Simple Living Sunday 8

You can tell Christmas is around the corner by the weather - it is so hot here at the moment. I have five more days of work and then I can collapse in exhaustion - we are putting in huge hours at work to get everything settled. There has been a property boom here in Gympie and everyone wants to move in for Christmas...fingers crossed they all come together. As my days have been long I haven't spent the time on the blog I would like to, nor in the garden or kitchen...but I have big plans for my weeks off if it isn't too hot.

Here's my photos for this week:

I love how the colour of my basket changes from week to week. This haul will last us until the Christmas grocery shop.

I finally have another two golden squash. I did not think I would get any more because it was not producing any more male flowers. I made a beautiful chutney a few weeks ago using one of these.

Another super-duper Lebanese squash. These last really well in the fridge and I will probably make another chutney now that I have a lot of squash.

My pride and joy for the week. I finally grew a pattypan squash. It's the only one that has pollinated correctly.

The Broccoli has changed colour. It is way too hot for it to grow well so will be interesting to see what we end up with.

One of the other plants is also flowering now

The Grosse Lisse tomatoes in the new garden bed are already fruiting. I was not sure about this soil as it has a lot of crusher dust from where a tank was...but the tomatoes are loving it.

And the cucumbers are also starting to really spread out there. The shady position will be good over summer.

I checked out the citrus tree (lemon I think?) which I cut all the swollen and bug infested branches off...and it is has come back amazingly with heaps of new growth.

The beans were not really successful. This is one of a few plants that grew well.

Sometimes you have to look up to see the beauty in your garden.

The chillies are growing really well.

I made the honey mustard for my Christmas hampers. It tasted bitter and I didn't like it so I will just use it to add to my cooking or maybe get creative with the recipe.

I emptied my bokashi bucket into the compost heap. A compost lasagne. 

I turned over the mature compost heap which has had a bit of rain, and it is breaking down well...a few too many sticks though.

I finished off my Sunday by making a cherry tomato relish for my Christmas Hampers.

I am currently making a shopping list for the final ingredients for my other hamper delicacies which I will get stuck into next weekend....when my time is my own - bliss!!

Are you busy getting ready for Christmas? How is your garden going this week?