How To Grow Tomatoes On The Balcony
You don’t necessarily need a bed or greenhouse to grow your own tomatoes. You can easily grow tasty tomatoes yourself on the balcony and terrace. We’ll show you how to do it.
Tomatoes available in the supermarket usually taste watered down and not very aromatic. What a big difference you can only taste with home-grown tomato plants! Even if you have limited space, you can plant tasty tomatoes in a tub on the balcony or terrace.
Which types of tomatoes are suitable for balconies and patios?
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Fortunately, countless varieties of tomatoes are suitable for keeping in pots on the balcony or terrace. In principle, so-called determined tomato varieties come into question, the growth of which is limited upwards. Pot tomatoes should be compact and short. In some cases, you can of course tie up tomato plants in the pot, for example, if you have the option of tying cords upwards on your balcony. Small-fruited tomato varieties such as cherry, egg, or cocktail tomatoes are also suitable for growing in pots.
Some tasty varieties for growing on balconies and patios:
- ‘Kremser Perle’: This traditional Austrian variety has medium-sized, round fruits in red. They can be harvested quite early.
- ‘Jani’: This bush tomato doesn’t have to be exhausted. It ripens very early and bears flat, round, red, medium-sized fruits.
- ‘Principe Borghese’: This red cocktail tomato is very vigorous and productive.
- ‘Philovita’: The fruity-sweet cherry tomato in deep red is particularly tolerant of late blight and brown rot ( Phytophthora infestans ).
- ‘Lizzano F1’: This mini-bus tomato is very small and decorative. She conjures up little red cherry tomatoes.
- ‘Black Pearl’: The very tasty, pear-shaped fruits of this tomato variety appear in a dark tone, almost black.
- ‘Lime Green’: Green tomatoes can also be ripe and sweet. This is proven by the ‘Lime Green’ variety. It is very productive and shines with its excellent taste.
- ‘Yellow Canary’: The variety is very decorative because the small, juicy cherry tomatoes appear completely yellow.
Planting tomatoes on the balcony: instructions and tips
It is important for the cultivation of tomatoes on the balcony or terrace that the location is sufficiently exposed to the sun. This is the only way for the plants to thrive and the fruits to develop their unmistakable sweet aroma. In addition, the location should be protected from rain to prevent late blight and brown rot.
Procedure for planting:
- Select a planter with at least 7-10 liters capacity and drainage holes for excess water.
- Put high-quality soil in a container.
- Insert the young tomato plant. You can also prefer the plants on the windowsill yourself.
- For larger planters for several tomato plants, note the planting distance depending on the variety.
- Mainly incorporate organic long-term fertilizers.
- Pouring on.
Maintain balcony tomatoes
In principle, tomato plants need the same care on the balcony as in the open field or a greenhouse. Check your plants regularly for late blight and brown rot. You can recognize the fungus by the growing brown spots on the leaves and the whitish fungal lawn on the underside of the leaves. Infested leaves should be removed immediately to protect the plant from further infestation. We have summarized more detailed information for you in our article on late blight and brown rot in tomatoes.
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To ensure a high yield, you can max out tomato plants regularly, about once a week. In doing so, you remove so-called stinging shoots that develop in leaf axils. However, this is often less important with bush tomatoes than with other tomato varieties.
For a rich harvest, water and nutrients are of course also of great importance. Keep in mind, however, that the taste can be watered down. So don’t water your tomatoes until they look a little slack. This can also be the case every day, especially on hot summer days, as the roots are limited by the pot and cannot tap into any underground water reserves. You should fertilize regularly.
For this purpose, the use of primarily organic slow-release fertilizers in spring and early summer is suitable. Liquid fertilizer, on the other hand, should be added to the irrigation water about every two weeks. But the same applies to fertilization: Too much of a good thing leaves the taste behind.
Then between July and September is finally the best time of the year, because the tomato harvest begins. Incidentally, you can still harvest tomatoes that are not fully ripe in late autumn and then wrap them in newspaper and let them ripen in a cool place.
Show your favorite tomato varieties!
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