Cooler Nights Can Help Encourage Christmas Cactus Buds Indoors
A Christmas cactus that stays green all fall can leave you wondering what it is waiting for. Day length and night temperature both play a…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3, 2026
Written by
Ethan Brooks
1,267 Articles
Gardening Tips
Stink Bugs Keep Sneaking Indoors This Fall, and One Familiar Herb Sends Them Packing
Finding a shield-shaped bug on the windowsill or curtains in autumn is a common homeowner headache. Headlines have…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
Praying Mantises Have Caught Hummingbirds at Feeders: A Documented but Uncommon Hazard and Sensible Precautions
Most gardeners welcome a praying mantis, so it is a shock to learn that one can catch a…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
Snake Plant Leaves Soft and Mushy at the Base? Watering Again Too Soon May Be the Cause
You touch the base of your snake plant and the leaf feels soft, squishy, and wrong. That sight…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
Why Your Peace Lily Keeps Drooping: Watering Habits to Check and a Soil-Led Rhythm to Try
A peace lily that flops over can make any plant owner panic. Many of us grab the watering…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Carrots May Taste Sweeter When You Wait for These Harvest Signs
Pulling carrots the moment the tops look big can feel like the smart move, but the roots underground…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
When to Cut Back Herbaceous Peonies in Fall: Timing, Cleanup, and Tree Peony Exceptions
Peony leaves can look tired by late summer, and many gardeners reach for the shears too soon. Cutting…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Squash Plants Keep Flowering but the Baby Squash Shrivel: Pollination May Be Why
You check your fall squash every morning, and the plants are covered in yellow blooms. Then the tiny…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Tomatoes Stay Stubbornly Green on the Vine, and Cool Nights Aren’t the Whole Story
Your tomato plants are loaded with big, full-size fruit, and every one of them is still green. It…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3
Gardening Tips
Old Mulch Can Be a Compost Ingredient This Fall, but Spring Compost Isn’t Guaranteed
Faded mulch can look tired by fall, and many Southern gardeners assume it all has to be raked…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Peppers Size Up but Won’t Turn Red, and Cooler Nights Are Only Part of Why
Your pepper plants are loaded with big, glossy fruit, but every single one is still green. With frost…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Why Your Fig Tree Drops Unripe Figs: Uneven Watering Is One Cause to Check
Few things worry a fig grower more than a lush, leafy tree with tiny green figs scattered on…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Why Your New Fall Sod Stays Brown and Won’t Root: Soil Contact Is One Fixable Factor
You laid fresh sod, watered it, and now it looks brown and refuses to grip the ground. That…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Can You Still Plant Snapdragons in October, or Is It Already Too Late This Year?
Cool nights are finally showing up, and the garden center is full of snapdragon six-packs. If you are…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Wisteria Grows Huge Vines but Rarely Blooms? Fall Lawn Feeding May Be One Reason
Your wisteria climbs the fence, swallows the arbor, and throws out vines every summer, yet spring comes and…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Hummingbirds Keep Visiting Your Neighbor’s Yard Instead of Yours? Plants May Be One Reason
You hang a fresh feeder, wait all morning, and see nothing. Then you spot a hummingbird zipping around…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Before You Feed Struggling Rosemary, Check Light, Growth Signs, and Pruning
When rosemary looks thin, stretched, or dull, it is easy to blame the fertilizer bag. But established rosemary…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Garden Soil Gets Richer for Spring Tomatoes With One Kitchen Scrap You Already Toss
Every morning, a handful of eggshells or coffee grounds lands in the trash without a second thought. That…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Your Christmas Cactus Keeps Dropping Whole Segments, and the Fix Isn’t More Water
Finding green segments scattered under your Christmas cactus is enough to make any plant owner nervous. Those falling…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Perches, Cover, and Firebush: Habitat Features That May Help Hummingbirds in Florida Yards
A hummingbird yard is more than a patch of flowers. Small branches and shrubs can give tiny birds…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Quiet Hummingbird Feeder? How to Reduce Window-Strike Risk and Check Other Factors
A hummingbird feeder that sits quiet can leave you wondering what went wrong. Glass near a feeder is…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Your Hummingbirds Need a Fresher Feeder in Fall, and Here’s How Often to Change the Nectar
Fall in the South can feel like summer one day and crisp the next, and hummingbird nectar reacts…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Prune Muscadine Vines at the Right Time to Support a Productive, Manageable Crop
Muscadine vines can grow fast, and a few winter cuts shape how the vine behaves for the whole…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2
Gardening Tips
Your Potted Fall Mums Wilt Within Days Because One Watering Habit Dries Out the Root Ball
You bring home a mum covered in blooms, water it well, and a few days later the whole…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Why Is My Hummingbird Feeder Unused? What to Know About Dye and Fresh Nectar
You hung a feeder, filled it with bright red liquid, and the hummingbirds still skip it. Many gardeners…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Cucumbers Keep Blooming but Never Set Fruit, and One Cool-Night Mistake Is Why
Your cucumber vines look lush and the yellow flowers keep opening, yet the harvest basket stays empty. It…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Before You Prune Your Crape Myrtle This Fall, Know What a Cut Can and Can’t Do
Fall brings the urge to tidy up, and crape myrtles seem like an easy target. Many Southern gardeners…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Tomatoes Keep Cracking Open Right Before You Pick Them, and Watering Is Why
You walk out to pick a tomato that was almost perfect, and there it is, split wide open.…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Cutting Blueberry Tips With Flower Buds Can Reduce the Coming Crop
Those little shoot tips on your blueberry bush may already hold the flowers for next spring. Snip them…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
How to Tell Which Zinnia Seed Heads Are Ready to Save Before Frost
Those faded zinnias at the back of the bed are holding next year’s flowers, but only if you…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Rabbits Keep Chewing Your Young Shrubs to the Ground This Winter, and Here’s What Actually Stops Them
You walk out to check a new shrub and find a few stems snipped off and bark scraped…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Peppers Keep Dropping Flowers, and One Feeding Change Gets Them Setting Fruit Again
Your pepper plant is covered in blooms, yet the flowers keep falling off and no peppers show up.…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Asiatic Jasmine May Help Suppress Some Weeds in Your Beds Once It Fills In
Pulling the same weeds from the same bed every few weeks gets old fast. One way to cut…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Your Hummingbirds Keep Fighting Over One Feeder, and Spreading Out Stations May Ease the Standoff
Watch a single hummingbird feeder in early fall and you may see one tiny bird chase off every…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
A Clean Hummingbird Feeder in October Can Offer Late-Season Hummingbirds Supplemental Food
A hummingbird zips past your window in October, and you wonder if it is time to bring the…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
These Common Backyard Plants Are Banned in Florida and Texas, and You Might Already Be Growing One
Some of the prettiest plants sold for Southern yards are actually on official noxious or invasive lists in…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
These Fast-Spreading Groundcovers Fill Bare Spots Before Spring, Here Are the Ones to Plant This Fall
Bare dirt under trees and along borders tends to wash away, sprout weeds, and make a yard look…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Your Lawn Keeps Filling With Henbit Every Spring Because the Fall Pre-Emergent Window Gets Missed
Those purple-topped weeds that suddenly carpet your lawn in spring did not appear overnight. Henbit starts its life…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1
Gardening Tips
Skunks Keep Digging Up Your Lawn at Night, and These Strong Smells Send Them Elsewhere
You step outside with your morning coffee and find little cone-shaped holes all over the grass. Those tidy…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Long Nights May Encourage Your Holiday Cactus to Set Buds This Fall
Few houseplants are as frustrating as a holiday cactus that grows healthy green stems and then never blooms.…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Leggy Thyme in the South: Why a Light Trim Beats a Hard Fall Cut
Thyme that looks stretched out, bare in the middle, and a little sad makes many gardeners reach for…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Crabgrass Keeps Returning to Southern Lawns: Why Spring Timing Matters More Than Fall
Nothing stings quite like pulling crabgrass all summer and seeing it fill the lawn again the next year.…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Your Favorite Blueberry Bush Turns Into More Free Plants When You Take Cuttings Before Winter
Making a new blueberry plant from one you already love is a tempting idea, and it can work.…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Fall Broccoli Growing Leaves but No Normal Head? A Symptom-by-Symptom Troubleshooting Guide
Your broccoli looks lush and healthy, yet the center of the plant is not giving you the crown…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Your Christmas Cactus Drops Its Buds Right Before the Holidays Because of One Indoor Move
You finally got your holiday cactus loaded with buds, and now they are dropping just before the big…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Your Fall Carrots Grow Big Leafy Tops but Skinny Forked Roots, and Soil May Be One Reason
You pull a carrot from the garden and find a thick crown of feathery green leaves on top…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Your New Grass Seed Sprouts Then Dies Because the Watering Schedule Changes Too Soon
You spread seed, watered faithfully, and finally saw green shoots. Then the patches started thinning out and turning…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Dull Mower Blades May Leave Ragged, Discolored Grass Tips and Add Stress to Your Lawn
Walk across your lawn an hour after mowing and look closely at the grass tips. If they look…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
These Smells Keep Deer From Eating Your Fall Garden Down to the Stems
You plant a row of fall lettuce and collards, and two nights later there’s nothing left but chewed…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30
Gardening Tips
Your Favorite Rosemary Bush Turns Into a Dozen Free Plants When You Take Cuttings This Fall
That rosemary bush by your back steps is hiding a secret stash of free plants. With a pair…
By Ethan Brooks · Sep 30