Gardening in October

The 1st of November has brought grey skies and light, drizzly rain and we had quite a lot of that sort of weather in October too.  However, looking back we've also had some bright sunny days although there was an increasing chill in the air and we've been bringing in some of the tender plants into the covered yard.  There has also been some planting of bulbs which will bring some cheer in the new year in Springtime, tidying up of fallen leaves and the gathering of produce from the vegetable plot and pear tree. The apples looked good whilst on the tree, but are small compared with other years and dropping before completing their development into sound fruit.

The last of the ripe tomatoes.  Other green ones are indoors in the warm kitchen and hopefully they too will ripen so that they can be used in cooking. There are fresh leeks that are being used in soups etc.

We had a good crop of figs this year and those still on the tree won't mature now and are dropping along with the leaves.

The citrus trees are now in the covered yard.

This bunch of flowers sums up what is left in the garden now.

Even the magnolia tree has flowers although the leaves are turning yellow and dropping.

The cherry tree in our neighbour's garden is a joy to behold as the colour of the leaves change.

Neighbourhood walks

Long walking treks are out at the moment, but short walks around the neighbourhood are opportunities for some exercise.  The changing Autumnal colours are rather lovely.  Here is what I saw on my recent walks. 

This old house was built in the 1870s.  It was lived in by a local manufacturer of specialist paper bags for sweets (those that were sold loose from jars in the sweet shops of yesteryear).  There's a solid looking barn-like building at one end of the property and you can just see the spire of the parish church situated on the road further down the hill.

The narrow alleyway paths are useful for getting down to the lower lanes. They lead down to the roads that are still half way up a hill.

a neighbour's garden....

.....and our own front garden.  We haven't collected the few bunches of grapes growing on the wires attached to the dry stone wall.  Probably we'll leave them for the birds. 

A local art exhibition

After a recent visit to Weston Park Museum to see an exhibition of Joe Scarborough's paintings I had hoped to return on Saturday as this local artist was in the art gallery speaking about his work.  However, as it was raining heavily I decided not to go and there'll still be time to do so before the exhibition closes.

In the forecourt next to the museum's café is a small garden and on the day I visited the weather was good and there were many visitors sitting outside having refreshments. Sheffield University buildings and several hospitals are in this area and the park was also full of individuals and groups sitting on the grass and even having picnics.

I asked an official at the welcome desk outside the art gallery for information about the exhibition and whether I could take photos and was told that I could, so I did.

Sheffield originally was made up of small settlements (hamlets and villages). Each one is located on seven hills and each one still has its own identity today even though the city now consists of the city centre and suburban or semi-rural districts. For this reason and because the artist knows Sheffield and residents well his exhibition is called 'Life in the Big Village'.

Some of Joe's notebooks and artist's tools

The colourful paintings are so detailed they're of interest to anyone who enjoys this style of painting. There are references to the typical activities of people living in the area. For those who know Sheffield there are familiar buildings and even if you don't know Sheffield many of the subjects make the viewer smile.  Hopefully I'll go back before the exhibition finishes on November 24th to take another look.