When to Harvest Beets: Check Root Size, Not a One-Week Deadline
You planted beets this fall, and now the big question is when to pull them. Some advice online says a single week can cost you…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 18, 2026
Written by
Ethan Brooks
1,448 Articles
Gardening Tips
What You Do in the Last Weeks of October Decides Whether Your Christmas Cactus Fills With Buds
Your holiday cactus is probably sitting on a shelf right now, looking green and a little boring. Late…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 18
Gardening Tips
Clematis Pruning: Identify Your Vine and Pick the Right Time
A thin, scraggly clematis makes many gardeners grab the shears in October. But a fall cut can snip…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 18
Gardening Tips
Here’s How to Assess Whether Your Fall Mums Might Come Back Next Year Before You Toss Them
That pot of mums on your porch is fading, and the trash can looks tempting. Before you toss…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 18
Gardening Tips
Polymeric Sand May Reduce Weed Growth Between Your Pavers
Weeds sprouting in the gaps of a patio can make a clean outdoor space look neglected. Pulling them…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 18
Gardening Tips
Your Jade Plant Starts Dropping Leaves the Moment Fall Arrives, and These 8 Problems Are Usually Behind It
You walk past your jade plant one cool morning and spot a little pile of plump green leaves…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 18
Gardening Tips
Extra Fertilizer Is Not a Reliable Way to Get More Geranium Flowers
Your geraniums have lots of leaves but hardly any flowers, so you reach for the fertilizer. Hold off…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 17
Gardening Tips
Are Slugs Chewing Your Fall Lettuce and Kale Seedlings? How to Check and Manage the Damage
You head out to the garden and find your lettuce and kale seedlings full of ragged holes, or…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
Spinach Seedlings Collapsing at the Soil Line This Fall: Could It Be Damping-Off?
You walk out to the garden and a row of spinach that looked fine yesterday is lying flat.…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
Fall Weed Prevention Can Reduce Some Future Weed Pressure, and Shredded Leaves Can Help Suppress Seedlings
Spring weeds can feel like they appear overnight, and many gardeners wonder what they missed. Fall is a…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
Why Garlic Cloves Turn Mushy Before Spring and Practical Planting Steps That Reduce the Risk
You dig into the bed where you planted garlic last fall, and the cloves feel soft, slimy, or…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
Why Fall Lettuce Turns Bitter and How Steady Watering and Outer-Leaf Picking Help
Your fall lettuce looked perfect last week, and now one bite makes you wince. Many gardeners blame cool…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
These 16 Common Houseplants Sitting on Your Windowsill Are Quietly Toxic to Kids and Pets
That pretty green plant on your kitchen windowsill might be hiding a secret. Many of the most popular…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
Stink Bugs Sneaking Into Your Kitchen This Fall Fall for a Simple Dish Soap and Light Trap You Set Up in Minutes
You flip off the kitchen light at night, and there it is, a shield-shaped bug clinging to the…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
Your Geraniums Don’t Have to Die With the First Frost, and Three Ways to Keep Them Blooming Next Spring
That first cold snap can turn a porch full of bright red geraniums into a sad pile of…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
Which Hydrangeas Are Setting Next Spring’s Flowers, and What to Do This Fall
Walk past your hydrangeas this fall and you might see nothing but fading leaves. Yet some types already…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 15
Gardening Tips
One Wrong Cut Sets Your Fig Tree Back a Whole Season, and These Pruning Mistakes Are the Usual Culprits
Fig trees are tough, but a single bad pruning cut can wipe out a whole summer of sweet…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Geranium cuttings can be rooted in water on your windowsill when cold threatens
Those potted bedding geraniums on your porch can turn into new plants for next spring. All it takes…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Which Hard Green Tomatoes Left After Frost Are Worth Trying to Ripen Indoors
Frost hit, and now your tomato plants look rough, but a few hard green fruits are still hanging…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Rooting Rosemary in Water and Thyme in Sand: What Southern Gardeners Should Know
Got a rosemary bush that is sending out long green shoots? Those tips might become new plants if…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
How to Harvest Fall Swiss Chard and What Affects Whether It Lasts Into Winter
Swiss chard is one of the easiest greens to keep picking in a Southern fall garden. The way…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Potted Common Figs in Winter: Cool Dormant Storage Is the Safer Bet, Not the Only Way
A fig in a pot can look like it is falling apart in autumn, with leaves yellowing and…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Beets With Big Leaves and Tiny Roots: Excess Nitrogen Is One Possible Cause, and Here Is a Plan for Next Year’s Bed
You pull up a beet expecting a plump, ruby root and find a skinny little marble under a…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Spearmint oil cut brown marmorated stink bug trap catches in one study, but mint is not a proven garden fix
Brown marmorated stink bugs start looking for cozy winter shelter as fall arrives, and your house can look…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Rosemary Cuttings Snipped Before the First Frost Root on a Sunny Windowsill and Give You New Plants by Spring
A rosemary plant you love can be copied for free with a few snips and a little patience.…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Overwintering Peppers Indoors May Give You a Head Start on Next Summer’s Harvest, and Here’s How to Do It
A pepper plant loaded with fruit in October can feel like a waste to lose when the first…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Your Hostas Look Tired and Tattered Right Now, but These Fall Moves Bring Them Back Bigger Next Spring
By late summer, many hostas look like they lost a fight with the weather, with brown edges, slug…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Fig Cuttings From Dormant Wood Can Root, Giving You New Trees to Grow On
Every time you prune a fig tree, you may be holding the start of a brand new one.…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Clematis Pruning by Group: What to Do This Fall and When to Cut Back
Clematis can leave you scratching your head when the vine looks thin at the bottom or tangled at…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Mulching Fall Garlic and Onions in the South: Match Protection to Your Crop and Local Winters
You planted garlic or onions this fall, and now a cold snap is in the forecast. Should you…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
What Yellow Fig Leaves Are Telling You Before Winter
Seeing a fig tree fill your yard with yellow leaves can feel alarming, especially when the tree looked…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 14
Gardening Tips
Limp Christmas Cactus in October? Check the Soil Moisture First, Then the Roots if Needed
A Christmas cactus that suddenly looks floppy can make you worry about the buds you were hoping to…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Your Garden Isn’t Done Yet: These 5 Flowers Go in the Ground This October for a Spectacular Spring Show
When summer heat finally breaks across the South, most people put their trowels away. That is a mistake,…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Mulching Fall Carrots and Protecting Spinach Through Southern Cold Snaps
A cold snap can catch a fall garden off guard, and carrots and spinach do not need the…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Before You Bring Your Potted Plants Inside for Winter, Check for These Hitchhiking Pests First
Your potted plants spent all summer soaking up sun on the porch, and now cooler nights mean it…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Should You Top Brussels Sprouts? How to Judge Loose Sprouts in Southern Gardens
Loose, floppy Brussels sprouts can make any Southern gardener wonder if something went wrong. You may have heard…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
When to Plant Garlic in the South: Is Late October Right for Your Garden?
Garlic is one of the few garden crops that spends the cool months growing underground and in the…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
If Hummingbirds Still Visit Your Feeder This Fall, Ants and Wasps Are What Drive Them Away
A feeder that was busy all summer can suddenly look quiet, and tiny insects crawling on it may…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Before the First Frost Hits, Pull Your Green Tomatoes This Way So They Ripen Red on the Counter
Those last tomatoes hanging on the vine in mid-October can feel like a gamble when cold nights start…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Green Peppers Before Frost: Helping Them Ripen When Conditions Allow and Knowing When to Harvest
Your pepper plants look great, but half the fruit is still green and the nights are getting cooler.…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Snake Signs Around Your Yard This Fall, and What They Can Tell You
You spot a papery, see-through skin by the AC unit, or a wiggly line in the soft dirt…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Why Indoor Rosemary Turns Brown and Crispy in Winter: Check the Roots, Light, and Air
You carried your rosemary inside before the first cold snap, and now the needles are turning brown and…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Fall Soil Prep May Shift Your Hydrangea Color, but Only in Certain Types
Pink one year and blue the next? Some hydrangeas really can change color, and the soil under them…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Squirrels and Chipmunks Digging Up Your Fall Bulbs Turn Away From These 16 Smells
You spend a cool afternoon tucking tulip and crocus bulbs into the ground, and by morning the beds…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Stink Bugs Keep Finding the Same Gaps Into Your House Every Fall, and Sealing These Spots Shuts Them Out
When the nights finally cool off, stink bugs start crawling up your siding looking for a warm place…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 13
Gardening Tips
Why Your Leafy Hydrangeas Stopped Blooming: Fertilizer, Shade, Water, and Other Checks
Your hydrangea looks great from a distance, with big green leaves and strong stems. Then summer comes and…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 12
Gardening Tips
Your Clematis Climbed the Whole Trellis but Barely Bloomed, and These Common Mistakes Are Usually Why
You watched your clematis race up the trellis all spring, and then you got a handful of flowers…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 12
Gardening Tips
Tomato Leaf Curl Is a Clue Worth Checking, Not a Reliable Warning
You walk out to the garden and spot tomato leaves rolled up like little tacos. It is easy…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 12
Gardening Tips
Your Snake Plant Is Tough, but These 6 Everyday Habits Quietly Rot It From the Roots
Snake plants have a reputation for surviving almost anything, which is exactly why so many of them die…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 12
Gardening Tips
Fresh Mole Ridges Across Your Yard This Fall Disappear With These 12 Things From Your Pantry
You step outside on a cool fall morning and spot raised, squishy tunnels zigzagging across the lawn you…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 12