Muddy Boots

This week Elisabeth asks Keith to share some tips on how to encourage wildlife into her new garden.

Grow it and they shall come! Both a perennial or natives style garden can be created to maximise wildlife.

Birdbaths, rocks and nesting logs will all assist with creating places for wildlife to enjoy.

Plants like Dianella Revoluta with edible berries will attract birds.

Looking to treat pests without harming the wildlife? Look for certified organic snail bait to avoid impact on wildlife, try home remedies and use products like ECO Neem.  

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
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This week is all about deadheading - why & how to deadhead to keep your flowers flourishing!

Why do we deadhead? Looks tidier, helps keep plants healthy and can prolong the flowering period. 

How to deadhead? Hand pinch or use secateurs. Cut just above the next set of leaves or nodes.

What to deadhead? Keith and Elisabeth share their list with some extra tips. Keith advisse that some (like agapanthus), should be deadheaded to avoid self-seeding and spreading.

What NOT to deadhead? Annuals and bi-annuals can be left to go to seed. Others (like those in the wildflower episode), may be left to seed for Autumn germination.

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

Meet the Jim in Jim’s Mowing. Hear the incredible journey of Jim’s Mowing and how it has grown from a backyard business to over 5000 franchisees. Hear what has contributed to the success.

Listen to Keith and Jim’s banter as Keith shares a couple of his favourite products with Jim including Clyde’s Lignite Humates,  MycoGold , Munash Rock Dust and Jim shares his approach. 

The Muddy Boots team and Jim certainly have a lot in common when it comes to preferring organics, avoiding poisons and doing our best to protect and attract our garden pollinators!

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

From citrus, avocado and eucalyptus trees to garden design and ponds. Hear this week’s questions answered and hear who our lucky Plant Runner prize winner is.

How to get rid of Bacterial Brown spot on Eucalyptus Caesia      .
Treat Citrus Leaf Miner or gall wasps with Eco Oil and ECO Neem weekly
Got a pond and need advice? Contact Garden World
Top tips for getting an Wurtz Avocado started.
Planning out your garden – Keith explains how to start?
Want to get rid of weeds in your lawn? Consider transplanting Kaikuya runners to smother the weeds.
What to plant under a large avocado tree – try Nasturium, Ginger, Tumeric and Midgen Berries
Screening plant suggestions include Lily Pily Syzgium Australe or Lily Pily Waterhousia Floribunda
Creepers for a tin shed? Try Ficus Pumila Minima or Boston Ivy

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

This week the team talk to artist Anna Tronson about the work of co-host Keith Edwards.

As we know Keith is a landscape consultant. Check hime out at https://keithedwards.com.au/  and https://www.instagram.com/ke_landscape_consultant/. 

From the initial interview, site inspections and research through to creating a detailed plan on paper; we learn in this episode about the process from start to finish. Anna Tronson talks about how Keith works to bring a client’s vision to life, her experience with landscaper Matt Phillips (you can listen to an earlier Muddy Boots episode with Matt HERE) and how Keith continues to support Anna to maintain the finished garden.

You can check out Anna’s art at https://www.instagram.com/annatronson.artist/

Learn more one of Keith’s great inspirations - Edna Walling.

A great episode to get to know more about co-host Keith Edwards.

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

Love the idea of a wildflower meadow as part of your garden design? Not sure how to get started or how this can be incorporated into a domestic garden? Let Keith & Elisabeth inspire you!

Wildflowers need plenty of sun and it’s important to get rid of all grass and weeds before planting. Be patient, this process may take 2 years! Don’t want to wait? Once grasses are smothered, seeds can be directly sown into a thick layer of Clyde's Compost. An S shape is a good method, scatter seed by hand by mixing the seed with dry sand first.

What seeds to choose? There are lots of premixed wildflower mixes available depending on your preferred look & effect. Try interspersing with more advanced seedlings that you have propagated in seed trays.

When to start? Autumn start can give your germinated seeds a head start and kick start them for Spring.

Little or no care or maintenance, a haven for birds and insects and a visual delight. Would you think about giving a wildflower meadow a try?

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

This week Keith and Elisabeth follow up on the recent episode that listed Keith’s Top 10 fruit trees! Now we are stepped through a step by step guide to growing beautiful fruit trees

• Choosing the right location
• Preparing the hole for planting - with Clyde's Compost, MycoGold, Munash Rock Dust Clyde’s lignite
• Planting and staking your new tree & finishing with good quality mulch like Who Flung Dung
• When and what to fertilise with. Keith recommends Neutrog Gyganics
• Pruning and maintaining your fruit trees Stonefruit, citrus, apples - hear how and when to prune to maximise fruit production
• Preventing and treating pests including the dreaded Curly Leaf
• Researching the required Fruit tree pollination
• Harvesting your fruit
• Consider drying your excess fruit. Try Singing Magpie range for inspiration!

We look forward to hearing the successes of your new fruit tree growing!

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

Check out this week’s Q&A and learn who will win the prize, donated by The Plant Runner

Great questions as always and some excellent suggestions from Keith and Elisabeth including:

-   :Keep an eye out for Gumleaf Skeletoniser (Uraba Lugens) that can destroy eucalypts in Winter & Early spring

-   Tips for using the moon calendar to guide pruning times

-   Ant mounds? Try a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water a good organic solution 

-   Terms like “genetically modified”, “organic”, “heirloom”, “open-pollinated”, “hybradised” - Keith explains! 

-   Moss in lawns? Use a broadfork or hire an aerator. 

-   Can Keith help Carol with what to plant in the severe climate of Western NSW?

-   How to propagate  Gymea lilies from seed with the help of smoke water

-   Dreaded aphids? Treat with ECO Neem

-  Fruit flies attacking your mulberry tree? Hear Keith’s top tips

- Kick start your citrus trees with Neutrog Gyganics

- Try a layering method to propagate blueberries

- Add calcium carbonate or blood and bone to speed up the break down of leaves like pear and oak 

- Feed bulbs with Strike Back for great flowers next season!

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

Keith’s Top 10 Fruit Trees

Already growing your own fruit trees or love the idea but haven’t yet tried? Be inspired by Keith, the “the fruit tree aficionado”!

Before selecting your trees, be sure to research what will grow in your area. Consider frosts, soil type, available sunlight and your available space and design preferences. Be sure to know which fruit trees need partners for cross-pollination.

Consider buying Bare-rooted fruit trees - this is an economical option for planting late winter to early spring.

Look for Grafted fruit trees, allowing for different sizes such as dwarf root stock for space saving.

Keith’s Top Ten, explained in detail this week are:

1. Flat peach 
2. Macadamia Integrifolia
3. Greengage Plum
4. Tamarillo 
5. White Sapote
6. Avocado (not near a Eucalypt!)
7. Persimmon Fuyu
8. Mulberry Shahtoot
9. Curry leaf plant
10. Lapin Cherry

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook 

Meet Marco Baretta from ModBOX, expert in all there is to know about raised garden beds.

So why raised beds? Raised beds are attractive, ergonomic and make soil control & maintenance a lot easier.

When designing raised beds, Keith & Marco recommend a height of approximately 450mm,  no wider than 600mm if against a wall or 1200mm if it is accessible from all sides.

Learn the pros and cons the different materials used to construct raised beds. If using plastic, choose food-grade plastic. Tin or corrugated iron risks burning your plants roots. Timber is a good choice but what timber? Hear why ModBOX choose callitris for their raised beds.

Do I need to be a carpenter to put this together? No, ModBOX is easy to put together with no tools needed and can be custom designed to suit your garden. These also include wicking beds and Marco explains how these work and their benefits.

Raised beds made easy, thanks to Marco Baretta!

Where you can find all things Muddy Boots!

Website: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/muddybootspodcast/ 
Facebook: Muddy Boots Podcast | Facebook