Ethan Brooks, Author at Complete Gardening

Gardening Tips

If your cantaloupe vines keep sprawling but never setting fruit in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the flowers

Watching a cantaloupe vine take over your garden bed while producing zero melons is one of the more…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 27

Gardening Tips

If your pepper plants keep growing bushy but never setting fruit in this heat, one overnight detail is usually behind it

Your pepper plant looks great from the outside, full of leaves and loaded with flowers, but every blossom…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 27

Gardening Tips

If your eggplants keep dropping their blossoms in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the flowers

Watching your eggplant drop flower after flower without a single fruit forming is one of the more frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 27

Gardening Tips

If your carrots keep growing forked and split underground, the trouble usually starts in how you prepped the soil

Pull up a batch of carrots and you might find a tangle of forked, branched, or cracked roots…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 27

Gardening Tips

If your bean plants keep flowering but never fill their pods in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the blossoms

You water your beans faithfully, the vines look full and green, flowers keep popping open every morning, and…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 27

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini keeps rotting at the tip in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the flower

Watching a zucchini shrivel and rot at the tip is one of the more discouraging sights in a…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your pepper plants keep sunburning their fruit in this heat, the trouble usually starts with the leaves

That pale, papery patch on your pepper is frustrating, especially when the rest of the fruit looks perfectly…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your tomato leaves keep curling upward in this heat, the trouble usually starts with how the plant handles stress

Curling tomato leaves during a heat wave can send a gardener straight to the garden center looking for…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your squash plants keep collapsing overnight in this heat, one hidden stem invader is usually behind it

Walking out to your garden and finding a squash plant completely collapsed is one of the more unsettling…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your tomato plants split their fruit right after this heat, the trouble usually starts with how you water

Picking a tomato only to find it split open along the stem is one of summer’s most discouraging…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber plants keep wilting by afternoon in this heat, the trouble usually starts with when you water

Watching your cucumber plants droop on a hot afternoon can feel alarming, especially when you thought you were…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers turn bitter in this heat, the trouble usually starts with how you’re watering them

Pulling a cucumber off the vine and biting into something that tastes more like medicine than a salad…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your potted tomatoes stay small and weak all summer, one container mistake is usually behind it

Watching a potted tomato sit there all summer, barely growing and producing almost nothing, is genuinely frustrating. Before…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

Why Your Cucumber Vines Keep Flowering But Never Set Fruit: Several Midsummer Factors May Be to Blame

Watching a cucumber vine grow big and bushy while producing almost no cucumbers is one of summer’s most…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your tomato plants stalled out in this July heat, one feeding change gets them growing again

July heat can stop a tomato plant cold, and watching a vine sit motionless while the summer ticks…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your tomatoes rot on the bottom in this heat, the trouble usually starts in the soil before the fruit even sets

Finding a sunken black patch on the bottom of your tomatoes is one of the most discouraging moments…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your pepper plants keep dropping their blossoms in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the roots

Watching your pepper plant bloom beautifully, then shed every flower before a single fruit forms, is one of…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini keeps growing leaves but no fruit, the trouble usually starts at the flowers

You planted one zucchini and ended up with a jungle of leaves, but the vines are empty. Before…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines keep yellowing in this heat, the trouble usually starts underground

Watching your cucumber vines turn yellow during the hottest weeks of summer is genuinely worrying, especially when the…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 26

Gardening Tips

Water Your Tomatoes This Way in the Heat and You’ll Pull the Biggest Harvest Yet

Hot summer weather can turn a thriving tomato patch into a wilting, struggling mess almost overnight. The good…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 25

Gardening Tips

Your Zucchini Plants Are Flowering Like Crazy but You’re Not Getting a Single Squash – Here’s Why

Watching your zucchini plant explode with bright yellow blooms while the harvest bowl stays empty is genuinely frustrating.…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 25

Gardening Tips

Your Hydrangeas Aren’t Failing You – These 15 Small Habits Are Quietly Cutting Their Blooms

If your hydrangea leafs out beautifully every spring but barely produces flowers, the plant probably isn’t the problem.…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 25

Gardening Tips

Your Tomatoes Are Rotting at the Bottom – Here’s What’s Going Wrong in the Soil and How to Stop It

Spotting a dark, sunken patch spreading across the bottom of your tomatoes is one of the most discouraging…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 25

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Vines Sprawl Everywhere but the Fruit Stalls, One Pruning Cut Redirects Them

You planted cucumbers expecting a steady harvest, and instead you have long, leafy vines running in every direction…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 25

Gardening Tips

If Your Tomatoes Keep Splitting Just as They Ripen in the Heat, One Watering Pattern Is Often to Blame

Walking out to your garden and finding a perfectly ripening tomato split open is one of the most…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 24

Gardening Tips

If Your Tomato Plants Suddenly Stop Growing Taller in the Heat, the Trouble Usually Starts Deep Below the Roots

Noticing a low, fleshy weed creeping around your tomato plants at the same time growth seems to stall…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 24

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Plants Look Lush but the Blossoms Keep Dropping in the Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

Watching cucumber vines grow thick and green while every flower falls off before producing a single fruit is…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 24

Gardening Tips

If Your Pepper Plants Flower Heavily but Drop Every Blossom in the Heat, One Hidden Stress Is Usually to Blame

You step outside on a hot afternoon and find a cluster of pepper blossoms scattered on the soil…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 24

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumbers Grow Fat in the Middle but Pinch at the Ends in the Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

Pulling a cucumber off the vine and finding it swollen in the middle but pinched or tapered at…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 24

Gardening Tips

If Your Zucchini Grows Huge Leaves but Barely Any Fruit in the Heat, One Feeding Habit Is Usually to Blame

You water faithfully, the plant looks enormous, and yet the zucchini just aren’t showing up. When your plant…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 24

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Yellow at the Edges in the Heat, One Magnesium Habit Is Usually to Blame

Watching your cucumber leaves develop yellow edges during a summer heat wave is genuinely worrying, and the instinct…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 24

Gardening Tips

If Your Tomato Leaves Yellow From the Bottom Up in the Heat, the Trouble Usually Starts Down in the Roots

Watching your tomato plant’s lower leaves turn yellow during a heat wave is enough to make any gardener…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

Tomato Leaves Curling and Fruit Sunburning? A Recent Fertilizer Overapplication May Be One Piece of a Bigger Puzzle

Curling leaves and pale, papery patches on your tomato fruit can stop a gardener cold, especially when the…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Plants Grow Huge Vines but Barely Any Cucumbers in the Heat, One Feeding Habit Is Usually to Blame

Watching a cucumber plant explode into a tangle of thick vines and broad leaves is exciting, right up…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Zucchini Flowers but Never Sets Fruit in the Heat, One Pollination Habit Is Usually to Blame

Your zucchini plant looks healthy, covered in big leaves and bright yellow flowers, but the fruit just never…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Vines Wilt at Midday Even in Damp Soil, One Hidden Culprit Is Usually to Blame

Walking out to your garden at noon and finding your cucumber vines draped and limp is an unsettling…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Tomatoes Stall Out in the Late-July Heat, One Feeding Fix Usually Gets Them Moving Again

Watching your tomato plants slow to a crawl in late July is genuinely frustrating, especially when you have…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

Sudden Squash Wilt Could Signal a Vine Borer – Here Is How to Tell

Watching a healthy squash plant suddenly flop over in the afternoon heat is genuinely alarming, especially when you…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Silvery and Speckled in the Heat, One Sneaky Pest Is Usually Feeding Underneath

Walking out to your cucumber patch on a hot afternoon and finding the leaves looking pale, silvery, or…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

Big Cucumber Harvests Can Start With One Ingredient You Already Have in the Kitchen

Plenty of gardening tips promise that one simple pantry staple will transform your cucumber plants into a bumper-crop…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Peppers Stay Green and Never Ripen in the Heat, the Trouble Starts Before the Fruit Even Colors

You walk out to your pepper plants expecting a flush of red, yellow, or orange fruit, and all…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Potted Tomatoes Stay Small and Slow in the Heat, One Container Mistake Is Usually to Blame

Watching your potted tomato sit there barely growing while summer heat cranks up is genuinely frustrating, especially when…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Zucchini Rots at the Blossom End Before It Ripens in the Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

Spotting a brown, sunken patch on the tip of a young zucchini is one of the more disheartening…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Pepper Leaves Curl and Cup Upward in the Heat but Pests Are Nowhere in Sight, the Cause Is Usually How You Water

Pepper plants have a way of sending gardeners into a panic when their leaves start to curl or…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

Bitter Cucumbers and Tough Ends in the Heat: How Uneven Watering May Be Contributing

Biting into a cucumber you grew yourself and getting a mouthful of bitterness is genuinely frustrating, especially in…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Tomatoes Get Pale Sunken Patches on the Sunny Side in the Heat, Aggressive Foliage Removal Can Raise the Risk

Spotting a pale, papery patch on the sunny side of a tomato you have been carefully growing all…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 23

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumbers Turn Yellow and Mushy on the Vine in Midsummer Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

Walking out to your cucumber patch and finding a soft, yellow fruit hanging on the vine is genuinely…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 22

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Plants Look Lush but Never Fill Out Their Fruit, One Feeding Swing Is Usually to Blame

You planted cucumbers expecting a steady harvest, but instead you have a jungle of dark-green vines and almost…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 22

Gardening Tips

If Your Tomatoes Keep Splitting Their Skins After a Hot Spell, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

Walking out to your garden after a summer rainstorm and finding your nearly ripe tomatoes split wide open…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 22

Ethan Brooks

If your watermelons keep rotting at the blossom end in this heat, the trouble usually starts in the soil before the fruit even sets

If your cantaloupe vines keep sprawling but never setting fruit in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the flowers

If your pepper plants keep growing bushy but never setting fruit in this heat, one overnight detail is usually behind it

If your eggplants keep dropping their blossoms in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the flowers

If your carrots keep growing forked and split underground, the trouble usually starts in how you prepped the soil

If your bean plants keep flowering but never fill their pods in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the blossoms

If your zucchini keeps rotting at the tip in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the flower

If your pepper plants keep sunburning their fruit in this heat, the trouble usually starts with the leaves

If your tomato leaves keep curling upward in this heat, the trouble usually starts with how the plant handles stress

If your squash plants keep collapsing overnight in this heat, one hidden stem invader is usually behind it

If your tomato plants split their fruit right after this heat, the trouble usually starts with how you water

If your cucumber plants keep wilting by afternoon in this heat, the trouble usually starts with when you water

If your cucumbers turn bitter in this heat, the trouble usually starts with how you’re watering them

If your potted tomatoes stay small and weak all summer, one container mistake is usually behind it

Why Your Cucumber Vines Keep Flowering But Never Set Fruit: Several Midsummer Factors May Be to Blame

If your tomato plants stalled out in this July heat, one feeding change gets them growing again

If your tomatoes rot on the bottom in this heat, the trouble usually starts in the soil before the fruit even sets

If your pepper plants keep dropping their blossoms in this heat, the trouble usually starts at the roots

If your zucchini keeps growing leaves but no fruit, the trouble usually starts at the flowers

If your cucumber vines keep yellowing in this heat, the trouble usually starts underground

Water Your Tomatoes This Way in the Heat and You’ll Pull the Biggest Harvest Yet

Your Zucchini Plants Are Flowering Like Crazy but You’re Not Getting a Single Squash – Here’s Why

Your Hydrangeas Aren’t Failing You – These 15 Small Habits Are Quietly Cutting Their Blooms

Your Tomatoes Are Rotting at the Bottom – Here’s What’s Going Wrong in the Soil and How to Stop It

If Your Cucumber Vines Sprawl Everywhere but the Fruit Stalls, One Pruning Cut Redirects Them

If Your Tomatoes Keep Splitting Just as They Ripen in the Heat, One Watering Pattern Is Often to Blame

If Your Tomato Plants Suddenly Stop Growing Taller in the Heat, the Trouble Usually Starts Deep Below the Roots

If Your Cucumber Plants Look Lush but the Blossoms Keep Dropping in the Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Pepper Plants Flower Heavily but Drop Every Blossom in the Heat, One Hidden Stress Is Usually to Blame

If Your Cucumbers Grow Fat in the Middle but Pinch at the Ends in the Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Zucchini Grows Huge Leaves but Barely Any Fruit in the Heat, One Feeding Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Yellow at the Edges in the Heat, One Magnesium Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Tomato Leaves Yellow From the Bottom Up in the Heat, the Trouble Usually Starts Down in the Roots

Tomato Leaves Curling and Fruit Sunburning? A Recent Fertilizer Overapplication May Be One Piece of a Bigger Puzzle

If Your Cucumber Plants Grow Huge Vines but Barely Any Cucumbers in the Heat, One Feeding Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Zucchini Flowers but Never Sets Fruit in the Heat, One Pollination Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Cucumber Vines Wilt at Midday Even in Damp Soil, One Hidden Culprit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Tomatoes Stall Out in the Late-July Heat, One Feeding Fix Usually Gets Them Moving Again

Sudden Squash Wilt Could Signal a Vine Borer – Here Is How to Tell

If Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Silvery and Speckled in the Heat, One Sneaky Pest Is Usually Feeding Underneath

Big Cucumber Harvests Can Start With One Ingredient You Already Have in the Kitchen

If Your Peppers Stay Green and Never Ripen in the Heat, the Trouble Starts Before the Fruit Even Colors

If Your Potted Tomatoes Stay Small and Slow in the Heat, One Container Mistake Is Usually to Blame

If Your Zucchini Rots at the Blossom End Before It Ripens in the Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Pepper Leaves Curl and Cup Upward in the Heat but Pests Are Nowhere in Sight, the Cause Is Usually How You Water

Bitter Cucumbers and Tough Ends in the Heat: How Uneven Watering May Be Contributing

If Your Tomatoes Get Pale Sunken Patches on the Sunny Side in the Heat, Aggressive Foliage Removal Can Raise the Risk

If Your Cucumbers Turn Yellow and Mushy on the Vine in Midsummer Heat, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame

If Your Cucumber Plants Look Lush but Never Fill Out Their Fruit, One Feeding Swing Is Usually to Blame

If Your Tomatoes Keep Splitting Their Skins After a Hot Spell, One Watering Habit Is Usually to Blame