Grow Harvest Eat

An attempt to live a little more self-sufficient

Blog

Extending the Velociraptor Cage

Allotment Chickens

I keep a flock of 12 chickens on my allotment and I often refer to them as my dinosaurs. I feel like Chris Pratt in Jurassic World when he’s training the raptors every time I enter the chicken pen ?

Anyway, yesterday, we spent the morning extending the pen so they’ve got more room. In fact, the pen now takes roughly a quarter of the plot.

I managed to get my hands on some heras fencing and some netting for the top, and I have to say, it’s given them so much more room.

Spring is in the air

Greenhouse thermometer

As I type this, it’s currently 16C in late February. It certainly feels like Spring is in the air. I popped down the allotment today to collect any eggs and top up the drinking water for the chickens. I checked the greenhouse and the thermometer was showing almost 30C inside!

I also noticed the onions have put on a lot of growth over the last couple of days. I’ll give it a couple of more weeks before I move them outside into the coldframe. To be honest, I wish I bought more. I went to B&Q a couple of weeks ago and picked up 80 sets. The price tag was showing £3 for the pack, but it wasn’t until I got back home, that I realised they went through the till for £1. Bargain!

I’m going to leave you with one photo that I took as I was leaving. The colour on the crocuses was amazing. Spring is just around the corner folks.

crocus flowers

First Post – About me

Some of this can be found in my about page, but I thought I would introduce myself properly. My name is Steve and I live in the West Midlands, England. I’m self-employed working in the IT industry. When I’m not at my office or working, I can be found either down my allotment, down the gym or enjoying the outdoors.

I must point out, my spelling and grammar isn’t the best. In fact I left school unable to read and write.

Allotment and Gardening

My interest in gardening started at an early age when my dad allowed me to have a small patch of ground behind the shed in his garden. I mainly grew nasturtiums and marigolds that would get devoured by caterpillars every summer. After moving house and not having the room in the new garden, I lost interest in gardening, until I moved into my own flat in 2012. Within a couple of months of moving into my own place, I managed to get my hands on a small allotment measuring 12 metres by 5 and my interest in gardening was sparked again.

After a couple of years, I managed to get myself a much larger plot and gave up the smaller allotment. I now have a large allotment plot within walking distance of my flat, and I grow a variety of fruit and vegetables, and also keep a flock of chickens.

I’ve recently took on the Chairman role for the site.

Other Stuff

Away from my allotment, I’m self-employed working in the IT industry. I run SJH Computing, specialising in IT support for home and small business customers.

I also enjoy the outdoors in general, so I may will be posting about my adventures. I’m a lover of food, so again, I will be posting about it 🙂