In The Garden | K And Ds Homestead

Where Great Cooking Begins

Summer Veggies & Flowers

Few garden beds bring more joy than the ones overflowing with cucumbers, zinnias, and tomatoes. Cucumbers climb their trellises with crisp, cool rewards for summer salads, while zinnias burst into vibrant blooms that not only brighten the garden but also lure in pollinators to boost your vegetable harvest. Tomatoes, whether juicy slicers or sweet cherry varieties, thrive when given rich, well-drained soil, full sun, and steady watering at the base to keep leaves dry and disease at bay. With a little mulch to hold moisture, regular harvesting to encourage new growth, and a watchful eye for pests, these three favorites will reward you all season long with beauty, flavor, and the satisfaction of homegrown abundance.

Peppers, Potatoes & Onions

Peppers, potatoes, and onions are a trio every home garden should boast. Peppers add a rainbow of color and heat or sweetness to your kitchen, thriving in warm soil and plenty of sunshine. Potatoes reward your patience with baskets of earthy goodness, growing best in loose, well-drained soil that allows tubers to expand without obstruction—just hill them up as they grow to keep them covered and blemish-free. Onions, with their subtle bite and endless culinary uses, love full sun, fertile soil, and consistent moisture until their tops begin to fall. Give each crop room to grow, keep weeds in check, and watch for pests like aphids or beetles. Harvest at their peak and you’ll enjoy the deep satisfaction of meals built on the flavors you nurtured from the soil.

Garden Tips:
When the temps are soaring, everything begins to reach it's peak and the humidity begins to rise, so does the caterpillar and worm activity. Keeping lots of BT (bacillus thuringienis) on hand to preemptively apply weekly, or hand picking daily (maybe even hourly) those pesky insects like the Tomato Hornworm from plants in the nightshade family. Plants most often destroyed within hours and most susceptible are tomato plants, eggplants, peppers and sometimes potatoes. BT must be on the plant parts eaten and within hours it disrupts the digestive system and prevents their ability to eat anymore. It will kill the worms and caterpillars pretty quickly. BT is effective on cabbages and greens (Brassicas).

Blossom End Rot is mostly caused by too much or too little water, such as drought situations or sudden downpours and extended rains, flooding the soil. It's essentially a lack of calcium but not because calcium isn't available in the soil but because these situations cause the inability to uptake the calcium. Correcting the water issues will usually correct the blossom end rot. Cutting off the affected fruit and waiting on new fruit will usually yield better results. Adding Epsom Salt to the soil is not effective, however, making a mild Epsom Salt spray/water, which is Magnesium, on the leaves (in the evening) will give some relief. The Magnesium will help the plant uptake the calcium.

If temps begin to hit 90° F and above, most garden plants will benefit from a shade cloth to avoid scorching of the leaves and wilting. In spite of peppers and tomatoes being sun and heat loving plants, extreme temps can still be detrimental.

Mulch is your garden's best friend. It will help retain moisture, keeps the roots cooler, keeps weeds at bay and protects against water splashing and creating fungus and diseases on the plants.