Gardening Tips

Every July and August, North Carolina homeowners spot something alarming: huge, yellow-striped wasps hovering low over the grass…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Seeing yellow patches spread between the green veins on your cucumber leaves in August is genuinely unsettling, especially…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 7

Spotting a large, fast-moving spider along your foundation can stop you in your tracks, especially when it seems…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 7

Stepping outside to find praying mantises perched on every shrub and fence post can feel like your yard…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Spotting a copperhead along your yard’s wooded edge in late summer can stop you cold, and it raises…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Every summer, North Carolina gardeners walk outside to find their rose bushes looking like lace curtains, stripped of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Chain-link fences are practical, but they are not exactly beautiful, and most homeowners would rather look at something…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Most backyard blueberry growers in North Carolina spend the summer focused on picking fruit, but the work that…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Spotting a hawk once is exciting, but seeing the same bird swoop through your backyard again and again…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 6

Finding a handful of large, fast-moving spiders patrolling your foundation on a cool October evening can make any…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Walk outside on a warm August evening in North Carolina and you might feel like the trees have…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

A patch of ragged, browning grass can send a North Carolina homeowner straight to the garden center, but…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Spotting a nearly round hole in your deck rail or fence post can stop you mid-step, especially when…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Every summer, Japanese beetles show up in North Carolina yards and go straight for roses and bean plants,…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Glance out at a North Carolina yard in late summer and you might spot a dozen small green…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 5

Late summer in North Carolina often brings a surprise in the backyard: silky white webs draped over the…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Spotted lanternflies have been showing up in more North Carolina yards, and the egg masses they leave behind…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Stepping outside on a warm North Carolina evening and spotting wolf spiders scattered across your yard can feel…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Walking out to your garden in August and finding a tomato plant with drooping, yellowing lower leaves is…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

A colorful, fast-spreading insect called the spotted lanternfly has been turning up in North Carolina yards, and one…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Watching a tiny zucchini shrivel and turn soft at the blossom end is one of the most frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Every October, a lot of North Carolina yards sit bare and brown while neighbors wonder what went wrong…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

Finding a nearly ripe tomato split open in circular rings near the stem is one of late summer’s…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Turning a tomato leaf over and finding purple or reddish-purple coloring underneath can stop you cold. That color…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Spotting a flash of blue tail darting under your deck or finding three lizards sunning on the same…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 4

August is the month when cucumber vines hit their fastest growth, and that speed catches a lot of…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 4

Walking out to your pepper plants and finding the leaves rolled into tight curls or feeling unusually stiff…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Right now, across North Carolina yards, metallic beetles are showing up on roses and making a mess of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Noticing pale yellow patches spreading across your cucumber leaves can send a gardener into full alarm mode, especially…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Pale, dusty-looking cucumber leaves in the middle of summer can catch a gardener off guard, especially when the…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Few things are more frustrating than watching healthy cucumber vines push out flower after flower while the kitchen…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Stepping out to your garden and finding a cucumber vine that looked perfectly healthy yesterday now hanging limp…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Few things are more discouraging than walking out to a thriving zucchini plant in the morning and finding…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Pulling a tomato off the vine only to find a firm, green or yellowish patch locked around the…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Watching a young zucchini turn brown and mushy at the blossom end, right when harvest season should be…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Spotting a copperhead along the edge of your yard can stop you cold, especially when kids or pets…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Stepping into the garden and finding your eggplant leaves riddled with tiny holes can feel alarming, like something…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Cutting into a homegrown cantaloupe and finding tasteless, watery flesh is genuinely frustrating, especially after a whole summer…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Silky white webs draped over tree branches are one of summer’s most startling sights in a North Carolina…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Pulling a pepper off the vine and finding it small and floppy when you expected something thick and…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Bradford pears looked like a bargain when everyone planted them, but those trees crack apart in storms and…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Pulling a handful of forked, twisted carrots out of the garden after months of patient waiting is genuinely…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Walking out to the garden and finding a ripe tomato split open is one of the most frustrating…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Spotted lanternflies have been turning up in parts of North Carolina, and if you live in one of…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Curled, leathery tomato leaves in August can send any gardener into a panic, but the symptom is far…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Spotting yellow patches spreading between the green veins on your cucumber leaves can stop a gardener cold, especially…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Every September, plenty of North Carolina yards look rough after a summer of Japanese beetle damage, with chewed…

By Jasmine Hughes · Aug 3

Walking out to your garden and finding a cucumber vine flat on the ground, when it looked perfectly…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 3

Finding white, flour-like patches spreading across your squash leaves in August is unsettling, especially when the plants were…

By Ethan Brooks · Aug 2