Ethan Brooks, Author at Complete Gardening

Gardening Tips

Your Backyard Beds Emptied Out After the Summer Heat — Here Are the Fall Crops That Should Fill Them Now

When summer winds down and your garden beds look worn out, it can feel like the season is…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

Your Grass Seed Won’t Sprout on Top of the Soil — Here’s the One Basic Mistake Behind the Bare Spots

Scattering grass seed over a bare patch feels like a simple fix, but plenty of Southern homeowners end…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

These Fast-Growing Perennials Fill an Empty Bed in a Single Season – Here Are the Ones to Plant Now

Staring at a bare, empty flower bed can feel discouraging, especially when you want color fast. The good…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

Your Tomato Plants Are Winding Down — Here Are the Fall Vegetables That Should Take Their Spot Right Now

When your tomato plants start looking tired and leggy, it can feel like the growing season is over.…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

Your Lawn Has Bare Patches Heading Into Fall – Here’s the One Move That Fixes Them Before Winter

Bare patches showing up in your lawn right before fall can feel like a race against the clock.…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

Your Potted Geraniums Stay Leggy and Sparse in a Small Space – Here’s the One Move That Fills the Pot With Blooms

If your porch or balcony geranium looks more like a bare stick with a few leaves at the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

Your Geraniums Grow Leafy but Barely Flower – Here’s the One Trick That Fills Them With Blooms

You water them, you feed them, and your geraniums look full and green – but the flowers just…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

Something Keeps Shredding Your Bird Feeder and Scattering Seed Overnight – A Likely Culprit and How to Stop It

You walk out to your bird feeder in the morning and find seed scattered everywhere, the feeder tipped…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 6

Gardening Tips

Something Keeps Marching Up to Your Hummingbird Feeder and Swarming the Nectar — Here’s How to Stop the Ants for Good

Ants have a remarkable ability to find sugar water, and once a single scout locates your hummingbird feeder,…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

These Fast-Spreading Garden Plants Are Actually Banned in US Backyards – Here Are the Ones to Pull Now

Some plants look pretty in the garden but cause big trouble once they escape into the wild. A…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your High-Maintenance Flowers Keep Fizzling Out — Here Are the Tough Perennials That Thrive on Neglect

If your fussy flowers keep dying no matter how much you fuss over them, the problem might not…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Tomatoes Stayed Small This Year No Matter How You Fed Them — Here’s the One Overlooked Mistake Behind It

Picking a handful of tiny tomatoes after months of watering and feeding is one of the most frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Stop Spending Money on Weed Killers – Here’s the Cheap Kitchen Fix That Wipes Out Late-Season Weeds

Every fall, weeds seem to surge back just when you thought the garden was winding down, and the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Hydrangeas Struggle in the Heat No Matter What You Do — Here Are the Flowering Shrubs That Thrive in Their Place

If your hydrangeas wilt and brown out every summer no matter how much you water them, you are…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Something Keeps Digging Small Cone-Shaped Holes in Your Lawn Overnight — Here Are the Everyday Spots Quietly Drawing Skunks In

Waking up to find a cluster of small, cone-shaped holes scattered across your lawn overnight is genuinely puzzling,…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Peace Lily Grows Brown Tips No Matter How You Water — Here’s What It’s Really Telling You

Peace lilies are some of the most forgiving houseplants around, but those crispy brown tips can show up…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Squash Plants Flower All Day but Set Almost No Fruit in the Late-Summer Heat – Here’s the One Fix

Watching your squash plant explode with bright yellow blossoms while producing almost no actual squash is one of…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Hanging Baskets Struggle in the Heat No Matter How Often You Water — Here’s the Watering Slip Behind It

Hanging baskets can look perfectly watered from the outside and still have a bone-dry root ball on the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Tomato Plants Slow Down in the September Heat — Here’s the One Feeding Move That Ripens More Fruit

Green tomatoes hanging on the vine while the calendar flips to September is one of the most frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Something Keeps Draining Your Hummingbird Feeder but the Nectar Isn’t Bringing Them In – Here’s the Sweet Flower That May Help

Your hummingbird feeder keeps emptying out, but you never actually see a hummingbird at it. Before assuming the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Hydrangea Leaves Turn Crispy Brown at the Edges While the Plant Looks Fine — Here’s the Warning It’s Sending

Crispy brown edges creeping along your hydrangea leaves can stop you cold, especially when the rest of the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Boston Fern Turns Crispy and Brown at the Tips – Here’s What to Check Before You Cut It Off

Waking up to find your Boston fern looking like it spent the night near a campfire is genuinely…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Creeping Charlie Keeps Taking Over Your Lawn – Here Are the No-Chemical Tricks That Finally Stop It

Creeping Charlie is that low, sneaky weed with round leaves and tiny purple flowers that spreads across your…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 5

Gardening Tips

Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Yellow and It’s Spreading Fast – Here’s What the Plant Is Trying to Tell You

Watching yellow spread across your cucumber vines can feel alarming, especially when it seems to move from plant…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Watering Your Lawn in the Midday Sun Normally Won’t Scorch Ordinary Grass – Here’s a Common Preventable Mistake Burning It Brown

Most Southern homeowners have heard the warning: never water your lawn in the heat of the day, or…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Lawn Stays Thin and Patchy After Overseeding – Here’s the One Seeding Mistake Leaving Bare Spots Behind

Overseeding sounds straightforward enough: scatter some seed, water it, and wait for the bare patches to fill in.…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Clematis Looks Healthy but Won’t Set a Single Bloom – Here’s the Care Timing It’s Waiting On

A clematis covered in thick green leaves but not a single flower is one of the more frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Cucumbers Grow Slow and Sickly No Matter How You Water – Here’s the Soil They Quietly Hate

Watering your cucumbers faithfully and still watching them sit there pale, stunted, and miserable is one of the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Plant Droops the Moment the Heat Hits — Here’s What It Really Needs Before You Reach for the Watering Can

Seeing your tomato or cucumber suddenly go limp on a hot afternoon can send any gardener straight for…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Peace Lily Keeps Growing Brown Tips No Matter How Often You Trim – Here’s the Real Cause

Trimming brown tips off a peace lily feels productive, but when fresh ones appear just a few weeks…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Petunia Leaves Turn Sticky and It Isn’t Dirt — Here’s What the Plant Is Trying to Tell You

Running your hand along a petunia stem and feeling that telltale stickiness can send a gardener straight to…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

One Mowing Habit Is Quietly Feeding the Crabgrass Taking Over Your Lawn — Here’s the Fix

Crabgrass has a way of showing up every summer no matter how much effort you put into your…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Endless Summer Hydrangea Grows Big Leaves but Small Flowers – Here’s the One Missing Step Holding the Blooms Back

Few things are more frustrating than a hydrangea that looks perfectly healthy but stubbornly refuses to flower. If…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Coneflowers Stop Blooming by Late Summer – Here’s the One Care Habit That Keeps Flowers Coming Into Fall

Coneflowers are one of the most cheerful plants in a Southern summer garden, but by August many of…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Geraniums Slow Their Blooming as the Heat Lingers – Here’s the One Care Tweak That Keeps Flowers Coming

When summer heat settles in and refuses to leave, your geraniums may respond by producing fewer and fewer…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Tomatoes Set Almost No Fruit in the Early-Fall Heat – Here’s the One Care Habit That May Give Flowers a Better Chance

Every Southern gardener knows the frustration: your tomato plant looks healthy, covered in yellow blossoms, yet the fruit…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Your Black-Eyed Susans Come Back Thinner Every Year — Here’s the One Fall Task That Rebuilds a Fuller Clump

If your black-eyed Susans seem a little less impressive every summer, you are not alone. Many Southern gardeners…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 4

Gardening Tips

Don’t Deadhead Your Coneflowers This Fall — Those Fading Seed Heads Still Have a Job to Do

Most gardening advice tells you to deadhead spent flowers to keep the garden looking sharp, but purple coneflowers…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

Remove the Spent Flower Stalk After Blooming and Give Your Delphiniums a Chance at a Second Flush

Perennial garden delphiniums put on a dramatic show, but once those tall spikes finish flowering, a lot of…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

Your Raised Beds Stopped Producing Like They Used To – Here Are the Three Soil Ingredients That Bring Them Back

Plenty of gardeners in Florida and Texas have stood over a raised bed that just stopped cooperating –…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

There’s a Right Time to Mow Your Lawn – and It’s Not When Most Gardeners Grab the Mower

Mowing the lawn seems simple enough – wait until the grass looks shaggy, grab the mower, and get…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

Your Crabgrass Keeps Spreading Across the Lawn – Here’s the One Product You Already Own That Kills It

Crabgrass has a way of showing up uninvited and refusing to leave, creeping across bermudagrass, St. Augustinegrass, and…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

That Slippery Green Film Keeps Coming Back on Your Porch Roof – Here’s the Cheap Fix That Beats Scrubbing

Every time you scrub that green film off your porch roof, it seems to come right back within…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

Cutting Your Lawn Too Short Weakens It Fast – Here’s the Mowing Height That Keeps It Thick and Green

Plenty of Southern homeowners mow their lawns short thinking it saves time or keeps things neat, but repeated…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

Your Lawn Looks Scorched After the Late-Summer Heat – Here’s the One Mistake That Makes It Worse

Late-summer heat can turn a once-green lawn into something that looks like straw, and the urge to fix…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

If You Want a Head Start on Next Season, These Vegetables Need to Go In the Ground in September

September is one of the sweetest planting windows in the South, especially across Florida and Texas where the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

Your Tomatoes Slow Down in the Late-Summer Heat – Here is the One Feeding Reset That Actually Works

Late summer is when Southern tomato growers get frustrated fast. Plants look healthy, maybe even lush, but the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

Remove the Green Algae and Moss Creeping Across Your Patio and Porch With One Cheap Fix

That slick green film spreading across your patio or porch is more than an eyesore. Moss and algae-like…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Gardening Tips

If You Want a Wave of Spring Blooms, Right Now Is When These Flowers Need to Go In the Ground

If you dream about a yard bursting with color when spring rolls around, the secret is doing the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 3

Ethan Brooks

Your Tomatoes Set Less Fruit When These Nearby Plants Quietly Compete – Here Are the Bad Neighbors to Move Now

Your Backyard Beds Emptied Out After the Summer Heat — Here Are the Fall Crops That Should Fill Them Now

Your Grass Seed Won’t Sprout on Top of the Soil — Here’s the One Basic Mistake Behind the Bare Spots

These Fast-Growing Perennials Fill an Empty Bed in a Single Season – Here Are the Ones to Plant Now

Your Tomato Plants Are Winding Down — Here Are the Fall Vegetables That Should Take Their Spot Right Now

Your Lawn Has Bare Patches Heading Into Fall – Here’s the One Move That Fixes Them Before Winter

Your Potted Geraniums Stay Leggy and Sparse in a Small Space – Here’s the One Move That Fills the Pot With Blooms

Your Geraniums Grow Leafy but Barely Flower – Here’s the One Trick That Fills Them With Blooms

Something Keeps Shredding Your Bird Feeder and Scattering Seed Overnight – A Likely Culprit and How to Stop It

Something Keeps Marching Up to Your Hummingbird Feeder and Swarming the Nectar — Here’s How to Stop the Ants for Good

These Fast-Spreading Garden Plants Are Actually Banned in US Backyards – Here Are the Ones to Pull Now

Your High-Maintenance Flowers Keep Fizzling Out — Here Are the Tough Perennials That Thrive on Neglect

Your Tomatoes Stayed Small This Year No Matter How You Fed Them — Here’s the One Overlooked Mistake Behind It

Stop Spending Money on Weed Killers – Here’s the Cheap Kitchen Fix That Wipes Out Late-Season Weeds

Your Hydrangeas Struggle in the Heat No Matter What You Do — Here Are the Flowering Shrubs That Thrive in Their Place

Something Keeps Digging Small Cone-Shaped Holes in Your Lawn Overnight — Here Are the Everyday Spots Quietly Drawing Skunks In

Your Peace Lily Grows Brown Tips No Matter How You Water — Here’s What It’s Really Telling You

Your Squash Plants Flower All Day but Set Almost No Fruit in the Late-Summer Heat – Here’s the One Fix

Your Hanging Baskets Struggle in the Heat No Matter How Often You Water — Here’s the Watering Slip Behind It

Your Tomato Plants Slow Down in the September Heat — Here’s the One Feeding Move That Ripens More Fruit

Something Keeps Draining Your Hummingbird Feeder but the Nectar Isn’t Bringing Them In – Here’s the Sweet Flower That May Help

Your Hydrangea Leaves Turn Crispy Brown at the Edges While the Plant Looks Fine — Here’s the Warning It’s Sending

Your Boston Fern Turns Crispy and Brown at the Tips – Here’s What to Check Before You Cut It Off

Creeping Charlie Keeps Taking Over Your Lawn – Here Are the No-Chemical Tricks That Finally Stop It

Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Yellow and It’s Spreading Fast – Here’s What the Plant Is Trying to Tell You

Watering Your Lawn in the Midday Sun Normally Won’t Scorch Ordinary Grass – Here’s a Common Preventable Mistake Burning It Brown

Your Lawn Stays Thin and Patchy After Overseeding – Here’s the One Seeding Mistake Leaving Bare Spots Behind

Your Clematis Looks Healthy but Won’t Set a Single Bloom – Here’s the Care Timing It’s Waiting On

Your Cucumbers Grow Slow and Sickly No Matter How You Water – Here’s the Soil They Quietly Hate

Your Plant Droops the Moment the Heat Hits — Here’s What It Really Needs Before You Reach for the Watering Can

Your Peace Lily Keeps Growing Brown Tips No Matter How Often You Trim – Here’s the Real Cause

Your Petunia Leaves Turn Sticky and It Isn’t Dirt — Here’s What the Plant Is Trying to Tell You

One Mowing Habit Is Quietly Feeding the Crabgrass Taking Over Your Lawn — Here’s the Fix

Your Endless Summer Hydrangea Grows Big Leaves but Small Flowers – Here’s the One Missing Step Holding the Blooms Back

Your Coneflowers Stop Blooming by Late Summer – Here’s the One Care Habit That Keeps Flowers Coming Into Fall

Your Geraniums Slow Their Blooming as the Heat Lingers – Here’s the One Care Tweak That Keeps Flowers Coming

Your Tomatoes Set Almost No Fruit in the Early-Fall Heat – Here’s the One Care Habit That May Give Flowers a Better Chance

Your Black-Eyed Susans Come Back Thinner Every Year — Here’s the One Fall Task That Rebuilds a Fuller Clump

Don’t Deadhead Your Coneflowers This Fall — Those Fading Seed Heads Still Have a Job to Do

Remove the Spent Flower Stalk After Blooming and Give Your Delphiniums a Chance at a Second Flush

Your Raised Beds Stopped Producing Like They Used To – Here Are the Three Soil Ingredients That Bring Them Back

There’s a Right Time to Mow Your Lawn – and It’s Not When Most Gardeners Grab the Mower

Your Crabgrass Keeps Spreading Across the Lawn – Here’s the One Product You Already Own That Kills It

That Slippery Green Film Keeps Coming Back on Your Porch Roof – Here’s the Cheap Fix That Beats Scrubbing

Cutting Your Lawn Too Short Weakens It Fast – Here’s the Mowing Height That Keeps It Thick and Green

Your Lawn Looks Scorched After the Late-Summer Heat – Here’s the One Mistake That Makes It Worse

If You Want a Head Start on Next Season, These Vegetables Need to Go In the Ground in September

Your Tomatoes Slow Down in the Late-Summer Heat – Here is the One Feeding Reset That Actually Works

Remove the Green Algae and Moss Creeping Across Your Patio and Porch With One Cheap Fix

If You Want a Wave of Spring Blooms, Right Now Is When These Flowers Need to Go In the Ground