Gardening Tips

If Your Potted Pepper Plants Stay Small and Weak in Late-Summer Heat, One Container Feeding Mistake Is Usually Behind It

Watching your container peppers sit there small and struggling while the summer heat cranks up is genuinely frustrating, especially when you’ve been watering and feeding…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 12, 2026

Field Notes

If Your Potted Pepper Plants Stay Small and Weak in Late-Summer Heat, One Container Feeding Mistake Is Usually Behind It

If Your Cucumber Fruit Grows Fat at One End and Pinches at the Other in Late-Summer Heat, Uneven Pollination Is Usually Behind It

What It Really Means When Carpenter Bees Start Drilling Into Your North Carolina Porch This Summer

Simple Habits That Bring Painted Buntings Back To Your Central Texas Yard Every Summer

From the Garden

Yellow Mottling and Curling on Cucumber Leaves Could Be CMV – But Heat Stress and Other Look-Alikes Deserve a Closer Look First

If Your Eggplant Flowers Fall Off Without Setting Fruit in Late-Summer Heat, Poor Pollination Is Usually Behind It

How To Support the California Bats That Quietly Clear the Mosquitoes Off Your Yard Every Summer Night

If Your Pepper Plants Drop Their Flowers in Late-Summer Heat, Night Temperatures Are Usually Behind It

What It Really Means When Praying Mantises Start Appearing in Your California Garden This Summer

In Bloom

If Your Zucchini Leaves Develop Silvery White Patches in Late-Summer Heat, Powdery Mildew Is Usually Behind It

If Your Cucumber Vines Stop Producing in Late-Summer Heat, One Feeding Mistake Is Usually Behind It

Squash Wilts in the Afternoon but Recovers by Morning: How to Read the Clues and Find the Real Cause

Gardener's Selection

If Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Yellow and Crispy in Late-Summer Heat, Underwatering Is Usually Behind It

What It Really Means When Green Anoles Take Over Your North Carolina Yard This Summer

More Geckos On Your Central Texas Porch Means Fewer Roaches Every Warm Night

If Your Tomato Fruit Develops Sunken Black Patches on the Bottom in Late-Summer Heat, Blossom-End Rot Is Usually Behind It

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Shrub That Blocks Ticks Along Your Wooded Backyard Edge

The Potting Shed

This Heat-Tolerant Mediterranean Herb May Make Scorpions Think Twice About Your Yard

If Your Tomatoes Split and Crack Open in Late-Summer Heat, Uneven Watering After Rain Is Usually Behind It

How To Support the California Garden Spiders That Quietly Trap the Aphids and Mosquitoes You Keep Spraying For

What It Really Means When Tree Frogs Start Showing Up In Your California Garden This Summer

If Your Tomato Leaves Roll Inward and Feel Leathery in Late-Summer Heat, Physiological Leaf Roll Is Usually Behind It

7 Native North Carolina Ground Covers That Crowd Out Weeds Along Walkways Better Than Liriope

That Purple Weed You Keep Pulling From Your Central Texas Lawn Is Actually a Native Pollinator Plant

If Your Tomato Leaves Turn Yellow From the Bottom Up in Late-Summer Heat, a Nitrogen Problem Is Usually Behind It

If Your Pepper Fruit Develops Soft Sunken Patches in Late-Summer Heat, Sunscald Is Usually Behind It

How To Support the California Alligator Lizards That Quietly Hunt the Black Widows Hiding Around Your Yard

If Your Zucchini Plants Stop Setting Fruit in Late-Summer Heat, Poor Pollination Is Usually Behind It

What It Really Means When You Start Seeing More Hawks Circling Your North Carolina Yard This Summer

More Bats Over Your Central Texas Yard Means Fewer Mosquitoes Every Summer Night

What It Really Means When Dragonflies Start Patrolling Your California Yard During Mosquito Season

If Your Cucumber Plants Suddenly Wilt and Collapse Overnight in Late-Summer Heat, Bacterial Wilt Is a Real Possibility – But Not Always the Cause

The Garden Almanac

Field Notes

If Your Pepper Leaves Curl and Cup Upward in Late-Summer Heat, Heat Stress Is Usually Behind It

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Tree That Feeds Wildlife All Season While Discouraging Ticks Near Your Yard

How To Support California Barn Owls That Quietly Clear the Rodents Poison and Traps Never Fully Reach in Your Yard

This Native Texas Vine Can Bring Repeated Hummingbird Visits To Your Central Texas Fence All Warm Season

That Powdery White Coating on Your Zucchini Leaves Is Most Likely Powdery Mildew, Not Downy Mildew

If Your Cucumber Fruit Turns Bitter and Tastes Off in Late-Summer Heat, Uneven Watering Stress Is Usually Behind It