Gardening Tips

You planted beets, and now the leaves look amazing. But when you pull one up, the root is…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

You wait weeks for tight little cabbages to line the stalk, and instead you find puffy, open rosettes.…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

Spring comes, and the grass in some spots is thin, bare, or slow to wake up. Compacted soil…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

A bare back fence can make a yard feel exposed, and a row of shrubs that also feeds…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 3

A Christmas cactus that stays green all fall can leave you wondering what it is waiting for. Day…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

Every fall, stink bugs across North Carolina start hunting for a cozy place to wait out the cold.…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 3

Finding a shield-shaped bug on the windowsill or curtains in autumn is a common homeowner headache. Headlines have…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

Most gardeners welcome a praying mantis, so it is a shock to learn that one can catch a…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

You touch the base of your snake plant and the leaf feels soft, squishy, and wrong. That sight…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

A peace lily that flops over can make any plant owner panic. Many of us grab the watering…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

Pulling carrots the moment the tops look big can feel like the smart move, but the roots underground…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

Peony leaves can look tired by late summer, and many gardeners reach for the shears too soon. Cutting…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

You check your fall squash every morning, and the plants are covered in yellow blooms. Then the tiny…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

You lift the porch light on a cool evening and spot a toad tucked beside the steps. Is…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 3

Your tomato plants are loaded with big, full-size fruit, and every one of them is still green. It…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 3

By the time fall settles in, many beds start to look tired. Big-headed aster is a native perennial…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 3

Faded mulch can look tired by fall, and many Southern gardeners assume it all has to be raked…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Your pepper plants are loaded with big, glossy fruit, but every single one is still green. With frost…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Hummingbirds seem to vanish from North Carolina yards all at once, but the real story is messier. Some…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 2

Few things worry a fig grower more than a lush, leafy tree with tiny green figs scattered on…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

You laid fresh sod, watered it, and now it looks brown and refuses to grip the ground. That…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Cool nights are finally showing up, and the garden center is full of snapdragon six-packs. If you are…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Some fall memories start with a wagon ride and end with a pumpkin that is almost too heavy…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 2

Your wisteria climbs the fence, swallows the arbor, and throws out vines every summer, yet spring comes and…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

You hang a fresh feeder, wait all morning, and see nothing. Then you spot a hummingbird zipping around…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

By October, many North Carolina flower beds have gone quiet. Monarch butterflies heading south may still look for…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 2

When rosemary looks thin, stretched, or dull, it is easy to blame the fertilizer bag. But established rosemary…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Every morning, a handful of eggshells or coffee grounds lands in the trash without a second thought. That…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Shady ground under big trees is hard to plant, and many North Carolina yards end up with Japanese…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 2

Finding green segments scattered under your Christmas cactus is enough to make any plant owner nervous. Those falling…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Chewed, brown patches in a North Carolina lawn in late summer can send anyone hunting for a quick…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 2

A hummingbird yard is more than a patch of flowers. Small branches and shrubs can give tiny birds…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Every yard seems to have one spot where water sits after a storm and the grass turns to…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 2

A hummingbird feeder that sits quiet can leave you wondering what went wrong. Glass near a feeder is…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Fall in the South can feel like summer one day and crisp the next, and hummingbird nectar reacts…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

Muscadine vines can grow fast, and a few winter cuts shape how the vine behaves for the whole…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 2

You bring home a mum covered in blooms, water it well, and a few days later the whole…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

You hung a feeder, filled it with bright red liquid, and the hummingbirds still skip it. Many gardeners…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

You reach for a log and spot a shiny black spider tucked into the stack. Your first thought…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 1

Your cucumber vines look lush and the yellow flowers keep opening, yet the harvest basket stays empty. It…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

Fall brings the urge to tidy up, and crape myrtles seem like an easy target. Many Southern gardeners…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

That fragrant vine climbing along your wooded edge may look harmless, but in North Carolina it is often…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 1

You walk out to pick a tomato that was almost perfect, and there it is, split wide open.…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

Those little shoot tips on your blueberry bush may already hold the flowers for next spring. Snip them…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

A glossy black snake slides along your garden edge, and your heart skips. In North Carolina, that visitor…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 1

Those faded zinnias at the back of the bed are holding next year’s flowers, but only if you…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

Walk out to your pepper patch in October and you may find a clump of stink bugs sitting…

By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 1

You walk out to check a new shrub and find a few stems snipped off and bark scraped…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1

Your pepper plant is covered in blooms, yet the flowers keep falling off and no peppers show up.…

By Ethan Brooks · Oct 1