Growing tomatoes is an exciting activity that brings tasty and healthy fruits. But what if you have a great desire to cultivate this plant, but there is no garden plot or garden.
Planting tomatoes on a balcony or loggia will give you the opportunity to try your hand at vegetable growing and indulge yourself with delicious juicy fruits. For growing in a mini-garden, both undersized early-ripening and specially bred ornamental varieties are used.
Criteria for choosing varieties of tomatoes for a balcony
The garden on the balcony occupies a limited area, so for planting on it it is better to choose undersized and medium height compact varieties of tomatoes that meet the following requirements.
- Varieties should have a short growing season. Early maturing and ultra-early varieties. It is desirable that no more than 70-80 days pass from the emergence of seedlings to the ripening of fruits.
- Shrubs are better to choose determinant (undersized), standard ones – having a shallow root system and giving few stepchildren. Such varieties can be planted more densely, which makes it possible to obtain higher yields from 1 m2.
- Carpal tomatoes at the time of ripening have a decorative appearance and allow you to get a good harvest from one plant.
- Due to the large crowding of plants, tomatoes on the balcony get sick more often than in the open field, so it is better to plant hybrids that are resistant to most diseases.
- Varieties should be universal, suitable for canning and fresh consumption.
- Tomatoes on the balcony should look like ornamental plants. Carpal plants with fruits of various shapes will look most beautiful. You can plant nearby varieties with red, yellow and pink fruits.
Popular balcony varieties of tomatoes
Despite the limited planting area, you can get good tomato crops on the balcony. The right choice of varieties will help to remove high-quality tomatoes from mini-beds. Some amateur vegetable growers grow indeterminate varieties.
The containers in which they grow take up a lot of space, they are usually placed on the floor, and the stem is wrapped around a trellis like a liana, but the maximum yield with m2 can also be obtained from compact undersized bushes. 
The following varieties are usually cultivated on balconies and loggias:
- Florida Petit. The height of the bush is 23-30 cm. The variety is standard, very early. From the appearance of sprouts to the beginning of maturation 67-70 days. Tomatoes are the size of large cherries, ripening is friendly, fruiting period is 10-15 days.
- Tyne Tim. Standard, stem height 40-60 cm. Very beautiful, ornamental bush. Ripe fruits are red-orange in color. Tomatoes the size of a large cherry, ripen in 70-80 days.
- Balcony miracle. Standard, height up to 50 cm. Ripening of the first fruits on the 80-85th day from the moment of germination. The fruit is round, bright red, average weight 60 g, juicy, good taste.
- Garden gem. Dwarf bush 30-40 cm high. The first fruits appear on the 80th day. Fruits of transparent pink color, small 15-20 g, pleasant sweetish taste, collected in brushes.
- Bonsai. An unpretentious plant about 30 cm high. Early maturing, 85 days pass before fruiting begins. The fruits are round, small, red. From one bush you can collect 0,5 kg of tomatoes.
Growing conditions
Tomatoes are light-loving plants, so the beds are placed along the railing, closer to the frames (if the balcony is glazed). It is best to grow tomatoes on loggias and balconies facing the southeast or southwest.
On the south side, in the heat, the plants should be slightly shaded. On the north side, put fluorescent lamps, since there is not enough light there.
The optimum temperature for growing tomatoes during the day is 21-25ºС, at night 16-19ºС, air humidity is 60-65%. If the room is glazed, it must be ventilated. In warm weather, the frames are opened so that the plants are exposed to the sun’s rays, necessary for growth and fruit set.
What to plant tomatoes on the balcony?
The best container for growing tomatoes is deep, elongated wooden or plastic boxes that are placed along the railings and walls of the balcony. In the absence of boxes, many amateur vegetable growers manage with improvised containers, sometimes very original, everything that comes to hand goes into action:
- flower pots;
- deep basins;
- trays;
- barrels;
- buckets;
- trimming a metal pipe of large diameter;
- plastic water bottles;
- densely woven baskets.
Soil Preparation
Tomatoes love soils with a neutral or slightly alkaline reaction. For planting, you can buy ready-made soil, but it is poor, there is a lot of peat in it, you will have to apply more fertilizer.
It is better to prepare the ground yourself. It is necessary to take in equal proportions soddy land (best medium loam) and humus. Add peat or sawdust to loosen the soil. Add 1,5 cups of wood ash to a bucket of the mixture, 2 tbsp. l. superphosphate and 2 full tsp. nitrophoska.
The soil is thoroughly mixed and poured into prepared containers for planting tomatoes. Expanded clay or stones are placed at the bottom for a better outflow of excess water. A week before planting seedlings, the soil is disinfected by watering it with a hot (75-90ºС) solution of potassium permanganate, prepared at the rate of 1 g per 10 liters of water.
Planting seeds
Seeds of tomatoes intended for growing on a glazed loggia or balcony are sown for seedlings from January 25 to February 7, on an open balcony – from February 20. For planting, large thick seeds are selected without visible defects and black dots. Before sowing, they are disinfected by placing them in gauze bags for 15 minutes in a saturated pink solution of potassium permanganate. Take out and rinse with running water.
Sow seeds to a depth of 1-1,5 cm, gently sprinkling with earth. They spray the earth from the spray gun so that a crust does not form and put it in a warm place. You can tighten the seedling pots or boxes with a transparent film.
Growing seedlings
As soon as the first sprouts hatch, the film is removed, and the containers with seedlings are placed on a well-lit windowsill. The optimum temperature for growing seedlings is 18-21ºС during the day, 15-17ºС at night. At higher temperatures, the sprouts can stretch out, and at lower temperatures they can rot.
Seedling picking is carried out when 2 true leaves appear on the plant. During transplantation, the stem is buried to the bottom leaflet. Seedling care consists in watering 1 time in 5-7 days (if the topsoil dries up, then watering is carried out more often) and top dressing.
- The first top dressing is done 10 days after germination with a complex mineral fertilizer.
- The second – after another 10 days with a solution of mullein.
- The third top dressing is carried out 7 days before landing in a permanent place with a solution of nitrophoska.
Tomatoes are planted in a permanent place on glazed balconies in mid-May, if there are no night frosts, on open balconies – in late May, early June.
The day before transplanting, the sprouts are well shed with water.
Tomatoes are transplanted with a clod of earth so as not to damage the roots. Each plant needs a sufficient feeding area. When planting in a permanent place, it must be taken into account that at least 1 kg of soil should fall on 4 plant.
Tomato care
Caring for tomatoes in a permanent place consists of standard procedures identical to those carried out when growing crops in open ground or greenhouses:
- Watering about once every 5 days when damp, and every other day in hot weather.
- Shallow loosening of the soil, which is carried out immediately after watering.
- On the 10-12th day after transplantation, the tomatoes are tied up.
- Fertilizing with mineral fertilizers is best excluded or minimized, since the amount of land on the balcony beds is limited, and excess fertilizer will be deposited in the fruits. Diluted mullein, bird droppings or humus are used as top dressing. Once a month, the ground around the stem is sprinkled with wood ash at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. on a plant.
- Due to the overcrowding of plants, the likelihood of developing diseases increases. The best prevention is regular ventilation of the room. If the plants are still sick, they are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid. It is impossible to carry out processing later than 2 weeks before harvest.
Interesting recommendations and notes on growing tomatoes on the balcony can be heard from an experienced agronomist.
The best options for placing tomatoes on the balcony
Plantings should look beautiful to create the feeling that you are in a green garden, where it is nice to relax, sit in the shade on a hot summer day, because the townspeople lack greenery so much.
When placing tomatoes, it is important to use space rationally, since the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbbalconies is usually small.
- Tomato boxes are placed along the walls to make the most of the free space, pots, plastic bottles or baskets with plants are hung on the walls.
- Racks are made with horizontal shelves in the form of steps. They put pots with bushes on them. Plants are at different heights, which allows them to receive enough light. Tall tomatoes are placed on the lower steps, undersized – at the top.
- In mixed plantings, tomatoes look especially decorative. Boxes with undersized tomatoes are placed along the railing of the balcony. Along the edges, indeterminate varieties are planted in their own pots or buckets, wrapping them around trellises like vines. Spicy herbs are placed on the other long side: basil, dill, thyme, as well as onions and lettuce. Cucumbers are planted along the end walls.
In Europe, the fashion for small vegetable gardens has swept entire cities. They grow vegetables on windows, balconies, roofs, flower beds. In Russia, the popularity of mini-gardens is also gradually increasing. Planting tomatoes on the balcony attracts more and more people and is gradually turning from a hobby into an opportunity to provide yourself and your family with healthy, environmentally friendly tomatoes for a long period.
