Episode Details

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

• Original LOWY No.1 Anvil Pruner – www.backyardbotanist.com.au
• Neutrog Populate – https://neutrog.com.au
• Neutrog Go-Go Juice – https://neutrog.com.au
• Munash Mineral Rock Dust – https://www.munashorganics.com.au
• MycoGold – https://www.biostim.com.au
• Eco-Oil – https://www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au
• Eco-Neem – https://www.ec