Page 22 - ALG Issue 2 2023

creative plotholders Karen Stamper
I am an artist; I used to go sketching in the allotments pre-lockdown and one day I signed on to the waiting list for a plot. A couple of months later, I was offered one with the wonkiest shed, and couldn’t resist it!
I love to draw on the allotments in the winter, when all the manmade structures and old stalks and stems are revealed. I use charcoal, crayons, collage papers and acrylics. We have straightened our wonky shed, and I can now shelter in there if needed.
You can see more here https://karenstampercollage.com/gallery/drawings/
Something Wicked
This Way Grows
By Andy Millican
Every day she stands in the open doorway of her greenhouse, amazed at the spread and splay of limbs and huge leaves
her butternut squash somehow achieves with regular watering and loving care.
She shares her joy with fellow allotmenteer Fred who said it reminds him of a Triffid. She laughs.
Long after she’s gone home, immersed herself in Dead Sea Bath Salts, a faint red glow
rises and falls from below the giant leaves and a call far beyond human hearing echoes across space and time to others growing
on allotment plots across the land.
Contact Andy for more info on andy.millican@hotmail.co.uk
22 Allotment and Leisure Gardener