I have so many passionfruit at the moment. I wish I could give you some. Someone said this is Hawaiian Purple but I suspect people make passionfruit names up as they go along. The butcherbird is just checking if the fruit is meat.

Cool photos Gleni ~ thanks for sharing.

Do you eat the Passion fruit raw or preserve them in any manner?
The one I sampled here was a bit tart, perhaps not ripe enough.

And does the butcher bird only eat meat? He doesn't bother your passion fruit?

Thanks Kristi. These ones are deliciously sweet. I mainly eat them raw or have them as a flavouring over icecream. I have so many at the moment I am thinking of doing some sort of preserve.

The vines were originally planted to go along my railings but it turned out that they can grow on flyscreens using their tendrils. So they just enclosed the whole verandah, which is screened. Now I have bucketfulls of fruit.

The Pied Butcherbird is carnivorous and very friendly. The passionfruits will just get shredded if the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos spot them, however. Fingers crossed.

At the moment the island is just full of mango fruit on old, tall, full and rounded trees from old farms that used to be here. I am thinking of doing my first mango chutney. Love the tabby.

I find your climate and culture so interesting. Unique wildlife and fascinating plants. Of course at this time of year (winter) I am jealous of your summer too. I envy the thought of mango chutney as well. Preserving a taste of summer...

The passion fruit vine can be invasive here if not controlled and it sounds as though it does the same for you. Did you have a photo of it's bloom also? With all those fruits, you must have had an amazing crop of blooms.

Thanks on the tabby comment ~ that was Bump. I have her twin sister, Chirp as well as five more from 18 1/2 to 2 years old. I guess this is refuge for abandoned felines and canines here. Take care.

The farmed passionfruit is not regarded as a pest in the wild here . But there are several other introduced species of PFs that are regarded as high category weeds.
There are some Australian natives of the genus which some people grow in the US - quite pretty.

I will take a bloom photo for you. At the moment I can not find one!

Just harvested some of the egg fruit today.

Umm, aubergines. We call them eggplant. A truly marvelous veggie. Do you grow any of the small fruited and elongated ones? I love the small Asian Eggplants.

Rita, I have tried the red-skinned ones. But I never have been able to get them to germinate. I think I am not getting the temperature right. Also I have tried the white ones with similar results.
I haven't tried the small ones yet. Because I love them fired, I have grown only big ones so far.

Oh, I cheat and buy seedling plants. Much too difficult to get those seeds to grow and takes too long to transplant size.

The smaller Asian Eggplants are marvelous as they produce so many fruits. But then you need the big ones of eggplant parmigiano and I love eggplant parm.

This is my biggest sweet potato (white). The friend's head was necessary for comparisons. 14kg (31lbs)


(Rita, We use egg plant too. Aubergine is a British affectation).

Ah, I thought they were called Aubergines in both Brittan and Australia.

You only see aubergine in crossword puzzles here.

Three decent pumpkins. My vines are nearly always from seeds in compost.

Your produce is incredible and its clear you are quite the gardener Glen. Great looking stuff and the SWEET POTATO!

It is fun to read of your veggie adventures from a completely different part of the world.

Thanks Rita. I have read so much about your summer vegetables that I can hardly wait for your winter to finish.
(Unfortunately it will also mean our summer will be finished. The tilting of the earth doesn't seem fair sometimes).

I am not a winter person. I really look forward to spring. I just know that by early March I will be out there getting my pots that I Had on my driveway ready for summer veggies this year again. Currently they are all stacked in a huddle to make them take up less space.

Plan on doing more eggplant that I did last year. Only had ten last year. Then spring starts with peas and I do those in pots also.

Glen, interesting Pumpkins! We would probably call them winter squash here. What variety are they?

Glen, do you have the nasty Squash Vine Borer moths there? Really horrid things just ruin ones squash crops.

Tom, the variety is "Jap Pumpkin". Yes, I was wondering recently what pumpkins actually were in the US. As an example, I noticed how people had trouble suggesting a recipe for pumpkin soup over there. I thought it might be terminology.

Our squashes are usually soft wet fleshed and smaller. Pumpkins for us typically have yellow-orange soft but dry flesh.

In a blurb I just read, it says Jap Ps are also known as "Kent Pumpkins".