Kate Corder’s film Tolhurst Stockfree Organic Vegetables – March 2007 to February 2008 is currently on view at the Museum of English Rural Life until July 16th 2010. The film documents the growing seasons and biodiversity of the Tolhurst vegetable business over a twelve month period. Running time 124mins. MERL’s opening hours are:
Planting Performance (3) 22/04/2010 took place on a bright, warm, sunny day, with not an April shower in sight. Tiny companion-planting seedlings were delicately transplanted from their pots in the fixed up greenhouse to the Allotment Plot at MERL. Pot Marigold, Cosmos and Sweetpea arrived at their outdoor growing location. Small holes were dug and each plant was placed there in, their roots covered with soil and the soil lightly pressed. A bell was rung to signify the connection of each plant to the earth-growing site, announcing the rooting.
Sticks were sought in the wooded area up the slope at the back of the garden. An attempt was made for the sticks to be stuck in to the hard ground. The ground resisted stick penetration. A watering can was brought from the shed, filled and then emptied over the Allotment Plot. The watering can again was filled and again emptied onto the Plot. The earth absorbed the water. The hard ground softened under the effect of the water absorption, allowing enough stick to enter the earth and to accommodate the sticks into an upright position that will assist in the Sweetpeas and the Peas growth. The tendrils of these plants will reach out and search for supporting objects that they can grip to as they grow.
Next the action of weeding the Plot was performed. Weeds can be the unwanted cohabiters of an Allotment Plot, but they also can be desirable depending what they are (for more information about weeds and organic growing see here). As the seeds that have been planted germinate and grow so also do the weeds. Weeding or the removal of weeds is an ongoing maintenance pursuit. When the desired germinated vegetable seeds are in their tender early stages of seedling growth, weed removal can be a delicate operation and needs to avoid the disturbance of the planted seedlings.
Pea and bean weevils (Sitonia Lineatus) have been eating curved portions from the edge of the legumes leaves scalloping their edges. Bees in the process of nectar gathering and pollination are visiting the Broadbean flowers.
The Allotment Plot thickens with another Planting Performance in the Garden at MERL (18/03/2010). The weather conditions were good for planting again. The day was pleasantly warm with the Spring equinox approaching. Rain was in the forecast and needed, but that did not occur until the evening when darkness fell.
Ella Montt selected seed packets, some tools, gardening gloves, a small bell, a thermos and a measuring stick and placed the objects next to Allotment Plot. Then with a hoe and small hand fork proceeded to remove some grass plants growing on the Plot. Shallow drills were constructed with the hoe, these were ground incisions for seed accumulation in the planting process. The first seeds were delivered to their destinations. The bell was rung along the line of seeds to awaken them from dormancy to germination state. The hoe was then utilized to cover the seeds with the soil to complete the planting process. More seeds were chosen and the process of planting began again.
As the Allotment Plot thickens, Ella Montt pauses to observe the notes written about the seeds that had previously been planted. Ella Montt drinks a cup of tea from the thermos, a normal activity for a person or persons working on their allotments and part of the Performance. Pondering on the size of the Plot, and the space limitation, Ella Montt decides that an optimum number of seeds should be planted. This would maximize the Plot and may retain more water through ground coverage rather than water evaporation process taking place in a drought situation. Irrigation would be ideal and a water butt close to hand, but this is not a current option. Ella Montt is conscious that intensive farming can destroy the fertility of the soil.
The notion of what to grow and how to grow it, can be calculated and assisted. Ella Montt chooses to grow organically without the assistance of animal by products, but with the assistance of biodiversity present within the Garden, a veganic method. A ladybird (ladybug) arrives on the scene at the Allotment Plot, a very welcome guest, who will assist in pest control. One perhaps could wonder if a vegan (who eats plant based foods), should choose the biodiversity of wildlife as a form of natural pest control in the growing method of plant based food products. A genetically modified seed could grow without the use of natural wildlife pest control, no insects or animals would be harmed in the growth of the food product. However, genetically modified food production results in the loss of biodiversity, it breaks the food chain for insects and animals, resulting in the loss of species on the whole planet. Using the immediate gratification of growing genetically modified crops as an answer to world need for food production becomes its own fictional myth and as a consequence produces its own catastrophe not just through the loss of species, but also through crop failure and the ingestion of genetics that are in themselves harmful to the being that eat them. Veganic growing uses no animal by products to fertilise the soil, it instead relies on green manures and composting to make the soil fertile and it encourages biodiversity of insects and animals to act as agents in pest control, and the use of companion planting which is also very important in the growing process.
Seeds that were planted during the Planting Performance were as follows:
Leek Almera, Kale Red Russian Curled, Spinach Matador (Atlanta), Leaf Beat Rainbow Chard, Beetroot Bolivar, Cabbage Savoy (Vertus), Rocket Wild, Lettuce Lollo Rosso, Spring Onion White Lisbon, and Lettuce Marvel of Four Seasons. What will germinate and grow for now remains a mystery, but hope for a good harvest will be constant.
The coldest winter in thirty years awaits the coming of warmer weather. Later that day, a bee was seen, a frog hopped by in search of a pond and a snail arrived to eat the vegetable crop. The growing cycle continues.
Report from the Fixed-Up Greenhouse is as follows:
Tomato plants that were planted in January are not looking good. Suffering cold and frost damage, some have died. The plants that are ‘alive’ look already blighted. More seeds were planted as replacements.
Tomato Zuckerman 13 plants alive. Total of replacement seeds planted = 6.
Tomato Chadwick 7 plants alive. Total of replacement seeds planted = 10.
Tomato Gardeners Delight 4 plants alive. Total of replacement seeds planted = 6.
Planting early tomatoes has not produced the expected result, which was to be ahead in the growing year. The actual plant growth is very disappointing, the conditions were not right. Tomatoes need unfailing warmth in order to survive and flourish. Sudden dips in temperature to below freezing are catastrophic for the tomatoes structure.
In contrast the Peppers, Aubergines, and companion planting, Pot Marigolds, Cosmos, Sweet Peas, and Nasturtiums are doing well, although still small in early development stages of growth, but looking healthy.
The Allotment Plot’s specificity is plant life growing at a Place which contains the Plot. The Place and its multiplicity is fold and refolded. The plant life’s roots and radicles are growing around the groundwork of the Plot. The Art Practice is wrapped with roots that radiate and shoot. All plant life being in its specificity not entirely rhizomatic.
“A rhizome as subterranean stem is absolutely different from roots and radicles. Bulbs and tubers are rhizomes. Plants with roots or radicles may be rhizomorphic in other respects altogether: the question is whether plant life in its specificity is not entirely rhizomatic.” (Deleuze & Guattari – A Thousand Plateaus).
More seeds were planted at the studio allotment on the 27/01/2010. The seeds were sourced from Tamar Organics. These seeds planted were as follows:
Aubergine Black Beauty x 15
Pepper Sweet Tamar x 15
Pepper (Hot) Ring of Fire x 12
Pepper (Hot) Early Jalapeno x 12
The seeds that had germinated on 29/01/2010 were recorded as follows:
Tomato Zuckertraube = 10
Tomato Gardeners Delight = 5
Nasturium = 3
Pot Marigold = 11
Sweet Pea = 5
Cosmos = 6
Carnation = 3
If seeds are rooted too early, life support may fail due to weather intervention. This failure can happen in the internal designated growing space, in this case the studio, (or more commonly in a greenhouse or domestic interior area) and externally, when a plant is growing in the open air. Failure in the growing cycle can happen unexpectedly at any given time due to adverse weather conditions. The breakdown of the organic growing machine and catastrophic crop failure can fracture systems and cause devastation for species. It is not just a question of survival of the fittest but an attribute of unpredictability out of human control.
The Allotment in the studio is in its early stages. Within the first week that the seeds were planted, tiny seedlings started to emerge, somewhat prematurely. “January – March” was the suggested planting window on the seed packets, but if the plants develop too soon there is a danger that they will die and be lost, composting themselves back to the earth. Careful management and monitoring of the seedlings will need to take place. Although growing and germinating conditions are obviously good as a consequence of enough heat and light, life support may not be that easy. The seedlings will need re-potting fairly soon. The process of growing and food production begins rooted in the studio prior to the outdoor growing destination at the Allotment at MERL.
