Growing and caring for perennial tomatoes on the windowsill and in the garden
It's no secret that tomatoes are an annual crop that needs to be planted annually. Most often, after harvesting the fruits, the bushes are dug up and burned. However, some vegetable growers grow perennial tomatoes. To make a perennial crop from an annual crop, you need to familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of growing tomatoes. You also need to immediately decide on the most suitable varieties. The use of perennial tomatoes Dream is recommended.
Sowing seeds
For long-term cultivation of tomatoes, it is recommended to use low-growing varieties of tomatoes. Their seeds are planted for growing seedlings in the first half or mid-March.
Seed preparation
To protect the bushes from various diseases, before planting, disinfect the seeds. The most common method is soaking in a weak manganese solution. To do this, the planting material must be wrapped with a cloth and placed in the solution for 20-25 minutes. After that, the seeds are taken out and washed with water.
You should also take care of increasing the yield of the tomato in advance. It can be increased by soaking in special nutrient solutions. Most often, drugs such as Immunocytofit, Epin, Virtan-Micro are used for this. Some people use aloe or potato juice for this.
After processing, the planting material cannot be washed with water, so it is enough just to dry it.
Soil preparation
Before planting tomatoes, you need to prepare the soil. To begin with, you need to spread a plastic wrap on a flat surface, on which all the components of the soil mixture should be placed on top.
Part of the soil is mixed with peat and one part of the sand. Then everything is gently mixed and soaked in a nutrient solution. To prepare the nutrient mixture, you will need to mix 10 liters of water with 10 grams of carbamide and 30 grams of superphosphate.
There is another way to prepare the soil mixture. In this case, part of the soil will have to be mixed with humus and peat. After that, 300 grams of ash and a small amount of superphosphate are added to the soil.
Landing
It is recommended to plant seeds in special peat pots that allow you to grow seedlings without picking. Small containers with a diameter of 35 mm are perfect for tomatoes. Having decided on the containers, soil is poured into each pot. Then small holes for seeds are made in it. 2-3 seeds are planted in each of them, but some put more.
Planted tomatoes should be grown on windows in a well-lit and warm room for several months.
Planting seedlings
The grown seedlings sit in open ground in late spring, when the outside temperature does not drop below zero.
Site selection
When choosing a place in the garden for planting tomatoes, it is necessary to take into account the fact that they cannot be planted in areas where plants affected by various diseases grew. Also, they cannot be planted near potatoes, since they very often suffer from late blight.
Do not forget that tomatoes love light. That is why you need to choose a place that would be illuminated by the sun for most of the day. Also, many advise to choose an area with protection from the wind. However, in this case, this is not necessary, since undersized varieties are used to obtain perennial tomatoes, which rarely break due to the wind.
Planting
Planting begins by marking the required number of rows. After that, holes are created on each of them for planting seedlings. For the bushes to grow better, the distance between each hole should be about 50-60 cm. This will be enough so that the plants do not shade each other.
When all the holes are created, seedlings are planted in each of them. However, it should be placed in the ground in an upright position. Then all the holes are sprinkled with soil and watered with water at room temperature.
Obtaining perennial tomatoes
After the harvest of the planted tomatoes has been harvested, you can think about how to make a perennial from this annual plant. To do this, it is necessary to dig up all the planted bushes and transplant them into pots again.
All bushes transplanted into pots are transferred to a cool room, in which they will be grown until spring. They need good lighting, so it is better to place the plant on a windowsill.
During cultivation, the bushes must be watered. It is recommended to do this twice a week. This is enough so that the soil does not have time to dry out completely. When young shoots appear on the plants, watering can be increased.
With the onset of spring, a little fertilizer can be added to the soil. For example, at the beginning of April, it is recommended to add some superphosphate with fresh earth to the soil.
If you properly care for such tomatoes, then in the second half of the summer it will be possible to re-harvest. However, the amount of the harvest may be an order of magnitude less than the first time.
Conclusion
Growing perennial tomatoes is not that difficult. To do this, it is enough to know how to plant tomatoes correctly and what to do to re-harvest next year.
