Gardening Tips Archives - Complete Gardening

Gardening Tips

The One Thing North Carolina Gardeners Should Do When Spotted Lanternflies Show Up, Or They Swarm Back Worse In Spring

Spotted lanternflies have been showing up in more North Carolina yards, and the egg masses they leave behind…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Wolf Spiders Suddenly Take Over Your North Carolina Yard This Summer

Stepping outside on a warm North Carolina evening and spotting wolf spiders scattered across your yard can feel…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

If your tomato plants suddenly wilt from the bottom up this August, one soilborne fungus usually starts it

Walking out to your garden in August and finding a tomato plant with drooping, yellowing lower leaves is…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

The One Tree North Carolina Gardeners Should Cut Down Now Before It Fills the Yard With Spotted Lanternfly

A colorful, fast-spreading insect called the spotted lanternfly has been turning up in North Carolina yards, and one…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini fruit rots at the tip and stays small this August, one pollination gap usually starts it

Watching a tiny zucchini shrivel and turn soft at the blossom end is one of the most frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native That Fills a Bare Fall Bed With Berries Birds Strip in Weeks

Every October, a lot of North Carolina yards sit bare and brown while neighbors wonder what went wrong…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

If your tomato fruit cracks in concentric rings this August, one watering swing usually starts it

Finding a nearly ripe tomato split open in circular rings near the stem is one of late summer’s…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

Purple Undersides on Tomato Leaves: Could It Be a Phosphorus Uptake Problem?

Turning a tomato leaf over and finding purple or reddish-purple coloring underneath can stop you cold. That color…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Skinks Suddenly Take Over Your North Carolina Yard This Summer

Spotting a flash of blue tail darting under your deck or finding three lizards sunning on the same…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers keep turning fat, yellow, and bitter this August, one harvest-timing habit usually starts it

August is the month when cucumber vines hit their fastest growth, and that speed catches a lot of…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Gardening Tips

If your pepper leaves curl upward and thicken this August, one heat-and-water swing usually starts it

Walking out to your pepper plants and finding the leaves rolled into tight curls or feeling unusually stiff…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

The One Thing North Carolina Gardeners Should Do When Japanese Beetles Swarm The Roses, Or They Come Back Worse Next Year

Right now, across North Carolina yards, metallic beetles are showing up on roses and making a mess of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Leaves Develop Pale Yellow Patches This August, Downy Mildew May Be the Cause

Noticing pale yellow patches spreading across your cucumber leaves can send a gardener into full alarm mode, especially…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber leaves turn silver and speckled this August, spider mites usually start the damage

Pale, dusty-looking cucumber leaves in the middle of summer can catch a gardener off guard, especially when the…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines keep flowering but set no fruit this August, one hidden mistake usually stops it

Few things are more frustrating than watching healthy cucumber vines push out flower after flower while the kitchen…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines wilt fast in this August heat, bacterial wilt usually starts it

Stepping out to your garden and finding a cucumber vine that looked perfectly healthy yesterday now hanging limp…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini plants suddenly wilt and collapse in this August heat, squash vine borers usually start it

Few things are more discouraging than walking out to a thriving zucchini plant in the morning and finding…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your tomatoes are ripening green shoulders that stay hard this August, one hot-sun habit usually starts it

Pulling a tomato off the vine only to find a firm, green or yellowish patch locked around the…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini fruit rots at the tip before it ripens this August, blossom-end rot usually starts it

Watching a young zucchini turn brown and mushy at the blossom end, right when harvest season should be…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Copperheads Start Showing Up Along Your North Carolina Wooded Edge This Summer

Spotting a copperhead along the edge of your yard can stop you cold, especially when kids or pets…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your eggplant leaves are peppered with tiny holes this August, flea beetles usually start the damage

Stepping into the garden and finding your eggplant leaves riddled with tiny holes can feel alarming, like something…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If Your Cantaloupe Fruit Tastes Bland and Watery This August, One Late-Season Watering Habit Usually Starts It

Cutting into a homegrown cantaloupe and finding tasteless, watery flesh is genuinely frustrating, especially after a whole summer…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Fall Webworm Tents Take Over Your North Carolina Trees This Summer

Silky white webs draped over tree branches are one of summer’s most startling sights in a North Carolina…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If Your Bell Peppers Turn Out Thin-Walled and Small This August, Excess Nitrogen Is One Possibility – Not the Only One

Pulling a pepper off the vine and finding it small and floppy when you expected something thick and…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

7 Native North Carolina Trees That Flower Better Than Bradford Pears Without The Splitting And Stink

Bradford pears looked like a bargain when everyone planted them, but those trees crack apart in storms and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your carrot roots come out forked and twisted this fall, one soil habit usually starts it

Pulling a handful of forked, twisted carrots out of the garden after months of patient waiting is genuinely…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your ripening tomatoes keep splitting and cracking in this August heat, a rapid dry-to-wet change may be the trigger

Walking out to the garden and finding a ripe tomato split open is one of the most frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Spotted Lanternflies Start Showing Up On Your North Carolina Trees This Summer

Spotted lanternflies have been turning up in parts of North Carolina, and if you live in one of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your tomato leaves are rolling upward and leathery this August, the cause usually starts at the roots

Curled, leathery tomato leaves in August can send any gardener into a panic, but the symptom is far…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

Cucumber Leaves Yellowing Between the Veins in August: Could Magnesium Deficiency Be the Cause?

Spotting yellow patches spreading between the green veins on your cucumber leaves can stop a gardener cold, especially…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Shrub That Fills Your Fall Yard With Color When The Beetles Have Wrecked Everything Else

Every September, plenty of North Carolina yards look rough after a summer of Japanese beetle damage, with chewed…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines wilt and collapse overnight this August, the trouble usually starts inside the stem

Walking out to your garden and finding a cucumber vine flat on the ground, when it looked perfectly…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Gardening Tips

If your summer squash leaves suddenly show white powdery patches this August, one watering habit usually starts it

Finding white, flour-like patches spreading across your squash leaves in August is unsettling, especially when the plants were…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If Your Zucchini Fruit Rots and Shrivels at the Tip This August, Inadequate Pollination Is Often the First Place to Look

Finding a tiny zucchini turning yellow and mushy at the blossom end is one of the most discouraging…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Crispy and Scorched at the Edges in This August Heat, One Watering Swing Usually Starts It

Watching your cucumber vine develop brown, curling, crispy edges on its leaves during August heat is genuinely alarming,…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your eggplants keep dropping flowers without setting fruit this August, one feeding habit usually starts it

Watching eggplant flowers fall to the ground day after day, with no fruit forming behind them, is genuinely…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your fall broccoli and cabbage seedlings keep wilting in this August heat, one planting habit usually starts it

Planting broccoli and cabbage for a fall harvest means starting transplants in some of the hottest weeks of…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

When Fire Ant Mounds Take Over Your North Carolina Garden Beds This Summer, These Native Birds May Catch Flying Queens But Won’t Replace Treatment

Fire ant mounds have a way of appearing in the worst spots, right in the middle of a…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your bell peppers get sunscald and pale leathery patches in this August heat, one pruning habit usually starts it

Walking out to your pepper plants and finding pale, papery patches on the fruit can feel alarming, especially…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Praying Mantises Show Up In Your North Carolina Garden, And Why You Want Them To Stay

Spotting a praying mantis perched on a tomato stem can stop you in your tracks. These angular, slow-moving…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your tomatoes are cracking and rotting on the bottom this August, the trouble usually starts below the fruit

Spotting a dark, sunken patch on the bottom of a tomato you have been watching all summer is…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your tomatoes slow way down in this August heat, your feeding routine usually needs a reset

August heat can bring a tomato garden to a standstill almost overnight, and it is easy to assume…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your ripe tomatoes keep splitting open on the vine this August, one watering swing usually starts it

Walking out to your garden after a summer rainstorm and finding your biggest, ripest tomatoes split wide open…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

When Fall Armyworms Start Chewing Your North Carolina Lawn Bare This Month, Reach For These Birds Instead Of A Spray Can

Every late summer, North Carolina homeowners notice patches of grass turning brown almost overnight, and fall armyworms are…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers turn bitter and inedible in this August heat, one watering swing usually starts it

Biting into a cucumber you grew yourself and finding it sharp and unpalatable is genuinely frustrating, especially in…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Shrub That Pulls Box Turtles Into Your Garden Beds And Keeps The Pests Down

American beautyberry is a North Carolina native shrub that most homeowners walk right past at the garden center,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines are loaded with flowers but no fruit ever forms this August, one pollination gap usually starts it

Your cucumber vines are practically bursting with blooms, yet the harvest bucket stays empty, and August is slipping…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Toads Start Living In Your North Carolina Garden Beds, And Why You Want Them To Stay

Finding a toad tucked under your pepper plants or nestled against a raised bed edge is one of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini plants are all leaves and vine but the fruit never fills out this August, one feeding habit usually starts it

You step outside expecting a zucchini harvest and instead find a jungle of dark green leaves with almost…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2

Gardening Tips

The One Thing North Carolina Gardeners Should Do When Fall Webworm Nests Appear, Or They Come Back Worse Next Summer

The One Thing North Carolina Gardeners Should Do When Spotted Lanternflies Show Up, Or They Swarm Back Worse In Spring

What It Really Means When Wolf Spiders Suddenly Take Over Your North Carolina Yard This Summer

If your tomato plants suddenly wilt from the bottom up this August, one soilborne fungus usually starts it

The One Tree North Carolina Gardeners Should Cut Down Now Before It Fills the Yard With Spotted Lanternfly

If your zucchini fruit rots at the tip and stays small this August, one pollination gap usually starts it

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native That Fills a Bare Fall Bed With Berries Birds Strip in Weeks

If your tomato fruit cracks in concentric rings this August, one watering swing usually starts it

Purple Undersides on Tomato Leaves: Could It Be a Phosphorus Uptake Problem?

What It Really Means When Skinks Suddenly Take Over Your North Carolina Yard This Summer

If your cucumbers keep turning fat, yellow, and bitter this August, one harvest-timing habit usually starts it

If your pepper leaves curl upward and thicken this August, one heat-and-water swing usually starts it

The One Thing North Carolina Gardeners Should Do When Japanese Beetles Swarm The Roses, Or They Come Back Worse Next Year

If Your Cucumber Leaves Develop Pale Yellow Patches This August, Downy Mildew May Be the Cause

If your cucumber leaves turn silver and speckled this August, spider mites usually start the damage

If your cucumber vines keep flowering but set no fruit this August, one hidden mistake usually stops it

If your cucumber vines wilt fast in this August heat, bacterial wilt usually starts it

If your zucchini plants suddenly wilt and collapse in this August heat, squash vine borers usually start it

If your tomatoes are ripening green shoulders that stay hard this August, one hot-sun habit usually starts it

If your zucchini fruit rots at the tip before it ripens this August, blossom-end rot usually starts it

What It Really Means When Copperheads Start Showing Up Along Your North Carolina Wooded Edge This Summer

If your eggplant leaves are peppered with tiny holes this August, flea beetles usually start the damage

If Your Cantaloupe Fruit Tastes Bland and Watery This August, One Late-Season Watering Habit Usually Starts It

What It Really Means When Fall Webworm Tents Take Over Your North Carolina Trees This Summer

If Your Bell Peppers Turn Out Thin-Walled and Small This August, Excess Nitrogen Is One Possibility – Not the Only One

7 Native North Carolina Trees That Flower Better Than Bradford Pears Without The Splitting And Stink

If your carrot roots come out forked and twisted this fall, one soil habit usually starts it

If your ripening tomatoes keep splitting and cracking in this August heat, a rapid dry-to-wet change may be the trigger

What It Really Means When Spotted Lanternflies Start Showing Up On Your North Carolina Trees This Summer

If your tomato leaves are rolling upward and leathery this August, the cause usually starts at the roots

Cucumber Leaves Yellowing Between the Veins in August: Could Magnesium Deficiency Be the Cause?

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Shrub That Fills Your Fall Yard With Color When The Beetles Have Wrecked Everything Else

If your cucumber vines wilt and collapse overnight this August, the trouble usually starts inside the stem

If your summer squash leaves suddenly show white powdery patches this August, one watering habit usually starts it

If Your Zucchini Fruit Rots and Shrivels at the Tip This August, Inadequate Pollination Is Often the First Place to Look

If Your Cucumber Leaves Turn Crispy and Scorched at the Edges in This August Heat, One Watering Swing Usually Starts It

If your eggplants keep dropping flowers without setting fruit this August, one feeding habit usually starts it

If your fall broccoli and cabbage seedlings keep wilting in this August heat, one planting habit usually starts it

When Fire Ant Mounds Take Over Your North Carolina Garden Beds This Summer, These Native Birds May Catch Flying Queens But Won’t Replace Treatment

If your bell peppers get sunscald and pale leathery patches in this August heat, one pruning habit usually starts it

What It Really Means When Praying Mantises Show Up In Your North Carolina Garden, And Why You Want Them To Stay

If your tomatoes are cracking and rotting on the bottom this August, the trouble usually starts below the fruit

If your tomatoes slow way down in this August heat, your feeding routine usually needs a reset

If your ripe tomatoes keep splitting open on the vine this August, one watering swing usually starts it

When Fall Armyworms Start Chewing Your North Carolina Lawn Bare This Month, Reach For These Birds Instead Of A Spray Can

If your cucumbers turn bitter and inedible in this August heat, one watering swing usually starts it

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Shrub That Pulls Box Turtles Into Your Garden Beds And Keeps The Pests Down

If your cucumber vines are loaded with flowers but no fruit ever forms this August, one pollination gap usually starts it

What It Really Means When Toads Start Living In Your North Carolina Garden Beds, And Why You Want Them To Stay

If your zucchini plants are all leaves and vine but the fruit never fills out this August, one feeding habit usually starts it