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Question Time 52!

August 11, 2026 · 26 min

Show notes

Another Q&A packed with practical gardening advice, from curl grubs and sick olive trees to thrips, blueberries, wicking beds, Boston Ivy and growing your own passionfruit.

🌿 Plants Mentioned

Vegetables & fruit

  • Tomato — Solanum lycopersicum
  • Cauliflower — Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
  • Blueberry — Vaccinium spp.
  • Lime — Citrus × aurantiifolia
  • Lemon — Citrus × limon
  • Black Passionfruit — Passiflora edulis

Ornamentals & natives

  • Olive — Olea europaea
  • Lavender — Lavandula spp.
  • Rosemary — Salvia rosmarinus
  • Ornamental Pear — Pyrus calleryana
  • Snow Maiden Grevillea — Grevillea 'Snow Maiden'
  • Crepe Myrtle — Lagerstroemia spp.
  • Banksia — Banksia spp.
  • Boston Ivy — Parthenocissus tricuspidata
  • Climbing Fig — Ficus pumila

Plants mentioned as companion/mulch options

  • Pea Straw — Pisum sativum
  • Lucerne/Alfalfa — Medicago sativa
  • Pine — Pinus spp.

🐛 This Episode's Questions

Curl grubs: How to tell beneficial yellow/orange-headed grubs from root-eating black-headed cockchafers.

Olive trees: Supporting mature olive trees showing possible signs of Verticillium wilt, including irrigation, soil health and root support.

Cauliflowers: Identifying whether slugs, snails or earwigs are responsible for damaged leaves.

Rice hull mulch: Why Keith doesn't recommend it as a mulch and alternatives including pea straw and lucerne.

Thrips: Why Success isn't effective against thrips and how Eco-Oil and Eco-Neem can be used.

Blueberries: How often to repot, pruning advice and maintaining acidic soil.

Limes: Why ripe limes can turn yellow — and what happens to their flavour when left on the tree.

Grevilleas & Crepe Myrtle: Can they grow together? Plus designing a garden to provide succession of flowering and attract birds.

Wicking beds: Advice for hot climates, reducing watering requirements and automated irrigation.

Boston Ivy: Why it can take a year to establish and whether it can damage a metal fence.

Passionfruit: Growing black passionfruit from seed, protecting plants from frost and why grafted passionfruit can become invasive.

🧰 Products & Resources Mentioned

🏆 Plant Runner Giveaway: Congratulations to Gerry, this month's winner, for her question about her 18-year-old olive trees.

Happy gardening! 🌱

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/
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