Today we hear Keith’s top tips on growing potatoes! Keith assures us that potatoes are the easiest of all vegetables to grow!

• Potatoes can be grown at any time but they are frost tender so should be planted after the last frost (in Southern States or frost prone areas)
• Use certified ‘seed potatoes’ - this will ensure they are free from disease. Most non-organic potatoes found in supermarkets etc are sprayed with glyphosate 360 so should be avoided
• There are a number of different methods for growing potatoes:
  • Grown in your garden - Keith warns, you will have these together as they nearly impossible to get rid of
  • Use a designated garden bed - you will harvest approx 8-10 potatoes per plant
  • Grow in a potato bag using a good quality potting mix- Several on the market including Bunnings Potato Bag
  • Wire frame can be used by layering compost and straw
• Potatoes need consistent water but avoid being too wet to ensure potatoes don’t rot
• To ensure a good yield, add plenty of compost and other organic matter
• Keith recommends planting whole seed potato (not cut) covered with 200mm soil/compost as plants shoots cover with additional soil/compost or straw (indeterminate potatoes only)
• Indeterminate potatoes include - Brownell, Dutch Cream, Nicola, Up To Date, King Edward, Salad Rose, Pink Fir Apple, Potato Sapphire
• Determinate potatoes include - Spunta, Kennebec, Purple Congo, Pink Eye, Carlingford, Red Pontiac
• once potato plant’s flowers have died off, feel through to the stem where you will find ‘new potatoes’ (indeterminate varieties only). Once the plant has completely died off, leave for approx 2 weeks before harvesting.
• Store in cool dry place in hessian bag or wire basket away from sunlight.
• Pests include earwigs

Good luck with your home grown taties!

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This week we meet Jo Henley from Henley's Rustics and hear about her garden journey, how she came to meet Keith and the story of her family business creating rustic garden beds.

A self described ‘novice gardener’, Jo and her father Lindsay now create rustic garden beds using reclaimed corrugated iron from local farms. Hand crafted using recycled materials, each garden bed is unique and the range includes a variety of designs including self watering wicking beds.

Made in Ungarie, NSW, Henley’s products are delivered across regional NSW and Canberra or can be collected directly from the makers!

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Succulents - a huge number of varieties, succulents are easy to grow and add colour and interest to any garden.

Succulents prefer an open, well drained soil and grow well in pots. Succulents are low maintenance and don’t require a lot of water.

Today we hear what Keith’s Top 10 Succulents are:

1.Tree Aloe, Aloe Barberae, - grows up to 6-9 metres x 3-6 meters. Long straight trunk with a huge succulent head. Pest and disease free.

2. Kalanchoe beharensis, sometimes known as Elephant Ear Kalanchoe or Felt bush. Large felty leaves up to 40cm

3.Cussonia paniculata - growis up to 5 meters with large sculptured and textured leaves.

4.Century Plant, Agave attenuata, has beautiful smooth soft silver foliage in a big rosette.

5. Burbank’s Spineless, Opuntia ficus-indica, . This is a non-invasive form of the prickly pear.

6.Blue Chalk, Senecio serpens, is a beautiful grey groundcover with its cylindrical blue chalks that produces branches of fluffy creamy-white flowers.

7.Australian Pig Face, Carpobrotus rossii is an Australian native that grows in sand along coastlines. The leaves are dark green and it produces a pinky-purple flower with a yellow center that becomes an edible fig.

8. Cotyledon orbiculate ‘Sliver Waves’ is a stunning sculptural plant with large powdery silver leaves and is perfect with pastel coloured plants.

9.Aeonium arboretum ‘Schwarzkopf’ - a stunning plant of black-maroon leaves. It will produce large heads of yellow which contrast beautifully with the dark leaves.

10. Dwarf flowering Aloe - produces masses of single coloured flower stalks. These come in a multitude of colours from yellow, orange, white, red and multi coloured forms.

Happy gardening!

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Q&A time again! Who will be this month’s lucky winner of the fabulous prize donated by The Plant Runner?

• What to line our planter boxes with? Any HDPE (High-density polyethylene) is safe for Pinapple guava lining planter boxes. The thicker the better!
• Where to find Lignite Humate? Keith can’t recommend Clyde's Compost and Clyde’s lignite highly enough, now available at selected Bunnings stores (in Vic). Failing that, Keith suggests BioChar (try Charman) - 2 litres per 2 sq.m and Neutrog Gogo Juice
• Low hedging/edible hedge suggestions - when terracing, low levels can have higher hedges and gradually decrease size as you go up. From bottom up: Pineapple guava, Tasmanian Pepperberry, Goji Berry, Salt Bush, Chilean Guava, Tea Plant, Midyim Berry
• Keith shares some tips on Rondeletia leucophylia
• As with any herbicide, always follow the directions when using Slasher.
• Can you add compost over ground covers? Yes, lightly won’t be a problem! Also consider Charlie Carp
• Keith explains how to reduce high pH levels

Keep sending in your questions via DM to Muddy Boots or where needed in between episodes, reach out to Keith @ke_landscape_consultant

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BRAND NEW WEBSITE: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
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What are the challenges of gardening on a large, rural property? Today we meet Cass Hooke, garden consultant, to tell us more about her experience about building a new garden from scratch.

From her family upbringing to her first paid job with gardener Robert Boyle, Cass has immersed herself with landscaping and gardening. With a passion for conservation and the protection of threatened species, we hear about Cass’s journey and the creation of her garden with all the challenges of low rainfall, bore water and a harsh climate.

Cass share’s her journey of the creation of her rural Riverina NSW garden via her instagram @outbackgardens.

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A garden without birds, bees and butterflies, just isn’t a garden’, says Elisabeth. Today we talk about the importance of attracting pollinators!

Australia is home to over 1500 bees and pollinating insects.

Here are some of the ‘bee magnet’ flowering plants.

• Salvias
• Buddleia (also a favourite with butterflies)
• Echium (check out the wildpretii variety)
• Poppies
• Cosmos
• Alyssum
• Queen Anne’s Lace
• Calendula
• Daisies
• Penstemon
• Natives such as wattles, bottle brushes, westringia, grevillea
• Herbs such as - borage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, bas

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Tomatoes - Australia’s most grown vegetable (or fruit, actually)! Today we learn Keith’s Top 10 tomatoes.

Easy to grow as long as they are given plenty of feed and plenty of sun.

Lots of top tips today to tomato growing before we hear about Keith’s recommended varieties

1. Blue Beauty
2. Juane Flamme
3. Wapsipinicon Peach
4. San Marzano
5. Santorini
6. Tasmanian Chocolate
7. Black Russian
8. Black Truffle
9. Mortgage Lifter
10. Tommy Toe

Special mention too to the Tigerella variety - Keith’s recommendation if you are looking for a prolific fruiter!

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BRAND NEW WEBSITE: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
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Q&A time again! Who will be this month’s lucky winner of the fabulous prize donated by The Plant Runner?

• Leggy seedlings? Likely your newly germinated seeds are looking for as much light as possible
• Keith suggests mowing and hedge clipping by the Moon calendar (ie during low sap flow period) to reduce growth rate
• Tips for ‘Little Gem’ magnolia - often sparse up to 1.5m. Keith suggests underplanting with shade tolerant plants. Magnolias are heavy feeders so suggest products like Neutrog Gyganics and liquid fertiliser to kick start.
• Starting a garden from scratch? Keith recommends having a solid plan!
• Making your own Biochar? Keith suggests storing ‘uncharged’ and ‘charging’ before use.
• Long and deep watering is best for lawns and shrubs to encourage deep rooting. Vegetables, on the other hand, need more regular watering as their roots are shallowing. Keith works on 4mm per day.
• Can bee-keepers stop their bees stinging? Aggressive bees are symptomatic of a bigger problem with the hive that should be addressed by the bee-keeper and may require “requeening” the hive
• Camelias not thriving - check soil pH (5.5-6).
• Pond plants - Keith lists some favourites including cycnogeton procerum, ludwigia palustris, mariophyllum, cyperus papyrus and Bog Plants include carex appressa. Keith recommends Kuranga Native Nursery in Mt. Evelyn, Victoria

Keep sending in your questions to Muddy Boots!

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BRAND NEW WEBSITE: https://www.muddyboots.net.au/
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