Morning all,

I can’t remember which day it was, but I took someone, can’t remember who, up to see the wind turbine site, luckily I did manage to remember where that was. I do recall it was a rare sunny moment in the week and that very noticeably spring was springing with loads of skylarks doing their thing. Sometimes it’s good to lift your nose from the grindstone for a second to take in the simple stuff. Bit grey today and lots of bird song but no skylarks yet.

Sadly we didn’t win the Nursery Stock Grower of the Year Award which was presented on Thursday, we will have to make do with reaching the final three. I couldn’t bring myself to part with the ticket money (£180 each + travel, drinks, parking, sleeping etc) at a time of the year when cash flow tends to be a bit tight and the total cost of night out for two would keep us in logs for the winter. As an alternative night out we took a few friends out to see Imelda May in Southampton on Friday, which was great value (just 17.50 to see a big selling live performance). She and her band were brilliant, lively, slick and professional, the night just flew by. If you get the chance go and see her, and the support band Big Boy Bloater!

Struggling to walk this morning after a late night on Friday and hockey yesterday. Last week’s result got worse with the news that it was 0-10 not the nine I counted. We did better this week 1-1, so pride restored a bit, although scabby weepy knees and elbows resulting from a few close encounters on a sandy pitch are a high price to pay. No Saturday night cuddles for me!

Excitement on the nursery this week with the return of the potting machine which has been off at the menders all winter having its bearings, sprockets and chains replaced. Everything on it had been moving in odd directions and making a lot of strange noises during last year and now it is reported to be a smooth operator. Can anyone do the same for worn out nursery chaps?

Lots of fresh chunky spring growth coming on the plants especially the perennials which is great to see. We have a few casualties after the December freeze but hopefully not too many. The nursery is looking quite tidy after the big winter sort out. Nearly all the plastic stuff has gone off to the recycling man or other nurseries for reuse, with just a few old tunnel sheets to repack into bulk bags when we get a dry spare moment. Much of the stock has had its winter tart up and the last of the irrigation plumbing is nearly done. We sent some of the pallets we have accumulated down to the farm for reuse this week, sorted out the broken ones for the wood burner and kept a few for reuse here, a very satisfactory job and a bit more space too.

Eco news
We had a visit this week from our PLATO Sustain group leader/consultant to see how we were progressing on the sustainability front and where the group might be able to help us progress further. Although not a horticulturist it was a useful couple of hours and helped me focus a bit more on what else we can go for in the short, medium and long term. Lots to think about from water use and recycling, waste management and recycling, to longer term future transport issues and how that could affect us and the industry in general. It is something that will need to be addressed soon. With escalating transport costs, the problem of getting stock to the customer on anything but a local level is going to become a major factor in plant prices. For example one trolley distributor is charging £59/ trolley plus £10 collection from our site and a fuel surcharge, to deliver from us to East Anglia, North Midlands & Devon/Cornwall. This gets us to £75+ per trolley with no multiple drop discount until you reach 4 or 5 trolleys per delivery. Luckily we rarely deliver this far, we mostly use our own lorries and I’m sure there are slightly cheaper alternatives, but energy prices are only going to increase over the years and it is something that will need some thought over the next few years.

As soon as we start potting again we will be incorporating the new bio-insecticide Met52 in all our potting composts. This is a fungal inoculation that gives long term protection against the dreaded vine weevil. Since introducing the herb and soft fruit ranges we have shied away from using chemical control in favour of introducing the safe nematode controls, but they are expensive, not always effective and take a lot of time to apply. Although not all our stock is attractive to this pest, by using the fungus in all compost mixes, it should give us an opportunity to get right back on top of its control.

Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries