Can a banana peel really make potted peppers flower and fruit more?
Few garden tips sound as easy as tossing a banana peel into a pepper pot and waiting for more peppers. If your container plants are…
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31, 2026
In the Garden
How Leaving Some Seed Heads Standing May Offer Lesser Goldfinches Winter Food in Your California Yard
John Miller CA · Oct 31
Why No-See-Ums Swarm Your Florida Patio While the Yard Next Door Stays Bite-Free
Aria Moore F · Oct 31
Curled Citrus Leaves in a California Fall: Check the Soil and Weather Before You Water
John Miller CA · Oct 31
From the Garden
Those Christmas Cactus Pieces That Snap Off Are a Free New Plant for Your North Carolina Windowsill
A holiday cactus branch snaps off the plant, and most of us toss it in the trash. That broken piece may be a chance to…
By Jasmine Hughes · Oct 31
Your Florida Tomatoes Go in the Ground Now, and These 7 Varieties Handle Fall Heat Best
By Aria Moore F · Oct 31
Texas Bigtooth Maple: A Hill Country Fall Color Standout for Texas Yards
By Ella Brown T · Oct 31
8 Florida Natives That Fill Bare Patches Under Your Oak Trees Where Grass Gave Up
By Aria Moore F · Oct 31
Winter injury can kill older fig wood and reduce brebas on cultivars that produce them
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31
In Bloom
What's thriving right now.
Your fall pepper plants are loaded with green fruit, and a cold night turns them soft unless you pick now
By Ethan Brooks
Water your Christmas cactus by the mix in November to help protect the buds it already has
By Ethan Brooks
Rosemary for a California Patio: What It Can and Can’t Do About Pests
Harvesting Green Tomatoes Before Frost Gives Mature Fruit a Chance to Ripen Indoors
By Ethan Brooks
Plant of the Week
Fall-planted spinach and lettuce seedlings vanish overnight when slugs move in after cool rains, so set these traps now
You plant a neat row of spinach and lettuce, a cool rain rolls through, and the next morning half the seedlings are gone. In many...
By Ethan Brooks · Oct 31, 2026
Read MoreThe Potting Shed
Field Notes
How North Carolina Mums Get a Better Chance of Returning Next Fall
Those pots of fall mums look great for a few weeks, and then the blooms fade and many get tossed....
By Jasmine Hughes on Oct 31
Turk’s Cap Can Give Passing Hummingbirds Another Place to Feed in Central Texas
Late summer in Central Texas brings tiny travelers zipping through yards on their way south. A flower with bright red...
By Ella Brown T on Oct 31
Potted peppers you bring indoors before frost may survive winter, and some might even fruit
That pepper plant on your patio has worked hard all summer, and one cold snap can end it overnight. Moving...
By Ethan Brooks on Oct 31
When to Leave a Box Turtle in Your North Carolina Garden and When a Short Move Is Okay
A turtle plodding through your hostas can make you want to step in and help. But for an eastern box...
By Jasmine Hughes on Oct 31
Missed the Big Fall Native Plant Sale? Here’s Where Florida Gardeners Still Shop
That big fall plant sale came and went, but your garden plans do not have to wait another year. Florida...
By Aria Moore F on Oct 31
What Catnip Can and Can’t Do Against Texas Rats and Roaches This Winter
Cold snaps have Texas homeowners wondering what they can put by the front door to keep rats and roaches out....
By Ella Brown T on Oct 31