25th September 2012 – Allotment Plot 326, it was over a week since Ella Montt’s last visit to Plot 326. There was evidence of a very slight frost; a dip in temperature that had tinged a few leaves of the Squash plants with the touch of autumnal death that signified their end. However, a few more female Squash flowers were attempting to open and receive fertilization from airborne insect life carrying pollen from the male flowers; the Squash plants’ lives were not over yet. The Climbing Bean plants were unscathed by frost and still reaching with eager anticipation towards they sky and bean production. Tiny beans were in the process of forming from the bean flowers.
Rain had happened after a prolonged absence, an amount that was significant, but Ella Montt found when she attempted to dig more Potatoes in some areas the wetness of moisture had hardly penetrated the soil. The ground was still hard close to the surface; there was only a trace of moisture in the soil.
The harvest of green vegetable matter was greatly improved.
When Ella Montt lifted a newspaper in the shed she disturbed a Common Lizard. The Lizard disappeared further in to the pile of newspaper. The recycled paper product would be used as mulch on the soil at a suitable moment.
Harvest: a mix of Raspberries and wild Blackberries = 6oz = 180g; Potato Nicola = 2lb = 920g and Desiree = 1lb 11oz = 780g; a mix of Swiss Chard and Canary Chard = 12oz = 350g; Oriental Red Mustard = 4.5oz = 130g, Mizuna = 3.75oz = 105g, Pak Choi = 4oz = 110g; Broccoli Raab = 4oz = 120g; Climbing Beans = 2oz = 50g; Broad Beans Hangdown Green = 1.5oz = 40g; Sweet Corn True Gold = 3 ears = 8oz = 240g.
On 26th September 2012 at Allotment Plot at MERL, it was raining. Two magpies strutted around the garden. Ella Montt fetched the wheelbarrow and the fork from the shed. Within a few days, the allotment plot tenancy at MERL was about to be over. It was time to start digging up and deconstructing the plot. The Brick Composter was taken apart brick by brick. Each brick was arranged in a pile two layers high by six bricks by ten bricks on the grass. The pile of bricks was counted. The number of bricks was expected to be equivalent to one hundred and twenty, but eight bricks were reported to be missing and there were only one hundred and twelve.
Several things emerged by deconstructing the Brick Composter. Eight of the total number of bricks that formed the composter were missing. The lower layer of the Brick Composter had sunk in to the soil and needed to be dug out with the fork in order to remove it. Between the bricks many slugs and a few snails were living. There were slug eggs in the composter. Centipedes and black beetles were also living in the Composter. When the decomposing plant material was removed from the composter, the soil beneath it was found to be very dry. The compost was not full of worms. There were no red wiggler worms in the composter, unlike the compost bins near the fixed up greenhouse at another location, where vast quantities of red wiggler worms live inside them. The compost bin at Allotment Plot 326 does not seem to contain red wigglers, but it is a cone bin structure and therefore creates a different kind of habitat. The remaining decomposing plant material from the Brick Composter was removed from the Plot in the wheelbarrow to the wild part of the garden to unite with other decomposing plant matter.
The bricks were moved from the grass, quantities stacked in to the wheelbarrow to be transported across the garden and repositioned next to the shed. At that point, Ella Montt realized that eight bricks were next to the shed, which may be an explanation for the missing bricks from the composter. A memory was recalled that previously plant pots had been seen sitting on these bricks. Ella Montt piled the bricks from the wheelbarrow on the ground and repeated the process until the bricks were stacked in their new location. The role the bricks had previously animated as the Brick Composter was now over, but it is likely that at some point in time the bricks will be re-appropriated in to another construction because that is there purpose, meanwhile they will be a habitat for wildlife.
Ella Montt started to dig the plants out of the Plot. The first to go were the two Comfrey plants. Their roots were extracted from the soil. Ella Montt had made a decision to save as many plants as possible, but some would meet certain death in this process. Plastic transportation flowerpots were on hand to be receptacles in this relocation process.
27th September 2012, it was day two of the literal deconstruction of Allotment Plot at MERL. Some plants that were removed from the Plot yesterday seemed to have survived the night (in another location). It had rained and this had watered the plants in. Ella Montt prepared herself for the final dig up. Plants would be saved where possible. The day was sunny, with a promise according to the crystal ball forecast of rain at sixteen hundred hours. Ella Montt worked steadily; large roots of Mint were removed from the soil and potted. As the soil was dug others on faraway parts of the planet were examining what potentially could be a significant realignment of tectonic plates that could be even more significant than the hyperobject of global warming and global resource use that is unsustainable.
Ella Montt wheeled the last barrow load of plant material residue to the distant wild part of the garden. An oak tree sapling on the edge of the path touched Ella Montt’s arm and transmitted an image of Joseph Beuys standing next to his virtual blackboard. Beuys turned to look at the oak sapling and then shifted his gaze to the eyes of Ella Montt as she became ready to telepathically transmit her three-year study of the Plot to Beuys download system. Whilst the Allotment Plot was downloading, Ella Montt placed the tools back in the shed and collected together the plant material that was to be relocated. When the download was completed, Beuys smiled and nodded as he turned back to his virtual blackboard to resume his calculations. At that point Ella Montt left the garden. The Allotment Plot at MERL as such was over, although it will be recoded in to other forms of communication. Allotment Plot 326 will continue.
Plants saved = 3 x small Tomato plants; 1 x sunflower yet to flower; at least two x Cosmos Cosmea plants; Mint roots and 2 x large Mint Plants; 2 x chive plants; 2 x small Marjoram; multiple Celery and Rocket plants; 2 x Comfrey plants; multiple Pot Marigold plants.
