Gardening Tips Archives - Page 3 of 17

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 cucumber leaves keep turning yellow from the bottom up in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

Watching your cucumber leaves turn yellow from the bottom up can feel alarming, especially when summer heat is…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

Mountain Mint: North Carolina’s Most Underrated Native Border Plant (And What to Do About Fire Ants)

Fire ants have spread into portions or all of 81 North Carolina counties, and if you have ever…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 29

Gardening Tips

If Your Zucchini Plants Keep Flowering Heavily But Never Set a Single Fruit in This Heat, a Morning Check May Be the Rescue Step You Are Missing

You walk out to your garden and count a dozen bright yellow flowers, yet not a single zucchini…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your tomato plants keep dropping every flower in this heat, one overnight temperature swing is usually the reason

Watching every single tomato flower fall off a plant that otherwise looks lush and healthy is one of…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Vine That Feeds Birds All Winter When Nothing Else Is Left

Most North Carolina yards go quiet in winter, with bare branches and empty feeders replacing the busy activity…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your tomatoes rot on the bottom while the plants look fine, the trouble usually starts underground

You walk out to check your tomato plants, and everything looks great above ground – full green leaves,…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your zucchini keeps rotting at the tip while still small in this heat, one watering swing is usually behind it

Watching a tiny zucchini turn soft and brown at the tip before it ever reaches picking size is…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your pepper plants keep growing tall and bushy but drop every blossom in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

A pepper plant that shoots up tall and leafy while losing every flower can feel like a mystery…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

Mulberries and Chickasaw Plums Are North Carolina Natives Almost Nobody Grows but Every Yard Should Have

Two fruit-bearing North Carolina natives deserve a closer look from anyone who wants edible harvests and real wildlife…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your pepper leaves keep curling upward and thickening in this heat, one watering swing is usually behind it

Curled or cupped leaves on a pepper plant can send any gardener into a panic, especially when temperatures…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your bell peppers keep sunburning with pale sunken patches in this heat, one pruning habit may be behind it

Walking out to your pepper patch and finding pale, leathery patches on fruit you have been watching for…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

What Carpenter Bees Around Your North Carolina Porch Are Really Telling You Before You Grab the Spray Can

Spotting a big, buzzing bee hovering around your porch railing can send most homeowners straight for the nearest…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers keep drying out and wilting by afternoon in this heat, the container is usually the real culprit

Watching your cucumber plant slump by two in the afternoon is genuinely alarming, especially when you feel like…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your cucumber vines stay small and slow in this heat, one thing worked into the soil gets them producing

Watching cucumber vines sit stubbornly small while summer heat cranks up is genuinely frustrating, especially when you were…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

If your cucumbers turn yellow and bloated on the vine in this heat, one harvest habit is usually behind it

Finding a fat yellow cucumber hiding under the leaves can feel like something went wrong overnight, and during…

By Ethan Brooks · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

Here’s What a Box Turtle Wandering Into Your North Carolina Garden Beds Is Really Telling You

Finding a box turtle slowly crossing your garden beds is one of those moments that makes you stop…

By Jasmine Hughes · Jul 28

Gardening Tips

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

If your cucumber leaves keep turning yellow from the bottom up in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

Mountain Mint: North Carolina’s Most Underrated Native Border Plant (And What to Do About Fire Ants)

If Your Zucchini Plants Keep Flowering Heavily But Never Set a Single Fruit in This Heat, a Morning Check May Be the Rescue Step You Are Missing

If your tomato plants keep dropping every flower in this heat, one overnight temperature swing is usually the reason

The Most Underrated North Carolina Native Vine That Feeds Birds All Winter When Nothing Else Is Left

If your tomatoes rot on the bottom while the plants look fine, the trouble usually starts underground

If your zucchini keeps rotting at the tip while still small in this heat, one watering swing is usually behind it

If your pepper plants keep growing tall and bushy but drop every blossom in this heat, one feeding habit is usually behind it

Mulberries and Chickasaw Plums Are North Carolina Natives Almost Nobody Grows but Every Yard Should Have

If your pepper leaves keep curling upward and thickening in this heat, one watering swing is usually behind it

If your bell peppers keep sunburning with pale sunken patches in this heat, one pruning habit may be behind it

What Carpenter Bees Around Your North Carolina Porch Are Really Telling You Before You Grab the Spray Can

If your cucumbers keep drying out and wilting by afternoon in this heat, the container is usually the real culprit

If your cucumber vines stay small and slow in this heat, one thing worked into the soil gets them producing

If your cucumbers turn yellow and bloated on the vine in this heat, one harvest habit is usually behind it

Here’s What a Box Turtle Wandering Into Your North Carolina Garden Beds Is Really Telling You