I had camera troubles this week which turned out to be the result of a slightly knocked pressure switch. We did a factory-reset on the settings though trying to find that out, and in the process of trying to get all the settings back to where I wanted them I took a lot of photos of the garden. It doesn’t help that this is one of the peaks of activity outside – there is so much going on in all the different zones. So there are two photos for my Friday photo this week, because I simply couldn’t choose between them.
A small garden denizen investigates the Escher-like surfaces of the giant mulch pile
These tomato bushes sprouted from compost worked into the soil around the time of the first autumn rains. They set fruit in winter and have ripened by early September, three to four months earlier than my usual crop.
AgriTapestry 
This seems like the perfect opportunity to ask – do you know of plants that attract ladybirds ?
We could do with some here (Nunawading, Melbourne) to keep the aphids in line …
There’s quite a few, and Google will be your friend 🙂 In particular I think it’s the Umbelliferae, the plants that have flowerheads that look like umbrellas (eg yarrow, Queen Anne’s Lace, and several others). I also seem to recall cosmos is a popular flower choice. But yeah, do a web search, it’s a popular question and you’ve got heaps of options. You may find though that you have to buy your ladybird-friendly plants already at an advanced stage from a nursery or grower. Otherwise if you plant them from seed now, by the time they grow up to a useful age your new spring growth will be well finished and the aphids will have mostly moved on anyhow.