Field Study's Man in E11 buttons and pockets his plums

September 2013

What if the allotment is succumbing to the malign influence of the field student's pestiferous thoughts? There might only be memories of the succulent pleasures of the site. I consoled myself with a particularly fond memory of an encounter with sensually buttoned plums. It was inevitable that to indulge in sentimentality and preciousness about the fruits of the site and their annual or biennial reswelling was to incur the pestilence of the field student where it hurts. My thoughts drifted from September 2013 to 1st March 2014, two months ago today as this is being written.

1st March 2014

The first of March found my spirits lifted by the spectacle of a wild plum in full blossom. It sang to me as if it had the collective voice of 100 humming bumblebees. While this tree was not going to host the sort of treat featured at the top of the page, it had, the year before last, produced some exceptionally sweet and juicy fruits. I was plum pie eyed at the prospect.

In the two months since there has been a strange and unsettling emanation of fruits setting from the labour of the bumblebees. Yesterday, the tree appeared wretched and ghastly as nearly all of it's fruit has succumbed to what might be a fungal infection in the form of, 'pocket plum' or 'plum pocket'.