Arctic Gardener Cultivates Tomatoes and Peppers

Many believe that Murmansk Region«s conditions make a good harvest difficult, especially for heat-loving crops. A short summer, a drawn-out spring, and cool, rainy weather all pose a serious test for gardeners. But Tatiana Vlasova, a resident of Kandalaksha, has spent years proving that even in the North one can grow not only familiar vegetables but also tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and in recent years even eggplants.

From a childhood dream of a dacha to the first big harvest

Tatiana Vlasova is 49 years old. She lives in Kandalaksha, a small town on the southern coast of the White Sea. By profession she is an accountant at a state-funded institution. Her work involves responsibility, constant changes, and demands serious mental effort and good eyesight.

That is why the dacha became for her a place where she can take a break from daily tasks and switch to a favorite activity.

Tatiana«s love of plants appeared in childhood. She was always interested in flowers, grew them at home, and along with other children tried to sprout apples and oranges from seeds. She had long dreamed of her own dacha, but managed to realize that dream only 20 years ago.

According to Tatiana, her husband did not support the idea of buying a plot for a long time, but after her serious illness he decided to give her a birthday present.

Thus an old, half-abandoned dacha with overgrown beds and bushes appeared in the family«s life, and it had to be gradually brought back into order.

All summer Tatiana, her husband, and her young daughter worked on the plot. At the time she was not yet thinking about big harvests and simply rejoiced that the family had its own place outside the city. But the first harvest became a special event for her.

Strawberries and gooseberries remained forever in Tatiana«s memory, because in childhood these berries were a real holiday.

She recalls how in summer grandmothers sold strawberries at the market in liter jars, neatly stacked «like a ladder.» There were few berries, but that was exactly why they seemed even tastier. Gooseberries were sold in small glass cups, and they were not cheap then.

That is why Tatiana perceived the first harvest at her own dacha quite differently. Instead of small market portions, the family got dozens of liters of strawberries, gooseberries, and currants.

Many years have passed since then. The old bushes were renewed, but even today they annually delight the family with a harvest. Tatiana«s grown children already perceive strawberries and gooseberries differently than she did in childhood: for them these are familiar berries that are on the table fresh in summer and in various preserves in winter.

How greenhouses appeared and why tomatoes became the main challenge

Gradually flowers and berries alone were not enough for Tatiana. Vegetable crops appeared on the plot: carrots, beets, radishes, zucchini, dill (a herb). Over time she learned to grow them too.

The next stage was a greenhouse that her husband built from old window frames. That was when the first experiments with cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes began.

At first all this was more of a pastime for the soul: she wanted to show the children how vegetables grow and interest them in the process. But gradually Tatiana herself became so interested that the dacha turned into a real hobby.

Cucumbers and peppers worked out fairly quickly. These crops performed well in the northern climate and began to please with harvests. But the story with tomatoes turned out to be much more complicated.

Tatiana admits that she still continues to learn and experiment, trying to get a decent tomato harvest in the Far North.

Over the years of growing she has tried different varieties. For a long time she preferred determinate tomatoes: short plants with compact bushes and small fruits. They do not require complicated care, set fruit well, and are suitable for beginning gardeners.

Later Tatiana became interested in indeterminate tomatoes: varieties with unlimited growth. In a greenhouse such plants can reach three to five meters (10–16 feet), so they require much more attention.

They have to be regularly pruned of side shoots, tied to supports, and shaped. Usually Tatiana grows such plants with one or two stems, and in early August she pinches the top to stop growth and help the fruits ripen in time.

But even with proper care, the northern summer remains the main factor.

— The fruits do not always manage to ripen on the bush, and they have to be ripened indoors. And this does not depend at all on when the seeds were sown. Only the sun and warmth help get a ripe harvest, — our interviewee says.

A northern garden: its own rules, experiments, and new discoveries

Tatiana considers the weather to be the main difficulty of growing plants in Murmansk Region. Spring here can be drawn out, summer short, cool, and rainy, and there are not so many sunny days.

But this does not become a reason to give up experiments.

Tatiana grows cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers only in greenhouses. She also tried growing these crops in open ground, but the result was almost zero.

When choosing seeds she pays attention to ripening times. For the northern region, in her experience, early and mid-early varieties and hybrids are best suited.

For cucumbers Tatiana advises choosing parthenocarpic varieties: self-pollinating plants, since there are almost no pollinating insects in greenhouses.

With peppers, according to her, there are fewer problems. Both sweet and hot varieties grow well in greenhouses.

Long-fruited cucumbers aroused particular interest in Tatiana. She does not use the seedling method for growing cucumbers. She sows the seeds directly into the greenhouse in late May or early June. According to her, she does not need an early harvest, and there is already plenty of work at the dacha in spring.

Tatiana noticed that cucumbers set fruit better after the period of white nights ends, when the usual alternation of day and night appears.

She also shifts the sowing dates for other crops slightly. She usually moves the dates on seed packets by two to three weeks.

She sows peppers and tomatoes in the second half of March, closer to the end of the month, and plants the seedlings in the greenhouse in late May or early June, after the threat of night frosts has passed.

Earlier makes no sense, Tatiana believes: the ground is still cold, there is little sun, and the plants simply do not begin to grow actively.

Besides greenhouse crops, open-ground vegetables grow well on her plot. Carrots, beets, zucchini, pattypans (a type of squash), onions, garlic, cabbage and napa cabbage, kohlrabi, and even Brussels sprouts have long become familiar crops.

Tatiana also had experience growing corn. In open ground it was too cold for it, and in the greenhouse the ears set but could not fully ripen.

At the same time, she does not single out any universal secrets of plant care. Everything comes through observation and her own experience.

Tatiana believes that even within one region conditions can differ greatly: somewhere the soil is different, somewhere the climate is different, so every gardener must find their own way of growing.

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, a crop will not grow. Then, Tatiana believes, one should not waste strength and energy in vain.

But if a sporting interest appears, one needs to try to understand the plant and figure out what it needs.

Earlier many acquaintances were surprised by Tatiana«s hobby. She recalls that she was considered a person »not of this world,« because at a young age she wanted to spend time on the land.

Now the situation has changed. Beautiful dachas, modern greenhouses, and gardens have become popular, and interest in growing plants is only growing.

Five years ago Tatiana learned about seasonal seed testing conducted by large agricultural companies. Since then she has actively participated in such projects and represents Murmansk Region in summer and winter seed trials for the companies Poisk, SeDeK, Partner, Aelita, Sibirsky Sad, Agros, and VNIISSOK (All-Russian Research Institute of Vegetable Breeding and Seed Production).

Several times she has been among the winners. Thanks to this hobby, Tatiana discovered another direction: growing vegetables at home in winter.

It turned out that even on a windowsill one can grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and cucumbers. For her this became a new interesting experience that helps her get through the long northern winter faster.

Now Tatiana continues to experiment and is trying to tame another difficult crop for Murmansk Region: eggplants. She admits it is not easy, but is sure that a result can be achieved.

And to all beginning dacha owners and gardeners Tatiana wishes them not to fear difficulties, to seek their own path, and not to give up.

— Fight and seek, find and not give up, — Tatiana summed up.

Earlier we told how residents of Murmansk Region bought a dacha in Tula Region. Why there, and how their summer vacation goes.