Tomatoes are on our table all year round: in summer and autumn - vitamin salads, in winter and spring - pickles prepared for future use. This red-sided miracle was brought from South America to advanced Europe by Columbus back in 1493. The Indians who cultivated tomatoes called them tumatl. Incredibly, until the middle of the 19th century in America, this vegetable was considered generally poisonous, since it was attributed by scientists to the nightshade family. And when in 1776 there were contentions in America, the personal chef of George Washington decided to poison him with a dish of meat cooked with tomatoes. The poor fellow then shook all over with fear that he would now fly in, and Washington liked this dish.

When to plant tomatoes in the ground

Before sowing tomato seeds for seedlings, you need to calculate in advance when they will be planted in the garden. It is necessary that there be at least 2 months, starting from sowing the seeds and before the seedlings are transferred to the site. Planting of seedlings should be approximately at the end of May - beginning of June. At this time, the air temperature is already warm enough not only during the daytime, but also at night.

plant tomatoes in the ground

Due to the different climatic conditions into which the territory of Russia is divided, the timing of planting seedlings for each region will be different. From late spring to early summer, you can plant seedlings in open ground in the central parts of Russia. In the southern regions, planting can be done already from the beginning of May, but in the northern regions it is better not to rush and postpone until the first days of June.

Best predecessors:

  • carrot;
  • beet;
  • bow;
  • cabbage;
  • legumes (except for beans).

Cabbage

It is undesirable to plant after:

  • potatoes;
  • nightshade;
  • pepper;
  • eggplant;
  • tomatoes.

Moreover, the interval should be from 3 to 4 years.

Preparation for planting in open ground

In order for the transplant to be less painful for the plants, abundant watering, feeding and hardening will be required.

The seedling age suitable for transplanting depends on the selected variety. For early varieties, this is from 40 to 50 days, for medium - from 50 to 70 days and late - from 70 to 80 days.

Hardening of seedlings can be started 14-21 days before transplanting, gradually bringing it out into the fresh air (loggia or greenhouse with heating) so that the temperature on the thermometer does not drop below + 10 ° C. For the first time, the seedlings can be left for 30-40 minutes, and on the following days they can be gradually added, leaving for the whole day. In this case, you need to create at least a small shadow for the sprouts to protect them from sun burns.

Note!Seedling bushes with thin stems more than 20 cm, as well as those that have already begun to bloom, may not take root well in a new place.

The plants need to be fed a week before transplanting. It is better to do this in the evening or in the morning. You can simply spray the foliage from a spray bottle, since at this age the seedlings can already absorb trace elements useful to it, Epin's solution to stimulate growth (for 5 liters of water, 1 ml of the drug). You can also carry out root dressing with Gumistar. The preparation is based on liquid biohumus. The required amount of fertilizer to water is 1:50. For example, add 10 ml of top dressing to a 0.5-liter can of water. This drug can also be sprayed on foliage, only the fertilizer dosage must be reduced to 1: 200, that is, add 5 mg of the agent to 1 liter of water.

Gumistar

It is very useful to carry out the processing of tomatoes from future pests in advance:

  • To protect the plant from whiteflies, wireworms, beetles or bears, the roots of the seedlings must be dipped into the prepared solution (for 1 liter of water, 10 ml of the drug antichrusch). Processing time - 1 hour. If the root system is closed, you just need to water the cups with sprouts with a small amount of solution, reducing the concentration (by 10 liters of 10 ml of the drug).
  • Prepare a small amount of an aqueous solution with any Colorado potato beetle medicine. Before planting seedlings in the soil, you need to dip each bush in the prepared solution. It was noticed that the beetle does not touch the plant throughout the entire growing season.

The plants must be thoroughly watered 24 hours before planting.

Preparatory work on the site

The place for the tomatoes should be well lit and sunny. It is best to prepare the soil in the fall. Having cleared the area of ​​debris, scatter wood ash with humus or rotted manure over it (1 bucket of fertilizer per 1 sq. M. M) and dig up the area. You can also add peat, sand or biofuel to this.

If the site is being prepared in the spring, then fertilization must be applied carefully.

  • It is necessary to add 1 tbsp to each hole. spoon of wood ash and mix thoroughly with the earth so as not to burn the roots. The same is true for fresh manure.
  • At 1 st. spoon of superphosphate add 1-2 handfuls of humus or vermicompost and mix well with the soil.

    The soil

  • Urea 12-21 g per 1 sq. m or ammonium sulfate 30-50 g per 1 sq. m.
  • Superphosphate - 30-80 g and 1 teaspoon of nitroammophoska for two holes when planting seedlings.
  • 60-90 g per 1 sq. m nitrofoski.

Important! The soil for a tomato bed should have a neutral acidity of 6 to 7 pH. If it is less than 5.5, add dolomite flour.

Planting tomato seedlings on the site

The main indicator that the time has come for transplanting seedlings is the soil temperature. It should warm up not lower than + 12 ° С, but even more reliable up to + 15 ° С. The temperature should be checked at a shovel bayonet depth of about 20 cm.You just need to place a thermometer in the dug hole. The daytime temperature should be kept at + 20 ° C.

Note!When planting seedlings, it is better to do this later than the permissible dates, so that by that time the spring frosts have passed. For the plants to freeze, it is enough for the temperature to drop from 0 to + 2 ° C.

If the seedlings are frozen to -1 ° C, plant growth will noticeably decrease, and problems with fruiting may arise, which will start 10 days later than usual.

When to plant tomatoes in the ground depends on each specific region. For example, planting tomatoes in the ground in May is possible in the southern regions of Russia. Residents of central regions, including the Moscow region, will have to do this much later - from late May to early June. The residents of the northern edges of Siberia and the Urals will have to plant tomato seedlings later than everyone else. Favorable temperatures are formed there only in early June.

According to the lunar calendar, seedlings should be planted in April - from 5 to 9 and from 20 to 24, and in May - from 4 to 6, from 9 to 11, 13, from 18 to 20, 24 to 29. In June - from 1 to 3, 5 to 8, 10 to 12, 14 to 16.

The calendar

Should not be planted:

  • from 15 to 17 and from 29 to 30 April;
  • from 14 to 16 and from 28 to 30 May;
  • June 12-14 and 28.

In open ground, seedlings of 60-70 days of age are planted at a distance between rows of 40-50 cm, in a row of 30-35 cm or 40 × 40 cm.

Important!You should not plant seedlings on a full moon or new moon, as well as the days before and after them, as these are very unfavorable periods for planting. Such plants may grow and bear fruit worse. The best time to land is on the growing moon.

There are several ways to plant seedlings on the site:

  • in a checkerboard pattern, when the bushes are not planted opposite each other, but so that one plant is between two opposite ones;
  • by the tape-nesting method (on both sides of the trench, seedling bushes are planted in two rows, one after another, with a distance between them of 20-25 cm);
  • tape (plants are planted one next to the gap between the holes 30 cm).

One month after planting seedlings in open ground, during the period of intensive growth of vegetative mass, they are fed with slurry 1: 5 or bird droppings 1:12. Solution consumption - 1 liter at the root.

If you have to plant seedlings that have grown and stretched out, then during the transshipment you need to deepen the usual hole a little or make it slightly extended to the side. Remove the leaves from the bottom of the stem, then put the plant in the hole, sprinkle with earth and water.

After the seedlings are planted in the ground, they are not watered for 2 weeks.

When the seedlings have taken root and take root, the ground near them must be mulched with sawdust or straw. This will prevent the germination of weeds, and will also prevent the soil from drying out after watering and forming a dense, hard crust.

Further care consists in loosening the soil, combating weeds, pests and diseases, fertilizing and watering.

How to cover tomatoes outdoors

As you know, the weather is difficult to predict. It may well happen that a warm sun is shining today and frost will hit tomorrow. As you do not take care or wait for the right time for a safe disembarkation, and frosts will be faster. In this case, it is useful to know the ways of emergency protection of seedlings from the coming frost, so as not to let the young seedlings nurtured with such difficulty be destroyed.

How to cover tomatoes

  • Over the rows of seedlings, place arcs of wire or a strong twig and stretch a layer, or even better two, of film or spunbond. Having created such a shelter, the film must be sprinkled with earth around the edges.
  • You can sprinkle the roots of the seedlings with sawdust, straw, humus, peat or mulch. This must be done carefully so as not to break fragile plants.
  • Make cones from cardboard or thick paper and cover the sprouts with them.
  • Cut the plastic bottle in half to size and cover like a cap.

    Instead of a plastic bottle, you can use a mayonnaise bucket or something else suitable.

  • Cardboard containers (boxes or crates) are good shelter.
  • You can resort to breeding small fires in the area, warming the seedlings by fumigating them with smoke.
  • You can use special smoke bombs by carefully reading the instructions. The secret of smoke is that it has a reduced thermal conductivity, which allows it to retain the heat emanating from the ground longer, which increases the temperature to 2 ° C. This method is only suitable for open ground and with light frosts.
  • The day before the expected frost, thoroughly water the seedlings, preferably with warm water. The method is effective when freezing at least -2 ° C. The main thing is not to unnecessarily water the plants.

No matter how many difficulties and tricks overcame vegetable growers, but with the right approach and applying the knowledge gained, you can still grow a good harvest and come out a winner.