Growing your own food is certainly a very frugal hobby. But what do you do when it is winter, when your climate has a short growing cycle, or when you have a postage-size yard? Why not try growing your food indoors?
Tomatoes are one of the best plants to grow indoors. An indoor tomato plant will yield fresh tomatoes any time of the year with little more than watering.
For growing indoors, I prefer cherry and plum tomatoes. They are smaller in size, and there are plenty of sweet varieties that taste so yummy straight off of the vine. The kids love to pop them in their mouths like candy. You can grow larger tomatoes indoors, but I would suggest finding compact plants such as “Better Bush” and “Heartland.” “Taxi” is a nice medium sized yellow tomato that is sure to brighten up the indoors with its pretty fruit. And for small ones, try the cute “Tiny Tim.”
Tomatoes do like sun, so you’ll need to find some room on a sunny windowsill. A sun-room or enclosed porch is ideal for growing indoor tomatoes, but really any warm, brightly lit place will do. The tomatoes need day time temperatures of at least 75 degrees, although 80 degrees is even better, to produce healthy tomatoes.
Start looking for your tomato plants next month, when the nurseries will have plenty of variety. Your plants will grow and be very happy indoors in the summer, producing lots of fruit and building up their size and strength for the winter.
You can plant the tomatoes in any large, clean container. Experts recommend using a soil-less potting mix for indoor to eliminate soil diseases and little pests. Indoor tomatoes will be affected by the same bugs and critters that are attracted to other indoor house plants. But buy growing your tomatoes indoors, you won’t have to worry about cutworms and other outdoor creatures.
Water your plants carefully to avoid root rot.
To help fertilize your plants, shake a day-old flower (or snap it with your finger once) to encourage pollination.
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