Tag Archives: Growing

Studio Re-potting

The first seedlings were re-potted in the studio allotment on the 4th February. The tiny seedlings were tentatively dug out of their plug trays with a spoon, then delicately transplanted into the waiting earth in their new (recycled) pots. Their radicles (embryonic roots) were carefully covered. Their hypocotyls (embryonic shoots) uncertainly sitting weakly in the soil, bowed under the weight of their new cotyledons (seed leaves). Quantities of germinated seedlings were recorded.

Seedling Re-potting

Seedlings germinated and re-potted: 13 Tomato Zuckertraube, 12 Tomato Gardeners Delight, 6 Tomato Chadwick, 4 Nastirum, 5 Cosmos, 2 Carnations, 5 Pot Marigold, 4 Flat Parsley, 5 Sweetpeas, 2 Sage.

Not all the seedlings had sprouted. Only one onion had sent a slender green spike out of the soil. No Aubergine or peppers had appeared, their radical transformation from dormant seeds to photomorphogenesis would seem to be delayed in transmission by an undetermined set of reasons that can only be speculated but would seem rooted in probability.

Re-potted

Seeds at the Studio Allotment

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.

Studio Allotment

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.

Seedlings

Allotment Aesthetics

After a week when the allotment plot at MERL was covered in snow, the vegetable plants are still surviving, but some are suffering frost and snow damage. It would seem frost burn is the condition, a few of the Broadbeans are slightly effected, as is the Garlic and the Peas more so, but there are no outright casualties. The Sprint Garlic is growing (sprinting), much more quickly than the Thermidrome Garlic, which is only just appearing out of the soil. The Onion sets growths are very slow. Can the aesthetic condition of a vegetable reflect the state of the world through political consensus? Or is the political to blind to see the aesthetic? allotment32 Broadbeans Frost Burn Peas Frost Burn

allotment35

Allotment Installation

A garden shed, although not essential, is an important part of an allotment holders working space. The shed acts as a container for contemplation, thought patterns, rumination over tasks to be actioned or fulfilled, a place for rest from elemental phenomenon over a cup of tea and sandwich, a storage area for tools, seeds and any other random useful piece of gardening equipment, a radio, a thermos.

Allotment Intallation

‘Growing your own’ can be a defining moment for a community or an individual in establishing a link to independent food production, in food deserts this is essential where there are no shops that sell fresh fruit and vegetables in urban or rural areas. Dependency on consumerism from supermarkets has meant the loss of many local greengrocers and the ability for many to grow food. The history of having access to land on which to grow has evolved over time, according to what part of the world one lives in. The term “Allotment” can mean different things to different people. The “Allotment Acts” of the UK refer to providing plots of land for gardening type food production, however in America the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 sought to divide up the Reservation land for Native American Indians and failed in what it set out to do. To establish one’s own access to growing fresh fruit and vegetables, you do not need to have your own allotment, or garden space, imaginative use of containers and window boxes can give good yields.

The consumerism from growing and gardening is enormous in the UK. A packet of seeds can be so tiny and seem so simple, but the products on sale that are out there waiting for financial exchange are infinite. Seed saving is something that many people do as part of their automatic growing process, seed exchanges are not uncommon, recently as part of Art staged in protest at Cop 15 one of the activities was a soup kitchen where the artists involved, dealing with the real, grow and collect their own vegetable seeds some of these seeds are allegedly becoming illegal under EU law. Save seeds from organic fruits and vegetables, you never know when we might need them.

Allotment Installation (2)