Last day of the Olympics and I’m all cried out. Not sure if it’s the excitement of the events and results, the emotions of the athletes and crowds or an excuse to release the pressures of a difficult season. Funnily enough everyone else seems to be the same, they must have put something in the water. The positive input of all the volunteers seems to have impressed everyone who has been there and they have helped carry through a fantastic event we can all be proud of. Well done everyone.

I wonder what else we can do given the chance or the right motivation.

There is lots of talk of the legacy of the games and it will be interesting to see how much momentum we can maintain. After seeing the fantastic performance of Bradley Wiggins early on, I found my inspiration. It didn’t go as far as getting on a bike, I doubt that will happen after a traumatic introduction to road bike riding a few years ago. I got entered to ride the bike section of a team triathlon, cycling about 25 miles, but my preparation of one cycle to the pub proved inadequate and I had to have the saddle surgically removed at the end of the ride and I couldn’t sit down for a week! What happened to the nice wide springy saddles from my youth? Having thought Bradley’s sideburns were a bit naff they suddenly became quite attractive after the Olympic gold medal so I have set about paying my tribute by growing my own version. Not off to a great start as they started nicely below the ears but slightly out of balance. By the time I had taken a bit too much off one side then too much off the other I ended up with a token extension rather than a full blown tribute.

Potting for next season is bowling along although we are being much more conservative with some of the quantities we are producing after throwing away so much unsold stock this year. I know there are many others following a similar route as we simply can’t afford another year like this one and reducing production helps the cash flow and reduced the wastage risks. If next year turns out to be brilliant on the weather and sales fronts then we may miss out a bit but with margins already tight chucking away so much stuff is just unsustainable.

In such a tricky year it is tempting to think it has all been going downhill but there are lots of plus points for us here. This was the first year of output from the three wind turbines, we upgraded the irrigation pipe sizes to improve pressure and flow, we have found a great, new peat free compost which is outperforming not just the other peat free mixes we have tried but also our previous peat reduced mix and I reckon all the composts before it. We have started adding a bark topping to our new potting to reduce the liverwort and moss growth which can be unsightly and increases despatch costs. We are also topping our module composts with a finer material for the same purpose. Then there are all the production beds which are getting new covers to help speed up crop clearance and keep the beds cleaner as well as reducing the potential for slips. We have all just completed a course on Lean Management which should help us fine tune the production operations improving efficiency, reducing waste and encouraging more team work and involvement in the workplace. We have already done one project which was quite impressive and now have to apply it to a few more. Considering we are supposed to be holding back a lot seems to be still pushing us forward which is a nice feeling for everyone.

Eco News

Egg production has tailed off as the rescue chickens fell off their perches. We lost the last of the old batch earlier in the week so have got in our first full delivery of real ‘point of lay’ birds. They look really strong and very smart, a mixed bag of hybrids rather than posh breeds but reared on a small local farm so well used to people and traffic etc. No eggs yet (1 day) but hopeful that we can soon get back up to fulfilling the nursery demand.

Long eared bat roosted for a couple of days in one of the tunnels, that’s the first we have seen for probably 10 years.

If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries