Duck (the cat), herbal salad and religious passionfruit

 I've decided to 'blog' you with my thoughts on gardening to share delights and surprises. Feel free to ignore or share randomly too whenever the fancy takes you.
I have such little spare time that this is my way of building my knowledge and sharing my joy with like minded individuals and let you know that you are in my gardener's heart. 

I will upload some photos soon at Imogen's request - Kate she asked me to photograph our dinner plates so you could see it. Isn't that wonderful?
We have expanded our little herb and salad garden in the new courtyard so that we now have: 

sage, basil, lemon verbena, lemon thyme, coloured spinach, baby spinach, lettuce, rocket, both types of parsley, marjoram, rosemary, a HUGE tommy toe bush, chives, chillies and our lonely  mini-beetroot is surviving. With delight I read that planting brightly coloured flowers will attract good predators so we have nasturtiums, marigold seeds (thanks Kate) for nematodes and a collection of blue perennials the girls will love.

Plus I'm propagating white geraniums...can't wait.

Back to the salad garden - I have been shocked and amazed by Imogen's positive response to the salad garden and being able to gather herbs for our dinner. On Sunday night she gathered greenstuff for a herbal salad and wolfed it down. Last night she made the best salad I have ever tasted - the lemon verbena and other herbals contrasted beautifully with some red onion, tomato and sliced carrot. It was so delicious and refreshing. She dressed it with lemon juice and zest and just a tad of mayonnaise on the side. It was truly divine.

I'm stunned at how responsive they both are to the idea of growing their own food and gathering it. Imogen has red onion seeds propagating in jiffy pots as they are her favourite vegetable and we will be ready to transplant in Autumn.

Religious passion not romantic passion
The passionfruit represents Christ's passion I note with interest despite the deliciousness of the ripe fruit and the beauty of the flower.

Wikipedia:

The passion fruit has had a religious association as reflected by the name "passion" given to it by Catholic missionaries who thought that certain parts of the fruit bore some religious connections.[citation needed] These missionaries (who were joined by the Spanish Conquistadors in South America), saw a way of illustrating the Crucifixion:[citation needed]

• The three stigmas were to reflect the three nails in Jesus's hands and feet.
• The threads of the passion flower were believed to be a symbol of the Crown of Thorns.
• The vine's tendrils were likened to the whips.
• The five anthers represented the five wounds.
• The ten petals and sepals regarded to resemble the Apostles (excluding Judas and Peter). 
  

My passionfruit vine is under attack. In researching organic treatments I found out that the ants are probably not what is stripping it. The ants converge on the passionfuit to chase whatever sapsucker is invisible to my eye but exuding a honeydew enjoyed by the ants. Apparently I can try soap spray and maybe a biological agent as a last resort.

The other pest we have is the millipede which I'm impressed to know comes from Portugal and loves the lights in our house. The rain brings them out. They are harmless but like strawberries and exude a yellow gunge when startled which irritates human skin. Water traps....with olive oil, a spray with Pyrethroid...I'm considering what approach to take.

The rats have gone - I heard my neighbour's have ratsack in the backyard so I will decline the offer of Duck. But love the idea of that beautiful silky cat being useful and strong!

When I see you next I'll tell you about the apple farm at Pialligo where we picked our own - Imogen wants to live on an orchard.

Here is the chook house I am getting - the design has undergone some refinement. We visited a home in Watson at the weekend. They are marvellous.
www.canberrachooks.com.au

Coming up next - we are heading to the Canberra Show this weekend to check out Ainslie local legend (in my mind) Dave Joyce's produce competition entries, what you can do with lavender and the kids novelty cakes section. Friday afternoon we are aiming to go and find out what it takes to enter these competitions. Libby's boys are in the milk arrowroot competition but I missed the cut-off so we are going to start early preparing for next year.

Melissa, Craig is going to consult Dr Doug our batologist friend and seasoned observer of the native possum how you might co-exist. Stay tuned.

Jemima xx