1 finely chopped red onion
2 crushed cloves of Riverland garlic
1 finely chopped serrano chillis (Scoville 6)
1 tsp homemade chilli oil
6 medium tomatoes roughly chopped (skinned if you prefer)
˝ cup white wine or water
1 tsp pickled capers
6 kalamata olives, quartered
6 sprigs basil leaves roughly chopped
1 Tbs chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
freshly ground black pepper
roughly chopped anchovies to taste

Gently fry onion, garlic and chilli in chilli oil in a large saucepan. Add the rest of the ingredients (except anchovies) and simmer gently for 30 mins with the lid on. Add anchovies in the last five minutes of cooking. Serve hot with the pasta of your choice and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. All the vegetables and herbs are picked fresh from our garden in summer. We use our homemade chilli oil and preserved olives we pick from over a neighbour’s fence. Bellisimmo!

• With all the recent rain, reduce mosquito-breeding areas. The drip trays under pots is a common breading spot for the "Twilight biter", which is the silent stinger and it also carries the Heart Worm virus that can infect your dog.

• The rain also makes the lawn grow fast and composting the cuttings is great, but make sure your have critical mass. That means a heap of at least a cubic metre or it is difficult to get the temperature high enough (55-65 degrees C) to make compost, so weed seeds remain viable.

• The rain has also leached much of the nutrient load from your lawn too, except on heavy clay (and that wont support much of a lawn anyhow) so you need to feed with a nitrogen and iron supplement to get the lawn bright green again.

• The concentric ring splits that have appeared on the stem end of your tomatoes recently was caused by a long dry spell then too much water or rain. They will deteriorate rapidly if left on the vine and need to be picked, processed or used immediately or they go rotten within days.

• If you tomatoes are looking terminal, it’s time to hoist them out and plant some more for the late season pick. Not on the same spot if you can spare it. Keep the seedlings dusted with sulphur to control Tomato Russet Mite, until they start to fruit. I’d favour the vine varieties like ‘Sweet 100’ and ‘Cocktail Supreme’ for a late pick, plus a bush variety like ‘Burnley Bounty’ or ‘Dynamo™’

• It’s an excellent time to plant a "Passion Vine" now too, but don’t forget to plant the lamb’s liver under it at the same time. There are lots of good cultivars around and even the old "Banana Passion Vine" seedling is very productive here. You must however locate your vine where it will get morning sun on its flowers or it will not set fruit.