Monday 18 March 2013

Morning all,


Spring still torments us with a day or two of promise then a kick in the proverbials. Bitter drying winds last week followed by one nice day on Thursday and a drenching over the last couple of days. The rain is currently hammering on the roof of the office which doesn’t fill me with optimism for this weekend’s retail sales levels. Still ‘every cloud’ they say, we did have two record days on the turbine generating front.

Tuesday was just one of those days. We had the diesel generator up and running the previous week as part of its service with no problem, would it start when we needed it? Not a hope. We had a power cut in the morning and it was a very cold, windy and frosty morning and it just wouldn’t play ball. We eventually got it going with the forklift af ter much colourful discussion with the generator and the day was able to get underway, just half an hour late.
As things began to thaw we discovered an entire irrigation line had fractured along its whole length. We have a clever(ish) system which blows compressed air down the irrigation lines to clear them before cold nights to prevent freeze damage but for some unknown reason the solenoid valve that should have opened to clear the line didn’t and we had to replace it. In a completely separate incident the main feed from the irrigation storage tank to the pumps started a leak from a joint which had to be taken apart to reseal. The washer was perished and in an effort to gum it up, tighten and reseal it, the plastic nut split. Oh joy.
Meanwhile someone had caught a copper pipe with a trolley post (for the umpteenth time, so my fault for not relocating the pipe) and it burst spraying water all over th e pricking out area. Luckily we had all the necessary repair kit to hand so we have now replaced and relocated the pipe and made life that little bit more perfect.
Shortly after lunch, the power returned and it was then that we noticed that two of the turbines had failed to restart. They had both deployed their emergency braking blade tips which would need manually resetting before a restart. This is a bit of a design hiccup apparently and they are trying to come up with a solution. In a strong win d when the power is cut the brakes don’t quite slow the blades up quickly enough and the tip brakes deploy as the safety backup. They simply need clicking back into position but when they are sitting 11.5m from the ground this isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. Our installers popped in the next day to hang from the mast ladder and nudge the tips back with a boxing glove on a pole. Very high tech stuff. So Tuesday was a great day.

In contrast Thursday went brilliantly, I delivered my report on all things hairy and our wind turbine installation to 3 separate audiences of youngsters at St Bede Primary School in Winchester as part of their Waste Week activities. The kids were great, the school have obviously hit a fantastic balance of discipline, learning and enthusiasm which came across so clearly in the few hours I was there. There are a couple of images of a chap doing facial gymnastics and an enthralled crowd on their news
page www.stbedewinchester.co.uk/news_detail.asp?Section=8&Ref=674
When I got back we took the decision to press on and recover a couple of tunnels before the weather closed in again for the week. Despite being a bit short handed we managed to get both done in under 2½ hours which was brilliant.

We have exchanged all our broken CC trolley kit successfully so we are now fully loaded with plenty of trolleys and shelves to cope with that imminent spring rush. The newly vamped broken equipment storage area is complete so no excuses now for any kit not to be in its correct place. We could almost be professional.

We started potting this week which is a bit later than usual, for some reason demand doesn’t seem to outstripped supply yet.

Availability

Polemonium Heaven Scent is a great spring performer. The strong chunky dark bronze-flushed early shoots are SO attractive in this early period and the first flower buds are already nestling among the leaves. STUNNING AT THE MOMENT.

Pulmonaria’s are in bud and showing colour already.

Erysimums are great, especially the Bowles Mauve which flowers endlessly and the strongly variegated Peach variety.

Last few Primula veris in bud, just a few trays left.

The border bulbs are looking strong, with most Camassia’s and Alliums up and the hardy Gladiolus Byzantinus looking perky.

Anemone blanda showing some bud and a flower or two.

Still lovely bud and flowers on the Helleborus niger too.

Nature notes

Just been for a walk between the showers, to check the turbines are all ok after a couple of heavy thunderstorms last night.

All was well and despite the grey and damp and I could hear at least four skylarks singing away, getting their territories sorted for the coming spring. An uplifting song on a grey day.

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

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