Ethan Brooks, Author at Complete Gardening

Gardening Tips

Leafy Radishes With Small Roots: Is Shade One Possible Reason?

You sowed radishes with high hopes, and now the tops look lush while the roots stay tiny. It…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 7

Gardening Tips

Loose Brussels Sprouts: When Topping the Stalk Helps and When It Doesn’t

Few things are more disappointing than a tall Brussels sprout stalk covered in floppy, leafy tufts instead of…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 7

Gardening Tips

Fig Cuttings From Dormant Pruning May Root in a Few Months and Give You New Plants

A fig tree that has dropped its leaves still has plenty to offer. The bare branches you trim…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 7

Gardening Tips

Fig trees in Texas and Florida yards need this one cleanup step after the leaves drop, or fungus waits for spring

When your fig tree finally drops its leaves, the yard under it can look like a brown, crunchy…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 7

Gardening Tips

Kale leaves riddled with tiny holes in November mean flea beetles are still feeding, and a row cover stops them cold

You walk out to the garden in November and the kale looks like it was hit with a…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 7

Gardening Tips

17 single-ingredient fertilizers that give next year’s tomatoes the nutrient this year’s plants were missing

Your tomato plants spent all summer telling you something through yellow leaves, black-bottomed fruit, or skinny stems that…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 7

Gardening Tips

Brown edges creeping across your peace lily leaves usually trace back to one of these 8 everyday care mistakes

A peace lily with crispy brown edges can make you feel like you did something terribly wrong. The…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 7

Gardening Tips

Give Fall Beets Room to Grow: Why Thinning Seedlings Matters

Plant beets with careful spacing and you may still end up with a crowded row. Each beet seed…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Fall Turnips With Big Leaves but Small Roots: Why Thinning to About Four Inches Can Help

Your turnip bed looks lush from above, with broad green leaves everywhere. Then you pull a plant and…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Yellowing or Slow-Growing Peas in Texas and Florida: Could Soil Moisture Be Part of the Problem?

Yellow leaves on a pea plant can make any gardener nervous. Many people reach for the watering can…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Fall-planted Texas and Florida tomatoes drop their flowers in November when nights dip below 55 degrees, and here’s how to save the fruit

Fall tomato plants can look healthy and full of yellow blossoms, then leave you with few fruit. Cool…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Deer start stripping your fall pansies and kale the week acorns run out, so spray this before they find the bed

You plant fresh pansies and rows of kale in fall, then wake up to ragged stems and missing…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Your Christmas cactus still has time to bloom for the holidays if you start these 8 steps this week

If your Christmas cactus looks green and healthy but shows zero flower buds, you are not alone. Many…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Fall-planted onion and shallot sets that bolt next spring were usually planted too big, so sort them by size now

You plant a row of onion sets in fall, and by spring some of them shoot up flower…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Overwintered potted tomato plants drop every blossom indoors until you start shaking the stems each morning

Your tomato plant made it through winter, it is covered in yellow flowers, and yet no little green…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Strawberry plants you tuck under straw before the first hard freeze come back with bigger berries in spring

Cold snaps can sneak up on a strawberry bed, and many Southern gardeners wonder if a blanket of…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Soggy Potting Mix Can Put Your Winter Fig Tree’s Roots at Risk

A bare fig tree sitting in a pot in winter can look pretty sad. Many gardeners reach for…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Check Drainage Before You Plant Asparagus: Wet Soil Raises Crown Disease Risk

An asparagus bed can produce spears for many years, so the spot you pick matters a lot. Soil…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Garlic tops yellow or limp this fall? Check soil moisture and the plant base for rot risk

You walk out to the garden and your fall garlic looks tired, with yellow or floppy tops. Wet…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Garlic Cloves Planted Too Shallow May Heave Out During Freeze-Thaw Cycles

Few things are more discouraging than finding fresh garlic cloves sitting on top of the soil after a…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

Plant these 12 crops beside your tomatoes next spring and you’ll be staring at empty vines all summer

You can do everything right with your tomatoes and still end up with skinny vines, spotted leaves, and…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 6

Gardening Tips

These 9 smells keep mice out of your house and garden shed once the cold nights arrive

When the first chilly nights roll in, mice start hunting for a warm place to spend the winter.…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Mature compost may improve your lawn soil over time, but it is no quick fix

Many homeowners hear that one natural item can thicken a lawn and turn it green before winter. The…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Why Potted Figs on the Patio Face Higher Winter Root Risk and Hidden Cold Damage

A fig in a pot can look fine all winter and still have trouble below the surface. The…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Could Cutworms Be Behind Your Vanishing Spinach and Lettuce Seedlings?

You walk out to the greens bed and a row of young spinach or lettuce is gone, or…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Pale yellow blotches on fall spinach may point to downy mildew, and thinning crowded rows can help leaves dry

You walk out to your fall spinach bed and spot pale yellow blotches spreading across the leaves. It…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Overwintering potted pepper plants indoors may preserve them and give a possible head start next summer

Cold nights can end a pepper season fast, even when the plant still looks healthy. Many gardeners wonder…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Is your Christmas cactus dropping buds after a move? Steady light and temperature may help reduce the loss

Few things sting like watching tiny pink buds litter the floor right when your Christmas cactus was about…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

The squirrels digging up your yard this fall are quietly doing your garden more good than harm

Those little holes and tossed mulch in your beds every autumn are easy to blame on squirrels, and…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Hold Off on Pruning Frost-Blackened Figs and Citrus Until the Damage Becomes Clear

The morning after a hard frost, a once-green fig or citrus can look like it was scorched. Leaves…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Spinach seedlings keep collapsing at the soil line this fall because damping-off thrives in cool, soggy beds

You water the bed, tuck in a row of tiny spinach seedlings, and a few days later they…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Heavy rain after a dry spell can split fall tomatoes, so pick mature fruit early and ripen it indoors

You walk out to check your tomatoes and find deep splits across the best fruit after a soaking…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Bok choy shoots up a flower stalk overnight when a warm November week follows chilly nights, and here’s how to save the harvest

You walk out to the fall garden and spot a tall, budding stalk rising from the middle of…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Can a November Cold Snap Make Celery Bolt or Turn Pithy? How to Check Your Plants and Lower the Risk

Fall celery can look perfect one week and puzzling the next, especially after a chilly night or two.…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Green Peppers Won’t Color Up in Fall? Chilly Nights May Be Slowing Them Down

You walk out to the garden in November and the pepper plant is loaded with fruit, but every…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

Shed and woodpile snake clues in November: what they can and cannot tell you

Stacked firewood and a dark gap under the shed can look like a perfect hiding spot for a…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 5

Gardening Tips

These 6 steps turn your geranium cuttings into a windowsill full of new plants for spring

One healthy geranium can give you a dozen new plants for free if you know where to snip.…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Why taproot damage can fork or stub fall carrots, and why close planting twists them

You pull a carrot from the cool fall soil and find two legs, a stubby nub, or a…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Snow peas in Florida and Texas gardens may give crunchy pods by late winter where November timing fits

Plenty of Southern gardeners figure the vegetable season ends once the tomato vines give out. Snow peas say…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Yellow leaves on your fall onion sets in November usually mean the bed is staying too wet, and raising it fixes the rot

Spotting yellow leaves on your onion sets can make your stomach drop, especially when you planted them with…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Leafy Fall Beets With Tiny Roots: Is Too Much Nitrogen the Cause?

You check your fall bed and find thick, glossy beet tops, but the roots underneath are barely bigger…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Plastic can injure tender perennials if it touches foliage or overheats, so cover them the smart way before a freeze

A surprise cold snap sends many Southern gardeners running for whatever is in the garage, and a roll…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Tall, Bitter Fall Lettuce in the South? Heat May Be One Clue, and Afternoon Shade May Help

Your fall lettuce looked perfect last week, and now it is reaching for the sky and tasting harsh.…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Yellow Leaves and Leaf Drop on an Indoor Potted Hibiscus: What to Check and Adjust

You carried your hibiscus inside before the first cold snap, and now yellow leaves are piling up on…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Fall Pruning Can Remove Next Spring’s Blueberry Buds, So Check What You Cut and Follow Local Timing

Those plump little buds on your blueberry branches are next year’s berries in waiting. A tidy-up trim in…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Leeks you leave standing in the garden this winter stay sweet when you hill soil around the stems now

Pile a little soil around a growing leek and you can end up with a longer, paler shank…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Cool Fall Nights May Slow Cucumbers, but Bitter Fruit Has Other Possible Causes

Your fall cucumber vines were cranking out fruit, and then a cool snap hit. Now the growth has…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Is your amaryllis bulb sitting in a pot doing nothing? Here’s how to wake it up for Christmas blooms

A potted amaryllis bulb can look like a lump of nothing, even when it is ready to grow.…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Gardening Tips

Ragged Holes in Fall Lettuce: Caterpillars or Slugs? How to Tell Before You Treat

You walk out to your fall lettuce and find leaves chewed into ragged holes that were not there…

By Ethan Brooks · Nov 4

Ethan Brooks

Fall-planted Texas and Florida strawberries send out runners instead of flowers until you snip them off this week

Leafy Radishes With Small Roots: Is Shade One Possible Reason?

Loose Brussels Sprouts: When Topping the Stalk Helps and When It Doesn’t

Fig Cuttings From Dormant Pruning May Root in a Few Months and Give You New Plants

Fig trees in Texas and Florida yards need this one cleanup step after the leaves drop, or fungus waits for spring

Kale leaves riddled with tiny holes in November mean flea beetles are still feeding, and a row cover stops them cold

17 single-ingredient fertilizers that give next year’s tomatoes the nutrient this year’s plants were missing

Brown edges creeping across your peace lily leaves usually trace back to one of these 8 everyday care mistakes

Give Fall Beets Room to Grow: Why Thinning Seedlings Matters

Fall Turnips With Big Leaves but Small Roots: Why Thinning to About Four Inches Can Help

Yellowing or Slow-Growing Peas in Texas and Florida: Could Soil Moisture Be Part of the Problem?

Fall-planted Texas and Florida tomatoes drop their flowers in November when nights dip below 55 degrees, and here’s how to save the fruit

Deer start stripping your fall pansies and kale the week acorns run out, so spray this before they find the bed

Your Christmas cactus still has time to bloom for the holidays if you start these 8 steps this week

Fall-planted onion and shallot sets that bolt next spring were usually planted too big, so sort them by size now

Overwintered potted tomato plants drop every blossom indoors until you start shaking the stems each morning

Strawberry plants you tuck under straw before the first hard freeze come back with bigger berries in spring

Soggy Potting Mix Can Put Your Winter Fig Tree’s Roots at Risk

Check Drainage Before You Plant Asparagus: Wet Soil Raises Crown Disease Risk

Garlic tops yellow or limp this fall? Check soil moisture and the plant base for rot risk

Garlic Cloves Planted Too Shallow May Heave Out During Freeze-Thaw Cycles

Plant these 12 crops beside your tomatoes next spring and you’ll be staring at empty vines all summer

These 9 smells keep mice out of your house and garden shed once the cold nights arrive

Mature compost may improve your lawn soil over time, but it is no quick fix

Why Potted Figs on the Patio Face Higher Winter Root Risk and Hidden Cold Damage

Could Cutworms Be Behind Your Vanishing Spinach and Lettuce Seedlings?

Pale yellow blotches on fall spinach may point to downy mildew, and thinning crowded rows can help leaves dry

Overwintering potted pepper plants indoors may preserve them and give a possible head start next summer

Is your Christmas cactus dropping buds after a move? Steady light and temperature may help reduce the loss

The squirrels digging up your yard this fall are quietly doing your garden more good than harm

Hold Off on Pruning Frost-Blackened Figs and Citrus Until the Damage Becomes Clear

Spinach seedlings keep collapsing at the soil line this fall because damping-off thrives in cool, soggy beds

Heavy rain after a dry spell can split fall tomatoes, so pick mature fruit early and ripen it indoors

Bok choy shoots up a flower stalk overnight when a warm November week follows chilly nights, and here’s how to save the harvest

Can a November Cold Snap Make Celery Bolt or Turn Pithy? How to Check Your Plants and Lower the Risk

Green Peppers Won’t Color Up in Fall? Chilly Nights May Be Slowing Them Down

Shed and woodpile snake clues in November: what they can and cannot tell you

These 6 steps turn your geranium cuttings into a windowsill full of new plants for spring

Why taproot damage can fork or stub fall carrots, and why close planting twists them

Snow peas in Florida and Texas gardens may give crunchy pods by late winter where November timing fits

Yellow leaves on your fall onion sets in November usually mean the bed is staying too wet, and raising it fixes the rot

Leafy Fall Beets With Tiny Roots: Is Too Much Nitrogen the Cause?

Plastic can injure tender perennials if it touches foliage or overheats, so cover them the smart way before a freeze

Tall, Bitter Fall Lettuce in the South? Heat May Be One Clue, and Afternoon Shade May Help

Yellow Leaves and Leaf Drop on an Indoor Potted Hibiscus: What to Check and Adjust

Fall Pruning Can Remove Next Spring’s Blueberry Buds, So Check What You Cut and Follow Local Timing

Leeks you leave standing in the garden this winter stay sweet when you hill soil around the stems now

Cool Fall Nights May Slow Cucumbers, but Bitter Fruit Has Other Possible Causes

Is your amaryllis bulb sitting in a pot doing nothing? Here’s how to wake it up for Christmas blooms

Ragged Holes in Fall Lettuce: Caterpillars or Slugs? How to Tell Before You Treat