Trying to see things

Hands up – the allotment has been neglected of late. At least the grow rate of weeds has slowed so that the plot is not so much overgrown as shabby looking. While I meant to do some work there this weekend I ended up making a mad dash round different gallery spaces in Liverpool trying to see as much of the Biennial as I could before it closed. Caught some good shows both in the ‘official’ Biennial and the Independents including a video piece and map reflecting on allotmenteering in the city. To try and stick with the gardening theme (however tangential) pictured here are two works featuring things that you could indeed find on an allotment. The first is a forlorn looking sofa growing mushrooms by Richard Hughes and below is a scale model of the Three Gorges Dam in China by Weng Peijun made from blown eggshells.

Golden brown

It is a beautiful time of year. The trees are shedding their autumn decorations and the streets are littered with heapings of browns and golds. The plot is in transition, moving from the high productivity of summer to the winter slow down. The last few days have ushered in the change. Frost has cut down the late producing courgettes and the nasturtiums are lying lifelessly in the borders. The chard has survived for now but I don’t fancy its chances. But even now the promise of Spring is in the soil: the onions are sprouting and the purple-sprouting broccoli is flourishing. Time to work on clearing some more space for planting next year…