5th September 2012 – At Allotment Plot 326 cabbages that had been devastated by unknown predators moons ago had recently been producing substantial re-growth. The plants had now almost reached a point where hope of harvesting vital material from them may occur soon as long as predator intervention did not manifest itself again. The re-growth had generated from the plants stalks that had been left rooted in the ground. It would seem close to an allotment miracle if harvesting from these plants could be achieved. Other seeds that had been planted yet never germinated or never achieved growth beyond seedling state before they had disappeared remained elusive to vegetable reality and shrouded in mystery circumventing their demise.
It was a beautiful sunny day. The soil was dry. There was no rainfall and none expected anytime soon. Ella Montt gazed in to the crystal ball searching for evidence of rainclouds. Ella Montt fetched the fork tool from the shed and dug some potatoes. The potatoes were few and small in size. On every visit to the allotment it was becoming increasingly more important to water the vegetables. Ella Montt went back and forth with the watering can to the water source. Squash and Climbing Bean potential was still apparent.
Harvest: Potato Desiree = 2lb 12oz = 1.27kg; Chard = 1oz = 30g; Red Mustard = 2oz = 60g; Mizuna = 3.5oz = 100g; Wild Blackberries = 6oz = 160g; Raspberries = 1oz =30g.
6th September 2012 – Allotment Plot at MERL, the soil was very dry, plants were growing very slowly or not growing at all. Ella Montt fetched the watering can to assist the plants in their efforts. As they soaked up the water, the inaudible sounds of relief from the plants were almost loud enough to hear.
Harvest: A human handful of mint, chives and 3 Climbing Beans Runner Enorma.
9th September 2012 – Allotment Plot 326, there had been no rain now for days! Beautiful sunshine prevailed and extended the summer. Due north, in the Arctic, the ice was still melting. The reason for this extended summer melt had been declared as global warming as a result of human activity all over the planet. There was one more week to go until the peek melt process should halt and the freeze should begin again. There was now a forecast that the Arctic could be ice-free by the years 2015-16. This is very soon. A sense of inevitability in a time line of progression will bring doom to some species and life to others. These species will be both animal and plant. The scavenger human waited for the melt to be completed complying a list of actions to implement. But now, prior to the inevitable melt, a fleet of nuclear powered vessels are already operational, ready to break through the ice in the name of human consumerism, because the controllers do not want to afford the time to sail around the borders of the ice field. The total devastation of a seemingly pristine environment seems to be already on course and unavoidable because of human will.
Harvest: Wild Blackberries 6oz = 150g; Broad Beans Hangdown Green = 4.5oz = 110g; Potato Charlotte = 3oz = 65g.
Ella Montt’s extra tasty Blackberry Jam recipe = 1kg Wild Blackberries, 1kg fairtrade organic sugar, 1 wax free organic lemon, 1 stick organic cinnamon bark or ground cinnamon. Method: place clean jam jars to heat in oven at about 100c; simmer blackberries with cinnamon for approximately ten minutes; add sugar, dissolve, then boil rapidly for twenty minutes; add zest and juice from lemon, check jam regularly on chilled saucer to see if it set. Remove from heat and pour carefully in to hot jam jars, seal immediately, eat as desired.
13th September 2012 – Allotment Plot at MERL, it was warmer in the sheltered garden than beyond the walls of the enclosed space. Autumn was approaching. It had rained on the previous evening, the first substantial shower in weeks, but the shower was short lived and localized to a particular area, as was the habit of all weather patterns on the Island. Across the planet, in a different sphere to the nuclear powered ice breaking fleet, super trawlers from one land mass are poised in the ocean close to another land mass. The super trawlers prerogative is to trawl the water for living species that will then be ripped from their habitat, gutted and frozen on board the vessel. Ella Montt examined the Allotment Plot staring at the state of the plant life and wondered how these two types of vast seafaring objects were given human permission to exist at this point in time in the history and place in the universe? The vessels are part of the massive hyperobject known as global warming, but how much the vessels will affect the infinite space of the universe has not been calculated, because they are contained within the planet’s gravitational system.
A white butterfly, possibly a cabbage white, fluttered over the plant life at the Allotment Plot, but it did not settle; there was no brassicas to lure the butterflies sensory mechanisms. A Sunflower was growing out of the hardened soil. Before the rain on the previous evening, the temperature had dropped, bees were now franticly busy visiting the companion planting, not just the pot marigolds and cosmos, but also flowering wild rocket. The bees seemed almost aggressive towards each other in their pollen collecting activity and perhaps desperate to gain access to the flowers. Neither were ready to die in the cold yet. The fear of frost loomed closer to the plant and insect life. Ella Montt hoped that frost would stay away for at least a month if not more, because of vegetable production. A store of vegetables is needs to be accumulated in order to survive the winter season.
Harvest was once more about to be minimal. Allotment Plot at MERL’s days are numbered, time is running out, but the Allotment Plot will be continued elsewhere. Drought was once more overwhelming the Plot. Tomato plants on the Plot were still tiny and trying to flower. At another location, next to the fixed up greenhouse, tomato plants and tomatoes were growing and vibrant. At Plot 326 the tomato plants had rotted with blight early and Ella Montt had vowed not to plant tomatoes there again.
Harvest: Pot Marigold, Camomile and Cosmos seeds = 2oz = 45g; a mix of chives, mint, Celery leaves and Runner Bean Enorma = 5oz = 160g.
14th September 2012 – Allotment Plot 326 – In the attempt to remove potatoes from the concrete like soil the fork was in danger of fracturing. The Raspberries seemed to be dehydrating through lack of moisture. It was not clear if vegetable productivity would be realised or collapse in on itself due to weather temperature and conditions.
Harvest: Broccoli Raab = 6oz = 170g; Red Mustard = 4oz = 100g; Mizuna = 2oz = 40g; Potato Desiree = 2lb 12oz = 1.27kg.
19th September 2012 – Allotment Plot at MERL, the night-time temperatures are dropping alarmingly, frost happened in other places but not yet in the garden. Allotment Plot 326 was on higher ground and Ella Montt had been unable to visit it this week, she paced the virtual floor and waited anxiously to find out the fate of the vegetation.
Harvest: Celery leaves = 1.5oz = 40g; Runner Bean Enorma = 2oz = 50g.
The activity on Allotment Plot at MERL will be concluded on the 26th and 27th September 2012 when the Plot will be deconstructed.
