Category: Artwork

  • Cultivation Field – Call for Papers and Proposals

    Cultivation Field – Postgraduate Symposium – 28th September 2011 Exhibition – 28th September to 6th October 2011 University of Reading The premise for this Symposium and accompanying Exhibition is that cultivation is leading to new art practices deserving of critical inquiry and articulation. Whether in the garden or allotment, the soup kitchen or the road,…

  • Parsnips and Mint

    25/11/2010 – Ella Montt headed from the University to the Allotment Plot at MERL by bike. Optimistic bright sunshine earlier in the morning had given way to a blanket of dull grey cloud and the temperature plummeted, making the bike ride far from exhilarating, as the sharpness of the cold hit the body in motion.…

  • Shed and Plot 326

    A Shed had been acquired from a recycling website; it sat for a while wrapped up at Plot 326. Concrete paving slabs were found through the same recycling source method. An area had been cleared at Plot 326 for the Shed near the Apple Tree (that was in need of drastic pruning). The concrete slabs…

  • Autumn Harvest New Shoots

    On the 28th October 2010 Ella Montt arrived at the Allotment Plot at MERL to find that the Cosmos plants had been frost bitten and were dead. The hardy Pot Marigold was still flowering. A frosty few days had given way to warmer weather again. There was a significant down turn in the amount of…

  • Overnight Frost

    On the morning of 21st October 2010, an overnight frost had killed the Bean and Squash plants at Allotment Plot at MERL, leaving the remaining Squash Green Hokkadio vulnerable to elemental forces. The Squash seemed to be intact and was harvested, it had not met its maximum growth capacity because it had grown to late…

  • Planting to Overwinter

    At Ella Montt’s Allotment Plot at MERL on the 15th October 2010 it was a perfect Autumn day, the leaves were gently falling from the trees in the garden (and along the foot/cycle path journey route). The Mulberry tree leaves, next to the Allotment Plot, had mostly turned to yellow. The Cosmos Cosmea‘s pink petals…

  • Battle of the Rhizome at 326 (Part 1)

    On the 13th of October at Allotment Plot 326 Battle of the Rhizome (Part 1) was concluded (temporarily) by earth being repositioned, two rows of Spinach Giant Winter seed and 500g of Onion Sets Swift being planted to over winter. The Battle of the Rhizome will be on going for an unidentified period of time,…

  • Compost at the Plot

    On the 7th October 2010 at Allotment Plot at MERL in the Autumn sunshine, it was time to harvest and remove the Sweetcorn form the Plot. The corn ears were collected and the canes were cut leaving the roots in the soil to decompose. The Sunflowers seed heads were cut off and saved then plants…

  • Thirty Days Have September

    Thirty days have September… on 30/09/2010 at the Allotment Plot at MERL the clouds sat over the garden, but they were not as heavy and low as the three preceding days and there was a faint chance that sun could break through later or it could rain or both (both). The month of October loomed…

  • Cosmos Cosmea

    The weather conditions on 09/09/2010 at Ella Montt’s Plot in MERL’s garden were favourable for early September, neither too hot nor too cold; there was a mixture of sun and clouds in the sky. Both white and pink Cosmos Cosmea were flowering. Ella Montt wonders if the structures of the Cosmos flowers are universally judged…