Metgrowth (Week 4.) The survivors

Through all of the drama of my last visit to the greenhouse in Knightsbridge, I almost forgot to post some updated photos of the seedlings which survived the accident. They are doing extremely well and I am very pleased!
I just hope they remain that way to be brought out of the greenhouse and planted in a final display on the terrace in a few weeks time! Let's hope so, I will keep you posted!

Making a Mend.

There was a rather positive outcome to the incident which occurred in week 4 in which the greenhouse was badly damaged and a third of the plant pots were disturbed/broken.
It served to comment on the incompatibility of office life and nature. It also represents a struggle - the struggle of survival through adverse conditions. The greenhouse seems to have become a metaphor for the environment. Not only is it the protector of my little seedlings, but the fact that it was so easily damaged could represent the fragility of nature itself, and how we must protect and preserve it, so as to avoid chaos.

Therefore, the duct tape which I found to fix the polythene should be noticeable. I thought that to emphasise the accident would be to emphasise the newly found concept behind this installation. The tiny strips of tape could be seen to echo the visual language of stitches.

I love that this project keeps changing and developing as the weeks go on, like a mini Eco system or life cycle. I think these changes and new developments which occur, whether positive or negative, are what makes its process from seed to full wildflower garden so interesting.

DISASTER.

Happy that all was going so well with the growth of my plants, I arrived for the fourth time that month to check on their progress. I had a niggling feeling in the back of my mind about the installation though. Last week, the pots were completely dried up and the greenhouse was looking rather weather-beaten from the wind.

I arrived on Tuesday morning and having seen the manager to say hello after the bank holiday weekend, I went outside to see the installation. I always knew that Friday nights were very popular at JWT's bar and roof terrace, but fortunately, my greenhouse had not been affected by any accidents during it's time there...until now.
I arrived to this:

The greenhouse cover was completely ripped, and therefore wasn't keeping the plants safe from the elements nor at an appropriate temperature. I am not quite sure what happened. The wind had really battered my little delicate greenhouse. It was really sad to see.

Besides this as I walked in, I noticed that at least a third of the plant pots had been knocked over. A lot of them were broken, there was soil all over the ground and some plants were missing. Someone had obviously caused an accident and had left a complete mess. I could see that they had tried to quickly put things back in place again, but it really ruined the whole idea of my installation. The origional event had been held so that the participants could follow the progress of their individual pots, from start to finish. I was really upset that someone had almost ruined my project.

I understand that accidents happen, and I am flattered that people were curious enough with the progress of their plants that they wanted to enter the greenhouse randomly, but that hadn't really helped...
Oh well. I took a deep breath and sought to rectify the situation. I was not prepared to let a small hitch like this ruin all of the hard work and effort I had put into this installation and project.

Metgrowth (Week 3)

It's the third week into the growing process and the plants are looking great. There are about 30 plant pots which are growing and about 30 which are not... it is interesting to note this 50:50 ratio that has resulted. I arrived to take more photos of their progress to a greenhouse which was beginning to look a bit dishevelled and wind swept. The polythene cover was beginning to rip at the seams so I patched it up with some tape and hoped it would hold...
The plant pots had also not been watered when I arrived, which was a shame. I hope that the person who had been taking such care of my plants has not given up. It would be awful to see the plants die at such an early stage.

Metgrowth (Week 2)

Having been given a new confidence from the previous week's discovery of the little seedlings in my greenhouse, I arrived a week later to document their progress. As before, someone from the office was still watering them well and I was excited to see what a week's time could do!

The stuff of life

In Bill Bryson's book 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', he makes a poignant point about life and living matter which I think is really relevant to my project. I thought I would share it with you:

"Every living thing is an elaboration on a single original plan. As humans, we are mere increments, each of us a musty archive of adjustments, adaptations, modifications and providential tinkerings stretching back 3.8 billion years. Remarkably we are even quite closely related to fruit and vegetables. About half the chemical functions that take place in a banana are fundamentally the same as the chemical functions that take place in you.
It cannot be said too often: all life is one. That is, and I suspect will for ever prove to be, the most profound true statement there is."

MetGrowth! (Week 1)

"The day I see a leaf is a marvel of a day." Kenneth Patton

As I arrived at JWT, I was ready to let people know that I was going to move the greenhouse. I didn't want to leave it there if nothing was growing. I couldn't find the manager so decided to go and check on the plant pots one last time with my camera. As much as I was doubting the progress of the installation, I still had hope. Maybe it was just taking longer than I thought because the paper that the seeds was embedded in needed to decompose to release them...? I was not sure.

As I unzipped the door and walked into the greenhouse I noticed a change... In about 30 of the 60 pots, there were tiny seedlings. The Metgros had sprouted!
Thank goodness for that! I was elated! All my hard work was paying off! All they needed was time. It was interesting that I had nearly given up... I should have had more faith in my work, but it is difficult when you are waiting for something which you cannot control. The seeds might not have sprouted for any number of reasons which I would never really understand.
Perhaps I too am now so used to the city way of life; this instant, convenient way of living where I can order anything that I need quickly, that I was not prepared to wait for Nature to take its course.
To quote Frank Lloyd Wright, a 20th Centrury architect who was coined "the greatest American architect of all time" by the American Institute of Architects and who famously promoted organically inspired architectural design;

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.
It will never fail you."

"The only thing growing, is doubt."

Three long weeks came and went, with no sign of life from inside my greenhouse. Oh dear. Perpaps the people who doubted my project were right! What if nothing grew?

However, I was very pleased to see that every time I visited, with camera in hand, the soil was moist and the greenhouse was well maintained. Obviously, someone was keeping an eye on the installation for me, which was really lovely to see. The anonymity of this individual was really interesting too - I didn't know who it was, I never saw them, but the process was perfect. Someone was taking the time out of their busy day to nurture the seeds.
It gave me hope!

It was a really optimistic aspect of this seemingly barren installation...nothing was growing. Nothing! It was great to see that someone had faith in my project.

A lot of people who had initially been so excited about the event had given up on the installation once they had seen that after a week there was no visible growth. This was another unforeseen interesting point about this project. These people did not have the patience to wait for nature to take its course. Everyone is so used to having things 'now-now-NOW!' that they had quickly become bored and had begun to not believe that the wildflower garden growing from my Metro newspapers would never materialise...

I must admit that after Week Three with no change, I was also beginning to have doubts myself .
I decided to go into Knightsbridge with a speech prepared for the manager, suggesting that we give the greenhouse one more week, and if there was no sign of growth, I would be more than happy to remove my installation from the space if they no longer wanted it. Obviously JWT would not want a little wind swept greenhouse and 60 dried up pots of compost on their rooftop terrace for long, and I did not want to outstay my welcome.

I was really devastated. I had always thought that my project would work - there was no reason why it shouldn't have! I had given the little seeds every chance; a warm environment and water, I even soaked them overnight to stimulate their germination.
In the train on the way to Knightsbridge with the speech prepared, I looked around the carriage at the crumpled up Metros on seats and on the floor and my heart sank.

What had I done wrong?