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
If your squash plants look fine at dawn but wilt flat by afternoon this August, the trouble usually starts at the base
You step outside on an August morning and your zucchini looks healthy and full. By two in the…
By Ethan Brooks
·
Aug 2
Gardening Tips
The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Shrub That Pulls Songbirds In All Winter While Quietly Feeding The Bees In Spring
Most North Carolina homeowners walk right past yaupon holly at the nursery without giving it a second look.…
By Jasmine Hughes
·
Aug 2
Gardening Tips
If your pepper plants are dropping their blossoms before they set fruit in this August heat, one watering swing usually starts it
Pepper plants that flower all summer but drop every blossom before a single fruit forms can be genuinely…
By Ethan Brooks
·
Aug 2
Gardening Tips
If your zucchini plants keep dropping their baby fruit before it grows this August, one hidden habit usually starts it
Watching tiny zucchini shrivel and rot before they ever get going is one of summer’s most frustrating garden…
By Ethan Brooks
·
Aug 1
Gardening Tips
What It Really Means When Fall Webworm Nests Show Up In Your North Carolina Trees, And Why Cutting Them Down Usually Backfires
Every late summer, North Carolina homeowners start noticing white silky webs draped over the tips of tree branches,…
By Jasmine Hughes
·
Aug 1
Gardening Tips
If your cucumber leaves are wilting by afternoon even in moist soil this August, one root problem usually starts it
Walking out to your garden on a hot August afternoon and finding your cucumber plants drooping can feel…
By Ethan Brooks
·
Aug 1
Gardening Tips
The Invasive Host Tree Spotted Lanternfly Prefers in North Carolina Yards, and Why Planned Removal May Help
A fast-growing tree with a bad reputation has been quietly spreading through North Carolina roadsides, yard edges, and…
By Jasmine Hughes
·
Aug 1
Gardening Tips
If your cucumbers grow curled and hooked instead of straight, poor pollination and uneven watering are the two leading checks to make first
Pulling a hooked or curled cucumber off the vine is one of those gardening moments that makes you…
By Ethan Brooks
·
Aug 1
Gardening Tips
If your tomatoes crack and split open right after you water in this August heat, one watering swing can trigger it
You walk out to the garden, hose in hand, and find the tomatoes you have been babying all…
By Ethan Brooks
·
Aug 1
Gardening Tips
If your tomato leaves are curling upward and leathery in this August heat, one watering swing usually starts it
Walking out to your garden on a hot August morning and finding your tomato leaves curled up tight…
By Ethan Brooks
·
Aug 1