them in pots or other containers specially prepared for this. The container size should be 8-10 liters, for the smallest decorative varieties of tomatoes, you can take a container of 4-5 liters. In the process of caring for plants, you need to follow the elementary rules and technologies of agricultural technology:

For growing indoor tomatoes in winter, choose containers with a volume of 2 liters (for dwarf varieties), 4 liters (for medium-sized varieties) or 5 liters (for ampelous plants)

• Lighting. Tomato pots are placed on the windowsills on the south side. Once every two days, they are turned 180 degrees so that the plant is even and does not lean towards the sunny side. In cloudy weather, as well as in the mornings and evenings, it is necessary to provide plants with additional lighting - phytolamp or even ordinary electric lamps (except for those varieties whose growth does not depend on the length of daylight hours).

With a lack of sunlight for indoor tomatoes, additional lighting is equipped

• Watering. Indoor tomatoes are very sensitive to watering. Regular soil moisture contributes to good growth, ovary formation and fruit ripening. Lack of moisture will lead to the falling off of the fruit, but the excess of it leads to the spread of various diseases - rot, late blight, fungal infections. You need to water 2 times a week, in moderation and not watering the stems.With the beginning of flowering, watering must be stopped and resumed with the appearance of ovaries.
• Top dressing of tomatoes. Three weeks after the dive of the seedlings and then every 10-15 days, we fertilize the plants with special mineral and organic fertilizers, which we apply to the moist soil on the second day after watering.
• Tying whips. Low standard bushes with a stable trunk usually do not need support. The branches of medium-sized tomatoes are tied to pegs, which are stuck into the ground, trying not to damage the root system.

As they grow, the stalks of the tomatoes are tied to pegs.

• Stealing. It is imperative to carry out pinching, i.e. removal of “stepchildren” shoots in the leaf axils throughout the entire growth of plants for its correct formation. Stepsons thicken the plant, take away nutrients, and reduce the yield of tomatoes.

After the formation of the main ovaries, it is also necessary to rip off the top.

• Pollination. Indoor varieties yield a fairly good harvest without pollination, but if desired, pollination can be carried out with a brush, carefully brushing it over the flowers.

Airing will help to improve the ability of a tomato to self-pollinate.

Growing hybrid varieties of tomatoes on a windowsill in winter - this is not only a benefit, but also a great pleasure, a very interesting activity. With a little attention and free time, you will get a harvest of exclusive varieties of bright, sweet and very healthy tomatoes from your windowsill. It will be easy to care for such a plant even for novice gardeners.