Gardening Tips

Hostas can look tired by the end of the season, but fall is when next spring really gets…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 27

Plenty of North Carolina gardeners add lime and fertilizer every season out of habit, crossing their fingers and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 27

Snakes are good at staying hidden, especially in warm Southern yards full of mulch, shrubs, stone borders, and…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 27

A mildly uneven lawn can make mowing miserable and turn a nice yard into a tripping hazard, but…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Fall is a quiet but important season for camellias in North Carolina. While the plants look settled and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 26

Cucumbers can go from healthy to struggling in just a few days, and most gardeners reach for fertilizer…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Japanese beetles tore through North Carolina yards this past summer, skeletonizing rose leaves, chewing up fruit trees, and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 26

Geraniums are one of the most popular porch and patio plants across the South, but even well-loved containers…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Ants at a hummingbird feeder can chase birds away and turn a fun backyard feature into a constant…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Brown tips on a peace lily can creep from one leaf to the next until the whole plant…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Watching your lawn go from green to tan right after mowing is one of the more frustrating yard…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Most North Carolina homeowners look at their holly shrubs in fall and wonder if there is something they…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 26

Peace lilies are popular houseplants because they look lush and elegant with very little fuss, but brown leaf…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Fig trees are one of the most rewarding plants a North Carolina homeowner can grow, but they have…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 26

Snakes usually do not show up by accident. Most of the time, a yard offers food, water, shade,…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

If you’ve heard that cutting hostas too late in fall will hurt next year’s growth, that warning has…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

A lawn full of little holes can feel like a mystery, especially when there is no pile of…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Purple coneflowers can look pretty rough by late summer, with faded blooms, dry stems, and browning leaves that…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Every fall, well-meaning gardeners grab their pruners and cut their hydrangeas back hard, then wonder the following summer…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Potted geraniums are one of the most rewarding plants you can grow on a porch or patio, but…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

A raised bed can make gardening easier, but it does not fix every crop problem. Some plants look…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

Fall is the best time to do something useful with bare garden beds, and North Carolina gardeners have…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 26

Creeping Charlie is one of those weeds that makes you feel like you’re losing your mind. You pull…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 26

North Carolina’s fall foliage season is one of the most anticipated times of year for mountain travelers and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 26

Late summer is when fig trees can either reward your patience or leave you with a branch full…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Walking out to your tomato plants on a sweltering July morning and finding the leaves curled tight and…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Aphids are one of the most frustrating problems a North Carolina lettuce grower can face, showing up fast…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 25

Watering your tomatoes every morning feels responsible, but the way you water matters just as much as how…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Hostas are among the most forgiving shade plants in Southern gardens, but what happens to them in fall…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Squirrels, chipmunks, and other hungry visitors can turn a tidy garden into a daily mess. One simple way…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Yellowjackets can turn a relaxing afternoon in the yard into a painful surprise, especially when a colony is…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 25

Timing a fig tree pruning sounds simple until you realize one wrong cut can quietly wipe out months…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

A wrinkled Christmas cactus in fall is one of the most confusing sights a home gardener can face,…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

A brighter spring yard starts months before the flowers appear. In North Carolina, fall is the best time…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 25

Walking out to a yard where the grass has gone brown while every weed looks lush and healthy…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

When hydrangea blooms start fading, many gardeners reach for their pruners, assuming a good cutback is the next…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Blue flowers can do more than cool down a hot North Carolina garden. The right picks give hummingbirds…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 25

Fall is the season that quietly determines how well your canna lilies come back next year. Getting a…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Noticing chewed hostas or stripped shrubs in your North Carolina yard as summer fades into fall can feel…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 25

Cooler nights can sneak up fast, especially in places like Texas and parts of Florida where plants stay…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

By late August, plenty of North Carolina gardens start to look tired, but some perennials are just getting…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 25

Scattering grass seed on bare ground and ending up with patchy, thin results is one of the most…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Gravel paths, driveways, and borders can look sharp one week and sprout a fresh batch of weeds the…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

If your tomato plants look weak, yellow, or just plain tired, the problem might be growing right next…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 25

Tomato plants can look fine one week and tired the next, especially in long Southern heat. When growth…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 24

Knowing when to pull beets out of the ground is one of those skills that separates a good…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 24

Your flowering dogwood may already be carrying next spring’s flowers right now, tucked into tiny buds along its…

By Jasmine Hughes · Sep 24

Hydrangeas can be beautiful, but they often frustrate Southern gardeners with drooping leaves, weak blooms, or the wrong…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 24

Buying another bag of grass seed feels like a reasonable fix when patches stay bare or thin areas…

By Ethan Brooks · Sep 24