Instructions for growing tomatoes at home

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 on a window or balcony of any kind.

• 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.