Monday 31 March 2014

Good morning to all.

Busy, busy busy. What a relief! Early days yet but don’t miss out, get stuck in! Great weather over the weekend, perfect for celebrating Mothering Sunday and buying a car full of plants.

I’m not going into depth on the saga of printers anymore, I think I’ve jinxed the system. Printer can’t be found on the network each morning, yellow printing all went to the left (but now know the magic cure), fax lost the plot and is on borrowed time before waste ink starts to leak onto the desk!, internet constantly on and off and the hands free phones are becoming erratic and unreliable. It comes with age. Jolly handy that it all happens when we have nothing better to do. Just to rub salt into the wound my office chair seems to have developed a leak, no not damp patches, that would be a worry, my gas lift is no longer sealed. I keep getting this sinking feeling as the keyboard comes up to meet me and I end up resting with my chin just above desk height. It’s one way to feel young again or maybe it’s just another one of life’s little let downs.

Went to an excellent talk this week performed by Roger Savage of Choice Plants, an enthusiastic mix of humour, humility, observation, expertise and common sense. One little anecdote that went down really well was about a visit of a little lad and  his rather over controlling grandmother to Rogers pottery painting workshop. A tractor was chosen and the lad picking a bright red Massey Ferguson paint to decorate it, perfect. However the grandmother was of the opinion that it should be green to match the John Deere’s on their farm and ‘encouraged’ a change. A green tractor was completed and the little chap popped out for a call of nature. On passing Roger at the door he looked up and simply said quietly ‘Bloody nightmare’. They have your number from an early age. Another example of the ‘innocence’ of youth I remember Roger telling me about, which unsurprisingly he didn’t repeat that evening, was at home when his own son was just a wee toddler. As Roger walked barefoot across the landing with little William behind, he kicked the banister post which understandably caused a very sharp intake of breath but he just held back from cussing in front of Will only to hear a little voice behind him blurt out ‘F***’. That Mary has a lot to answer for!

Availability

Inspirational flower and bud appearing on many lines as well as healthy spring foliage bursting forth elsewhere.
Fabulous Polemonium Heaven Scent are coming into their own with a delightful bushy show of bronzy green foliage and the very first signs of the early flower shoots beginning to appear. A spring stunner.
Allium varieties are strong and chunky, perfect for planting out as are the trendy Camassias.
Just a handful of Narcissus left in flower/bud.
The ever favourite and long flowering Erysimum Bowles Mauve looks absolutely fantastic, bushy and budding strongly, first colour just beginning to show. Even better than last year’s stunners.
Erysimum Red Jep showing lots of bud although not many left. The E. Variegated Peach variety is showing its first colour.
The first flower stems of the Aquilegia Winky range are shooting up carrying numerous flower buds. Strong and good looking. The Barlow range also looking very strong, with flower shoots imminent. Nora Barlow has flower shoots already and the super dark Barlow Black is always a favourite.
This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking fantastic, especially the purpurea, robbiae and martini.
The decorative comfrey (Symphytum) are showing good early subtle flower colours.
Pulsatilla rubra is budding well and showing good colour with the purple P. vulgaris close behind.
Both Brunnera vatrieties are producing their first spring buds and blue flowers, looking perky, what a great blue.
Digitalis and Lupin ranges are all looking mega fresh and vigorous all raring to go. The digitalis wouldn’t look out of place in a 3li pot, there are so strong. The Lupins are raring to put on a big summer splash, perfect for planting now.
Both Armeria maritima varieties have plenty of buds and the odd dab of colour, always a popular neat pot full.
Ajuga Chocolate Chips are producing lots of flower shoots, and beginning to show their blue petals.

Eco Stuff
The first batch of predators arrived this week. They are nearly all distributed now other the a few packs of slug nematodes we have to water in. 8 different new attackers are now out there to top up our own natural collections we have been building up of amphibians, lacewings, and small birds which all help us out.
Swallows spotted in Cornwall I see so not long and they will be swooping around here again with a bit of luck. Good week for birds, English (Grey) partridge pair feeding under the bird table, first time we’ve seen these for 2 or 3 years. Also a Little Owl has been calling in the evening which we also haven’t heard for a few years.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Monday 24 March 2014

Good morning to all.

Great week of strong sales of fabulous looking really strong stock. Don’t miss out, get stuck in!

A bit cooler this coming week, but that’s fine with us, we don’t want things to get to far ahead, as long as the sun pops out from time to time to keep up the spirits and it doesn’t get too wet again.
Printer drama yet again on Monday morning. A whole week of faultless printing came to an end at the moment of peak demand as usual. Same fault as before so all the new bits installed hadn’t really cured it. Finally phoned the company who supplied it who gave me a direct line to the manufacturer technical support. I rarely call for help (I am male) as a new printer is usually cheaper than a call out and mend, or I can’t understand the instructions! But this time it was cured in 30 seconds. A loose lead feeding the info to the black drum, just pulled it out and pushed it in again, brilliant. What a relief and another tool to add to the ‘turn it off and on again’ toolbox.
Last weekend when everyone else was of out at the garden centre I managed to very successfully road test this year’s birthday gift, picking up two big bags of debris from a few hundred yards of the roadside around the nursery. I always think I will find lots of nursery rubbish but there was very little, it was nearly all discarded packets and bottles from the passing traffic over the last year (since I last went up and down the road). I do get some funny looks as I stagger about in my disheveled state and hi-viz vest, I suspect they are wondering where my minder/warder is. The planned metal detecting didn't happen so no treasure to cash in, we will have to rely on the bumper plant sales to come this season.
Very moving parts of Sports Relief last night, some real reminders of how lucky we are in this country and how desperate things are in other places around the world. To see kids and their mothers breaking rocks for road stone with hugely inadequate homemade hammers is scary and then add in the medical challenges and casualties of poverty stricken areas and you wonder how we can be so blind to so much of the worlds poverty issues. Emergency aid can be fantastically effective but we need to sort out some fairer trading if they are to help themselves out of their predicament. Perhaps we need to be asking more questions about all the stuff we import and buy at super cheap prices, there is a big cost somewhere along the line. At least using hairy pots is helping out one small community in Sri Lanka, the extra cost to us of a handmade pot goes a long way over there.

Availability

Inspirational flower and bud appearing on many lines as well as healthy spring foliage bursting forth elsewhere.

Polemonium Heaven Scent are coming into their own with a delightful bushy show of bronzy green foliage and the very first signs of the early flower shoots beginning to appear. A spring stunner.
The dwarf Doronicum Leo are showing bud, fresh and chunky.
The little Allium cowanii have buds showing and the other varieties are strong and chunky, perfect for planting out.
Bergenia Sunningdale has big chunky buds but very few left. Also in stock is the new small variety Dark Damsel showing bud. Very showy and looking fab at the moment are both varieties of Anemone blanda.
Our new dwarf spring daffs are up, budding and chunky, although I only have a few. The Tenby Daffodil (obvallaris) are showing colour on short strong stems as are the multi-headed Quail and the white Thalia.
The ever favourite and long flowering Erysimum Bowles Mauve looks absolutely fantastic, bushy and budding strongly, first colour just beginning to show. Even better than last year’s stunners.
The first flower stems of the Aquilegia Winky range are shooting up carrying numerous flower buds. Strong and good looking.
The Barlow range also looking very strong, with flower shoots imminent. The super dark Barlow Black is always a favourite. This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking fantastic, especially the purpurea, robbiae and martini.
Pulmonaria EB Anderson (dark blue) and the delightful pale blue of Opal are both looking colourful but only a few left. The decorative comfrey (Symphytum) are showing good early flower colour.
Pulsatilla rubra is budding well and showing good colour with the purple vulgaris and Alba not far behind.
Both Brunnera vatrieties are producing their first spring buds and blue flowers, looking perky.
Digitalis and Lupin ranges are all looking mega fresh and vigorous all raring to go. The digitalis wouldn’t look out of place in a 3li pot, there are so strong.
Both Armeria maritima varieties are also starting flower shoot production, always a popular, neat, pot full.
Ajuga Chocolate Chips are producing lots of flower shoots, just a week or so from showing full colour. Joyous yellow blooms and bud on the Caltha, but only a few available.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Monday 17 March 2014

Good morning to all.

So this is what spring used to be like. What a lovely surprise, the gardens are looking great now the sun has come out, colour abounds and the birds are singing. Let’s hope this keeps up and plant sales take off.
We will be bringing round a few spares trays of the extra super looking stock as space allows, just in case we can tempt you into a few extra sales, we wouldn’t want you to miss out on some of the fantastic stock currently available.
Naturally it was a busy week after that great weekend and promise of a very pleasant week to follow. Not only were the sales strong but potting continued at pace and the lab is absolutely flat out. Monday morning is always a hectic time as the weeks plans start to take shape, so the printer throwing a wobbly wasn’t the best start. A bonkers problem where just the black text got shuffled in parts to the left. Replaced the expired transfer belt, cured it for 20 pages, changed two expired drums, cured it for another 20 pages then finally ordered and changed a third drum (only 40% used) and that sorted it, touch wood. Meanwhile I had to reprogram the nursery software (‘Kirton Farm Nursery Loads of Stuff’ program) to go to another printer which was fun. I’m getting too old for all this excitement.
Luckily the birthday excitement was kept in check despite receiving my longed for litter picking grabber. Talking of sad hobbies I must dust off the metal detector while the field is bare and dry enough to walk on. I think the time in nigh for adjusting the dial off ‘all metals’ in an effort to reduce the size of the rusty nail, staple and barbed wire collection. I saw a fantastic collection of coins and a bronze age axe head this week which gives me hope of finding something a bit more exciting.
Thursday saw our review of bio-controls and the introduction of more predators to the mix. Added to the mix this year are a wider range of nematodes to help control levels of slugs, leatherjackets, vine weevil and sclarid fly. Then there is a new wasp introduction which lays its eggs in moth eggs to reduce caterpillar damage and a wider range of predators against a wider range of aphids. We have saved a bit by taking out the lacewing introductions as we seem to have a lot overwintering on site already and hopefully our chemical use will fall even further. It’s all go.

Availability

Loads of fabulous stock looking very saleable in this great spring weather. Follow this link to see a snapshot of some of the colourful stuff that went out this week; https://www.dropbox.com/s/trfxd7evezgkk5t/Colour%20display%20in%20March.jpg

Inspirational flower and bud appearing on many lines as well as healthy spring foliage bursting forth elsewhere.
Polemonium Heaven Scent are coming into their own with a delightful bushy show of bronzy green foliage and the very first signs of the early flower shoots beginning to appear. A spring stunner.
Our new deciduous Bergenia Dumbo has just burst forth with its pretty pale flowers and first early leaves.
Bergenia Evening Glow is great at the moment, a classic spring flowerer and very neat while Sunningdale has big chunky buds.
Very showy and looking fab at the moment are both varieties of Anemone blanda which are opening their first flowers. Our new dwarf spring daffs are up, budding and chunky, although I only have a few. The Tenby Daffodil (obvallaris) are showing colour on short strong stems and multi-headed Quail have lots of buds, ready to burst.
The ever favourite and long flowering Erysimum Bowles Mauve looks absolutely fantastic, bushy and budding strongly, first colour just beginning to show.
The first flower stems of the Aquilegia Winky range are shooting up carrying numerous flower buds. Strong and good looking. This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking fantastic, especially the purpurea (not many left) and martini.
Pulmonaria EB Anderson with its dark blue flowers and the delightful pale blue of Opal are both looking colourful. Pulsatilla rubra is budding well and showing good colour with the purple vulgaris and Alba not far behind.
The Helleborus niger have plenty of flower and bud still coming.
Both Brunnera vatrieties are producing their first spring buds and blue flowers.
Digitalis and Lupin ranges are all looking particularly fresh and vigorous all raring to go.
Armeria maritima is also starting its flower shoot production which is always a popular neat pot full. The Vinca minors are looking at their peak with neat shoot growth and lots of pretty blue flowers. Ajuga Chocolate Chips are producing lots of flower shoots, just a week or so from showing full colour.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Monday 10 March 2014

Spring Colour


Good morning to all,

Ok I am going to try this opener again with some hope that this time I will be right, as last Sunday did get a bit damp. Lovely sunny day today and tomorrow looks ok at the moment. In fact the whole of the next week looks decidedly spring like. Looking forward to getting the sales volumes to match up with the fantastic yummy growth we are seeing on lots of the stock. We have started double spacing a few of the more vigorous lines already to make sure we keep a good plant shape and the buds are definitely appearing and bursting forth. It has caught me out slightly at the relief I’m feeling at seeing the sun out and hearing the skylarks singing, it’s been a long dark winter but perhaps now we can see a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s hope that that in the name of economy or sustainability someone doesn’t switch it off.

Feeling my years this week with another birthday imminent and visits to the nursery from two groups, one of students from the local horticultural college and another from a local school. There’s nothing quite as aging as chatting about the ‘recent history’ of the nursery only to realise that some of the audience hadn’t even been born at that point! Luckily no one fell asleep or ran off so I count that as a success and another brownie point notched up.

A weekend of celebrations to come, a trip to Southampton to see The Beat, another thing probably lost on all those under 45, but a great band none the less (loads of hits; Mirror in the Bathroom, Best Friend, Tears of a Clown, Hands off She’s Mine, Too Nice to Talk To, among others). Then it’s birthday tea with nephew Tom and lot’s of the family on Sunday with jelly and ice cream etc, all very exciting. Hoping to get lucky on the present front, I put in a request a while ago for a litter picking grabber so here’s hoping for all my dreams to come true! They were certainly right when they said life starts at 55.

If you would like to see a quick preview of the new 2014 catalogue try the following link which takes you to a downloadable version or visit our website which has the updated version;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gm72fckfp2f2wbm/herbaceous%26herb%20catalogue%202014%20Oct%2013%20full%20DL%20no%20pr.pdf

Availability

Great joy this week seeing some stonking stock leaving the nursery, but there’s still plenty to go, so don’t miss out. Follow this link to see a snapshot of some of the colourful stuff that went out this week;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/trfxd7evezgkk5t/Colour%20display%20in%20March.jpg

Growth is flushing nicely on many lines with inspirational flower and bud appearing on many.

This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking fantastic, especially the purpurea (not a lot left) and martini.
The Erysimums are already budding up and showing colour on the varieties Red Jep and Apricot Twist. The ever favourite long flowering Bowles Mauve is very strong and bushy and not far behind either.
Pulmonaria EB Anderson with its dark blue flowers and the delightful pale blue of Opal are both showing well.
The Helleborus niger have plenty of flower and bud and looking superb with the wild primrose, primula denticulata and cowslips showing strong growth and spring colours already. These Primula’s are getting in short supply so be quick.
The Pulsatilla rubra is budding well and showing good colour with the purple vulgaris and Alba not far behind. The Brunneras are producing their first spring buds and a little blue colour.
The Aquilegia, Digitalis and Lupin ranges are all looking particularly fresh and vigorous all raring to go.
Our new dwarf spring daffs are up, budding and chunky, although I only have a few.
The Anemone blanda have just started opening their first of many flowers and looking fab, especially the blue shades which are perhaps a week ahead of the white.
Polemonium Heaven Scent are coming into their own with a delightful show of bronzy green foliage and the very first signs of the early flower shoots beginning to form. A spring stunner.
Bergenia Evening Glow is great at the moment, a classic spring flowerer and very neat.
Armeria maritima is also starting its flower shoot production which is always a popular neat pot full.
The Vinca minors are looking at their peak with neat shoot growth and lots of pretty blue flowers. Spring again

Saw my first bat feeding last evening. Usually see one most of the spring and summer feeding just behind the house (pipistral), but last night at dusk in quite good light conditions there were defiantly two. Not sure if they were the same species as one seemed bigger than the other, but they flit about so quickly it’s difficult to tell.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Monday 3 March 2014

Spring Joy!

Good morning to all.

Lovely sunny day today and tomorrow looks ok at the moment. Yet more dampness due after but lets make the most of it. This week has kicked off our spring properly with the first compost delivery of the year and the first bit of potting. Somyoung plant material has started arriving and the pressure to get the potting done builds. Hopefully we will get a bit of tim e this week to get on top of it although the slowish start to the year makes you wonder if we aren’t being a bit optimistic in creating more stock. We have some stunning looking stuff at the moment, the mild winter has not held anything back and flowers are appearing all over the place, now we just need some footfall in the plant sales areas to get it all moving. I should think the primrose producers are very anxious with some fab looking stock with no home to go to and again loads of flowers bursting forth. Although it was a horrible spring last year the cold did at least hold some of the stock back a bit until thingimproved, this year things are looking much more advanced. There are even signs of the Aquilegias showing the odd flower shoot, in the last week of February. One consolation this year is that we have planned a really long schedule of colourful sales, spreading our risk a bit with a more ‘little and often approach.

I need to press on, I am on animal duty tonight as Caroline has gone to see much of the England team play tonight for Southampton against Liverpool. I have a long list of feeding demands for the various cats, chickens and donkeys although no instructions, I notice for my dinner. 

If you would like to see a quick preview of the new 2014 catalogue try the following link which takes you to a downloadablversion or visit our website which has the updated version;

Availability

Growth is flushing nicely on many lines with inspirational flower and bud appearing on some. Now’s the time to tuck in!
This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking fantastic, especially the purpurea and martini.
The Erysimums are already budding up and showing colour on the Red Jep and Apricot Twist. The Bowles Mauve is not far behind either.
Pulmonaria EB Anderson with its dark blue flowers and the delightful pale blue of Opal are both showing nicely .
The Helleborus niger have plenty of flower and bud and looking superb with the wild primrose, primula denticulata and cowslips showing strong growth and spring colours already.
The Pulsatilla rubra is budding well and showing good colour with the purple vulgaris not far behind.
The green form of Brunnera is producing its first spring buds and a little colour with the variegated form looking smart but perhaps a week behind on the flowering timing.
The Aquilegia, Digitalis and Lupin ranges are all looking particularly fresh and vigorous all raring to go. Our new dwarf spring daffs are up, budding and chunky, although I only have a few.
The blue Anemone blanda have just started opening their first of many flowers and the white will be there in about a week I suspect.

Spring again
Frogs still hanging about in the pond although less frantic now. Managed to take a snap of them at distance with max zoom and old man’s shaky hands.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ho5ooe4d0o9qp2s/Spawning%202014%205.JPG

Cheers
Have a good one from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries