Gardening Tips Archives - Page 10 of 24

If your eggplants flower nonstop but never set fruit in this heat, one hidden habit is usually behind it

Watching your eggplant push out flower after flower while not a single fruit develops is genuinely frustrating, especially…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When an Opossum Wanders Through Your North Carolina Yard and Why It’s Quietly Clearing the Ticks

Spotting a slow-moving opossum crossing your yard at night can feel surprising, but this animal is one of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini plants pump out huge leaves but almost no fruit in this heat, one hidden habit is stalling them

Your zucchini plant looks like it could swallow the whole garden bed, but the harvest basket stays empty.…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

Rip Out That Nandina Hedge This Fall in North Carolina and Plant the Native Shrub That Feeds Birds Instead of Poisoning Them

That thick row of nandina lining your fence may look tidy, but fruiting plants are listed as invasive…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini flowers open every morning but never set fruit in this heat, the trouble starts before the bloom

Watching zucchini flowers open day after day without a single fruit forming is one of the more frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native That Owns Your Garden In September When The Summer Show Is Over

By late August, a lot of North Carolina gardens hit a wall. The zinnias are looking ragged, the…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

If your peppers set only tiny, thin-walled fruit in this heat, one feeding mistake is usually behind it

Pulling a pepper off the vine and finding it small, soft-walled, and disappointing is genuinely frustrating, especially after…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

If your tomato plants grow tall and bushy but barely set fruit, one feeding habit is usually the reason

Few things are more frustrating than watching a tomato plant shoot up lush and green all summer while…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

If your tomato leaves are still green but not one flower sets in this heat, the trouble starts before the buds form

Your tomato plant looks perfectly healthy, all dark green leaves and sturdy stems, yet not a single tomato…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 31

Gardening Tips

If your pepper leaves suddenly curl and cup upward in this heat, the trouble usually starts before the leaves twist

Walking out to your pepper plants on a scorching afternoon and finding their leaves curled tight like little…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your ripening tomatoes keep cracking open after you water in this heat, one moisture swing is usually behind it

Watching a nearly perfect tomato split open right before you pick it is one of the most frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

Plant Your Tick-Barrier Native Shrub This Fall in North Carolina or It Won’t Be a Dense Border by Next Spring

American beautyberry is a native North Carolina shrub that produces clusters of brilliant purple fruit every fall, drawing…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your tomatoes hang green and refuse to ripen in this heat, one care habit is usually stalling them

Walking out to your garden and finding tomatoes that have been full-sized and green for weeks is genuinely…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers turn bitter and taste off in this heat, one steady watering habit sweetens them back up

Biting into a cucumber you grew yourself and getting a mouthful of bitterness is genuinely frustrating, especially after…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Box Turtles Keep Showing Up in Your North Carolina Garden Beds and Why You Want Them Eating the Pests There

Spotting a box turtle slowly making its way through your garden bed is one of those moments that…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber leaves suddenly go powdery-white in this late-summer humidity, the fix starts before the spots spread

Walking out to your garden and finding your cucumber leaves dusted white is one of those sinking moments…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines suddenly wilt overnight in this heat, the trouble is hiding down in the roots

Walking out to your cucumber patch and finding vines that were perfectly healthy yesterday now lying limp and…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Wolf Spiders Show Up on Your North Carolina Porch and Why They’re Hunting the Bugs You Want Gone

Finding a large, hairy spider crouched near your porch light can stop you cold, especially when you have…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers taste bitter after this heat wave, the trouble started before the fruit ever swelled

Biting into a cucumber you grew yourself and tasting something sharp and unpleasant is genuinely frustrating, especially after…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

The Invasive Tree Quietly Spreading Spotted Lanternfly Through North Carolina Yards and Why You Want It Gone Now

A weedy, fast-growing tree that most North Carolina homeowners mistake for a native is quietly making their yards…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini keeps dropping every blossom in this heat, the flowers are telling you something before the fruit ever forms

You step outside expecting to find baby zucchini forming, and instead you find a pile of fallen flowers…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini leaves turn mottled and pale in this heat, the trouble usually rode in on the bugs first

Pale, patchy zucchini leaves on a hot summer day can stop a gardener cold, and it is easy…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your squash plants collapse overnight in this heat, the trouble starts inside the stem before you see it wilt

Walking out to your garden and finding a squash plant completely limp can feel like a gut punch,…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your tomato plants slow down in this late-summer heat, one feeding reset usually gets them fruiting again

Watching a tomato plant that was loaded with blooms suddenly go quiet in late July or August is…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your potted cucumbers keep curling into hooks in this heat, inconsistent watering is one likely culprit – but check pollination too

You pull back the leaves on your container cucumber and find fruit that looks more like a fish…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

Heat is likely why your pepper blossoms are falling, and a watering swing can make it worse

Watching your pepper plants flower beautifully and then drop every blossom before a single pepper forms is one…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your bell peppers grow big and leafy but set almost no fruit in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

You step outside expecting to find peppers forming on your plants, but all you see are enormous leafy…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When a Fox Starts Patrolling Your North Carolina Yard and Why You Want It Hunting the Rodents That Carry Ticks

Spotting a fox trotting through your yard at dusk can stop you in your tracks – and your…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini plants pump out leaves but almost no fruit in this heat, one pollination gap is usually behind it

Watching your zucchini plants explode with leaves while the tiny fruits keep shriveling up is one of the…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

What It Means When an Eastern Box Turtle Visits Your North Carolina Garden and How to Protect It

Spotting a domed turtle making its way through your vegetable beds or flower borders is one of those…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 30

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers keep turning bitter in this heat while the vines look healthy, one watering swing is usually behind it

You walk out to your garden, see a tangle of lush green vines loaded with cucumbers, and bite…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your tomatoes keep rotting on the bottom in this heat, the trouble starts in the soil before the fruit forms

Pulling back a tomato leaf to find a sunken, blackened patch on the bottom of your fruit is…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

Skip the Boxwood Hedge and Plant This North Carolina Native That Turns Fiery in Fall While Walling Ticks Off the Yard’s Edge

Boxwood hedges are neat and evergreen, but they never put on a fall color show, and they do…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

Lush Tomato Vines Stalling in August Heat? Excess Nitrogen May Be One Reason, But Heat Deserves Equal Attention

Your tomato plants look better than ever, thick with dark-green leaves, but the fruit has nearly stopped coming.…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your pepper plants keep pushing out leaves but never flower in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

Your pepper plant looks like it is thriving, but there is not a single flower in sight and…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

What It Really Means When Toads Move Into Your North Carolina Garden and Why You Want Them Eating After Dark

Finding a toad settled under your garden bed or tucked beside a flowerpot is one of those small…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your summer squash vines suddenly wilt and collapse in this heat while the soil stays moist, one hidden stem pest is usually behind it

You walk out to your garden on a hot morning and find a zucchini vine that looked perfectly…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

How to support the North Carolina mockingbird that quietly clears the beetles and grubs out of your yard

Walk across a North Carolina yard on a June morning and you might spot a gray bird hopping…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your peppers stay stubbornly green in this heat while the plants look lush, one feeding habit is usually behind it

Your pepper plant looks fantastic, full of dark leaves and strong stems, but the fruit just sits there…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your tomato leaves are curling up and down the plant in this heat, your feeding routine may be the culprit

Spotting curled leaves on your tomato plants during a heat wave is enough to make any gardener stop…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Tree That Feeds Birds All Fall While Quietly Discouraging Ticks at the Yard’s Edge

Tucked into forest edges across North Carolina, blackgum quietly does something most yard trees never manage: it drops…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini leaves turn silvery and powdery white in this heat, one watering habit is usually behind it

Spotting a white, flour-like coating on your zucchini leaves mid-summer can feel alarming, especially when the plants looked…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your potted peppers keep dropping blossoms while the plants look lush, one container feeding habit is usually behind it

Watching your pepper plant burst with thick, dark-green leaves while every flower falls off before setting fruit is…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If Your Tomato Leaves Keep Rolling Up Tight in the Heat but the Plants Look Otherwise Fine, Heat and Moisture Stress May Be Behind It

Rolled-up tomato leaves on an otherwise vigorous plant can send any gardener into a panic, but the symptom…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber plants keep flowering but never fruit in this heat, one pollination habit is usually behind it

You check your cucumber vines every morning, and the flowers keep coming, but there is still not a…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines keep wilting by midday while the soil stays wet, one root problem is usually behind it

Watching your cucumber vines droop in the afternoon heat is frustrating enough, but discovering the soil is already…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

Why Your August Cucumbers Taste Bitter: Heat, Water, Genetics, and Fertilizer All Play a Role

Biting into a cucumber you grew yourself, only to get a mouthful of something sharp and unpleasant, is…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers keep growing bitter and hollow in this heat, one watering habit is usually behind it

Pulling a cucumber off the vine only to find it bitter or oddly hollow inside is one of…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

American Beautyberry: A Native NC Shrub With Late-Summer Berries and Tick-Aware Landscaping Tips

American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is a North Carolina native shrub that earns its place along a wooded edge…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If your squash keeps getting powdery-white leaves in this late-summer humidity, one watering habit usually invites it

If your eggplants flower nonstop but never set fruit in this heat, one hidden habit is usually behind it

What It Really Means When an Opossum Wanders Through Your North Carolina Yard and Why It’s Quietly Clearing the Ticks

If your zucchini plants pump out huge leaves but almost no fruit in this heat, one hidden habit is stalling them

Rip Out That Nandina Hedge This Fall in North Carolina and Plant the Native Shrub That Feeds Birds Instead of Poisoning Them

If your zucchini flowers open every morning but never set fruit in this heat, the trouble starts before the bloom

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native That Owns Your Garden In September When The Summer Show Is Over

If your peppers set only tiny, thin-walled fruit in this heat, one feeding mistake is usually behind it

If your tomato plants grow tall and bushy but barely set fruit, one feeding habit is usually the reason

If your tomato leaves are still green but not one flower sets in this heat, the trouble starts before the buds form

If your pepper leaves suddenly curl and cup upward in this heat, the trouble usually starts before the leaves twist

If your ripening tomatoes keep cracking open after you water in this heat, one moisture swing is usually behind it

Plant Your Tick-Barrier Native Shrub This Fall in North Carolina or It Won’t Be a Dense Border by Next Spring

If your tomatoes hang green and refuse to ripen in this heat, one care habit is usually stalling them

If your cucumbers turn bitter and taste off in this heat, one steady watering habit sweetens them back up

What It Really Means When Box Turtles Keep Showing Up in Your North Carolina Garden Beds and Why You Want Them Eating the Pests There

If your cucumber leaves suddenly go powdery-white in this late-summer humidity, the fix starts before the spots spread

If your cucumber vines suddenly wilt overnight in this heat, the trouble is hiding down in the roots

What It Really Means When Wolf Spiders Show Up on Your North Carolina Porch and Why They’re Hunting the Bugs You Want Gone

If your cucumbers taste bitter after this heat wave, the trouble started before the fruit ever swelled

The Invasive Tree Quietly Spreading Spotted Lanternfly Through North Carolina Yards and Why You Want It Gone Now

If your zucchini keeps dropping every blossom in this heat, the flowers are telling you something before the fruit ever forms

If your zucchini leaves turn mottled and pale in this heat, the trouble usually rode in on the bugs first

If your squash plants collapse overnight in this heat, the trouble starts inside the stem before you see it wilt

If your tomato plants slow down in this late-summer heat, one feeding reset usually gets them fruiting again

If your potted cucumbers keep curling into hooks in this heat, inconsistent watering is one likely culprit – but check pollination too

Heat is likely why your pepper blossoms are falling, and a watering swing can make it worse

If your bell peppers grow big and leafy but set almost no fruit in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

What It Really Means When a Fox Starts Patrolling Your North Carolina Yard and Why You Want It Hunting the Rodents That Carry Ticks

If your zucchini plants pump out leaves but almost no fruit in this heat, one pollination gap is usually behind it

What It Means When an Eastern Box Turtle Visits Your North Carolina Garden and How to Protect It

If your cucumbers keep turning bitter in this heat while the vines look healthy, one watering swing is usually behind it

If your tomatoes keep rotting on the bottom in this heat, the trouble starts in the soil before the fruit forms

Skip the Boxwood Hedge and Plant This North Carolina Native That Turns Fiery in Fall While Walling Ticks Off the Yard’s Edge

Lush Tomato Vines Stalling in August Heat? Excess Nitrogen May Be One Reason, But Heat Deserves Equal Attention

If your pepper plants keep pushing out leaves but never flower in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

What It Really Means When Toads Move Into Your North Carolina Garden and Why You Want Them Eating After Dark

If your summer squash vines suddenly wilt and collapse in this heat while the soil stays moist, one hidden stem pest is usually behind it

How to support the North Carolina mockingbird that quietly clears the beetles and grubs out of your yard

If your peppers stay stubbornly green in this heat while the plants look lush, one feeding habit is usually behind it

If your tomato leaves are curling up and down the plant in this heat, your feeding routine may be the culprit

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Tree That Feeds Birds All Fall While Quietly Discouraging Ticks at the Yard’s Edge

If your zucchini leaves turn silvery and powdery white in this heat, one watering habit is usually behind it

If your potted peppers keep dropping blossoms while the plants look lush, one container feeding habit is usually behind it

If Your Tomato Leaves Keep Rolling Up Tight in the Heat but the Plants Look Otherwise Fine, Heat and Moisture Stress May Be Behind It

If your cucumber plants keep flowering but never fruit in this heat, one pollination habit is usually behind it

If your cucumber vines keep wilting by midday while the soil stays wet, one root problem is usually behind it

Why Your August Cucumbers Taste Bitter: Heat, Water, Genetics, and Fertilizer All Play a Role

If your cucumbers keep growing bitter and hollow in this heat, one watering habit is usually behind it

American Beautyberry: A Native NC Shrub With Late-Summer Berries and Tick-Aware Landscaping Tips