Seasons Greetings to all.
Just a quick note to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and jolly New Year.
No list this week as we are hoping to have a quiet few days over the next couple of weeks while we have a catch up and try to get ready for 2015. However you may have already noticed the our extra email Christmas message which is something I put together this week. It is actually the image and text from our card we sent out earlier this week to a few special people who have looked after us in 2014, usually by sending us some dosh after we sent them some lovely hairy stuff. It’s a system that just about keeps us afloat! If you feel ‘special’ but didn’t get a card, please accept my apologies, resources are limited, you can always print it off and experience that warming glow yourself. Bonkersly busy last week getting stuff lined up for the coming season. More colour label preparations, new printing plates for the herb wooden labels ordered, header board blanks ordered, and a new tray liner being sorted out, of which more news in the New Year. More driver training being organised (a free one to one, eco-driving session for each of the van drivers), tree decorated and photographed, Christmas cards designed and made, 2015 catalogue started and new sets of back-up memory sticks put into use (back-up, back-up, back-up). We lost a bit of time on Thursday with the staff Christmas lunch at ‘The Plough’ in Sparsholt which was fantastic, definitely a level above ‘pub grub’. I can certainly recommend them as a good meal out for anyone close to us.
I hope you all have a lovely break and a relaxing time (don’t forget one man’s stress is another’s excitement). We will be in touch again in the New Year, as soon as I can think of something to say.
PS We are here until the 24th if anyone desperately needs to contact us, we will pop in and check emails etc on and off over the break when we are doing our other daily checks. Back to full capacity on Monday 5th.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday 22 December 2014
Monday 15 December 2014
Hairy Decorations!
Good morning all.
Hope those till bells are ringing and those Christmas trees flying out of the door. That will hopefully release a cash flood and get us all in the mood for a big sales push on plants as soon as the weather smiles on us all. We all live in hope.
Getting quite excited here with the dawn of a new hairy labelling era creeping up on us, the bamboo skewers are here, the blank sheets of ‘new shape’ labels arrived this week for those extra varieties that we will print ourselves, the confirmation of printing (and cost, ouch) of the Floramedia ‘new shape’ labels arrived and we are well underway with setting up all the new picture formats to fit on those blank label sheets. We have even put together the next label order for the early summer. That’s confidence for you. The matching of our home printed labels with the Floramedia ones should make such a difference in presentation impact. Last year we had a fantastic range of super stock with propagation material coming from more varied sources, but we had at least 6 different label designs decorating them which was ok but perhaps a bit disjointed at times. Watch out 2015 coordination is coming to town, well to labelling anyway!
I am going to warn you now that when we get into 2015 I don’t want to see any of the new management catch phrases popping up. Apparently the latest couple are ‘derisking’ and ‘unbuying’. I know there has been quite a bit of this going on over the last 2 or 3 years, but I hadn’t actually heard the terms for it before. They are pretty self explanatory but just in case you are as slow on the uptake as me, ‘derisking’ is not ordering or buying any stock and ‘unbuying’ is cancelling orders or sending stuff back after delivery. Now I know we all have our jobs to keep but let’s get a bit of empathy going for the plant suppliers,who take huge risks growing their crops for very marginal or non-existent return. We all have to shoulder some element of risk in selling stuff, isn't that what makes commercial enterprises prosper in the longer term? Shove all the risk onto one level and it will all collapse. Growers currently struggle to find the motivation to be innovative and forward thinking when there is not the commitment and sensible thinking in place further up the line. Is there something wrong with working together for all our mutual benefit and is short term bullying really such a positive tactic? There is a New Year round the corner let’s work together and make it a good one.
Must get off and decorate the tree before I run out of weekend. Great decorations in Waitrose I noticed, all very tasteful, simple corrugated card cut-outs. Someone had thought about it hard at an early stage, a combination of sustainability, style, simplicity, value, image, practicality and christmasyness. Well done them, you can do it all, if you believe. I did make a point of letting a member of staff know of my approval, ‘Nutter On The Bus’ aisle 6!
Availability
If the weather holds off getting too wintery we should have an expanding range looking good going into early 2015. The new labels are due in week commencing the 19th January so the complete new refreshed display will be ready for then, if any brave souls want to get started on their perennial displays.
Erysimum varieties are coming on stream already, beautifully bushy with the shades of crimson red on Red Jep already showing really well and even a flush of bud and a hint of colour on the very long flowering. Even the ever popular Bowles Mauve has good bud appearing.
Hellebourus are just starting to come ready with a few new additions to the range. We are trying a new H. orientalis selection called Crown Dark Purple which is reported to flower after its first winter, it is certainly coming on nicely at the moment. There were 3 great new H. viridus varieties looking very smart and distinctly different from each other. ‘Silver and Rose’ and ‘Rose Green’ have sold out but ‘White Green’ with its deep green leaves with strong cream veining is still looking great. A nice short variety with the odd flower shoot appearing and looking enthusiastic in their pots. Euphorbia’s looking smart, nice pot full’s of foliage.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Hope those till bells are ringing and those Christmas trees flying out of the door. That will hopefully release a cash flood and get us all in the mood for a big sales push on plants as soon as the weather smiles on us all. We all live in hope.
Getting quite excited here with the dawn of a new hairy labelling era creeping up on us, the bamboo skewers are here, the blank sheets of ‘new shape’ labels arrived this week for those extra varieties that we will print ourselves, the confirmation of printing (and cost, ouch) of the Floramedia ‘new shape’ labels arrived and we are well underway with setting up all the new picture formats to fit on those blank label sheets. We have even put together the next label order for the early summer. That’s confidence for you. The matching of our home printed labels with the Floramedia ones should make such a difference in presentation impact. Last year we had a fantastic range of super stock with propagation material coming from more varied sources, but we had at least 6 different label designs decorating them which was ok but perhaps a bit disjointed at times. Watch out 2015 coordination is coming to town, well to labelling anyway!
I am going to warn you now that when we get into 2015 I don’t want to see any of the new management catch phrases popping up. Apparently the latest couple are ‘derisking’ and ‘unbuying’. I know there has been quite a bit of this going on over the last 2 or 3 years, but I hadn’t actually heard the terms for it before. They are pretty self explanatory but just in case you are as slow on the uptake as me, ‘derisking’ is not ordering or buying any stock and ‘unbuying’ is cancelling orders or sending stuff back after delivery. Now I know we all have our jobs to keep but let’s get a bit of empathy going for the plant suppliers,who take huge risks growing their crops for very marginal or non-existent return. We all have to shoulder some element of risk in selling stuff, isn't that what makes commercial enterprises prosper in the longer term? Shove all the risk onto one level and it will all collapse. Growers currently struggle to find the motivation to be innovative and forward thinking when there is not the commitment and sensible thinking in place further up the line. Is there something wrong with working together for all our mutual benefit and is short term bullying really such a positive tactic? There is a New Year round the corner let’s work together and make it a good one.
Must get off and decorate the tree before I run out of weekend. Great decorations in Waitrose I noticed, all very tasteful, simple corrugated card cut-outs. Someone had thought about it hard at an early stage, a combination of sustainability, style, simplicity, value, image, practicality and christmasyness. Well done them, you can do it all, if you believe. I did make a point of letting a member of staff know of my approval, ‘Nutter On The Bus’ aisle 6!
Availability
If the weather holds off getting too wintery we should have an expanding range looking good going into early 2015. The new labels are due in week commencing the 19th January so the complete new refreshed display will be ready for then, if any brave souls want to get started on their perennial displays.
Erysimum varieties are coming on stream already, beautifully bushy with the shades of crimson red on Red Jep already showing really well and even a flush of bud and a hint of colour on the very long flowering. Even the ever popular Bowles Mauve has good bud appearing.
Hellebourus are just starting to come ready with a few new additions to the range. We are trying a new H. orientalis selection called Crown Dark Purple which is reported to flower after its first winter, it is certainly coming on nicely at the moment. There were 3 great new H. viridus varieties looking very smart and distinctly different from each other. ‘Silver and Rose’ and ‘Rose Green’ have sold out but ‘White Green’ with its deep green leaves with strong cream veining is still looking great. A nice short variety with the odd flower shoot appearing and looking enthusiastic in their pots. Euphorbia’s looking smart, nice pot full’s of foliage.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday 8 December 2014
Hairy Overload
Good morning all.
Critical week for Christmas tree sales I’m sure. The weather here has just perked up and yesterday was fine, the colder snap and early retail consumer activity seems to have got Christmas sales moving. Hopefully not everyone has run out of money yet and those Christmas specials all get sold. I must admit we manage to avoid the annual tree costs by redecorating my own homemade tree. The current model knocked up out of a bit of 2x2 and an old wooden venetian blind is still going strong and always attracts plenty of attention, despite it coming last in the village show craft section! I’m not bitter. I always like a bit of creative thought to go into Christmas, you can’t buy it all off the shelf. Paper chains are one of my favourites, memories of sticking gummed paper strips together as a kid were revisited when I made some new ones a few years ago. This time I upgraded to a more subtle version by cutting the strips into 4, 8 and even 16. The smallest size made little loops just big enough to go round my little-finger tip, it was a bit fiddly and took forever to make any length but the overall effect was very dinky and looks great on the tree. They have kept for years by storing in a biscuit tin, just watch out if you try it yourself, you will need the strips with gum/glue all over the back not just the ends. Get the kids on it , should keep them quiet for hours. I must get out more.
No time for decorating this week, Nearly all Tuesday disappeared with a trip to get a vehicle recall issue sorted on the big van and a visit from the new bank manager to sort out the overdraft for the next year. Bit stressful as the years figures are vastly improved over the previous two disastrous seasons but still not a pretty sight. Luckily he could see the positive side and assuming he can get it all approved by his bosses we should be able to squeeze through another winter until the cash starts appearing again.
Wednesday was a very educational day with a trip to Lowaters nursery for an IPPS workshop on compost tea, biological controls and the latest pesticide updates. The sheer volume of info was slightly mind numbing by the end of the day but life on the growing side of things looks like getting increasingly challenging as more chemicals are lost (usually because growers don’t buy enough) and we try and maintain quality by nurturing more of natures assets to combat the weeds, pests and diseases. We are certainly going to have a go ourselves at extending our natural armoury to get a better balance and reduce even further our use of the occasional pesticide. It is an area with a rather ‘muck & magic’ feel but hearing from different grower experiences and advisors at the workshop has pushed me over the edge. It appears not to be a magic bullet to cure everything but it more of a general protectorant and tonic with combined benefits of higher disease and pest resistance and lower nutritional demand from artificial fertilisers. The large variety of ‘good biology’ growing in the tea which we brew up on site for a day or two before applying to the crops, gives it the broad spectrum of benefits. We already have a lot of the infrastructure in place to accommodate this new development so hopefully we can get it going quite easily. Thursday was another mind blower, having to proof read again 355 colour label designs. Then Friday was a rodent control seminar where I learnt some scary stuff. Brown rats can deform their skulls to enable them to get through a 13mm yes that’s not a typo, 13mm, hole, and mice 6mm! Mice are inquisitive but rats are neophobic (afraid of new things). So snappy traps are good for mice who will investigate them but with rats it is best to leave any traps unsprung for a week until they get used to them and then set them. Rats can breed at just 3 months old, 9 per litter, mice 3 weeks and 6 per litter. Rats can jump 1 metre vertically and drop 15m unharmed. Poor sight but excellent smell, touch and hearing. They will get used to deterrents like sonic devices so only use then intermittently to keep up the strangeness factor. That’s me done brain full.
Availability
Erysimum varieties are coming on stream already, beautifully bushy with the shades of crimson red on Red Jep already showing really well and even a flush of bud and a hint of colour on the very long flowering and hugely popular Bowles Mauve.
Hellebourus are just starting to come ready with a few new additions to the range. We are trying a new H. orientalis selection called Crown Dark Purple which is reported to flower after its first winter, it is certainly coming on nicely at the moment.
There are three great new H. viridus varieties which are looking very smart and distinctly different from each other. ‘Silver and Rose’ has attractive solidly silvered foliage, ‘White Green’ has deep green leaves with strong cream veining, and ‘Rose Green’ has a more glaucous green leaf with pretty flush of pink in the stems and some leaf veining. Nice short varieties looking enthusiastic in their pots. Euphorbia’s and Ajuga’s looking smart, nice pot full’s of foliage.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Critical week for Christmas tree sales I’m sure. The weather here has just perked up and yesterday was fine, the colder snap and early retail consumer activity seems to have got Christmas sales moving. Hopefully not everyone has run out of money yet and those Christmas specials all get sold. I must admit we manage to avoid the annual tree costs by redecorating my own homemade tree. The current model knocked up out of a bit of 2x2 and an old wooden venetian blind is still going strong and always attracts plenty of attention, despite it coming last in the village show craft section! I’m not bitter. I always like a bit of creative thought to go into Christmas, you can’t buy it all off the shelf. Paper chains are one of my favourites, memories of sticking gummed paper strips together as a kid were revisited when I made some new ones a few years ago. This time I upgraded to a more subtle version by cutting the strips into 4, 8 and even 16. The smallest size made little loops just big enough to go round my little-finger tip, it was a bit fiddly and took forever to make any length but the overall effect was very dinky and looks great on the tree. They have kept for years by storing in a biscuit tin, just watch out if you try it yourself, you will need the strips with gum/glue all over the back not just the ends. Get the kids on it , should keep them quiet for hours. I must get out more.
No time for decorating this week, Nearly all Tuesday disappeared with a trip to get a vehicle recall issue sorted on the big van and a visit from the new bank manager to sort out the overdraft for the next year. Bit stressful as the years figures are vastly improved over the previous two disastrous seasons but still not a pretty sight. Luckily he could see the positive side and assuming he can get it all approved by his bosses we should be able to squeeze through another winter until the cash starts appearing again.
Wednesday was a very educational day with a trip to Lowaters nursery for an IPPS workshop on compost tea, biological controls and the latest pesticide updates. The sheer volume of info was slightly mind numbing by the end of the day but life on the growing side of things looks like getting increasingly challenging as more chemicals are lost (usually because growers don’t buy enough) and we try and maintain quality by nurturing more of natures assets to combat the weeds, pests and diseases. We are certainly going to have a go ourselves at extending our natural armoury to get a better balance and reduce even further our use of the occasional pesticide. It is an area with a rather ‘muck & magic’ feel but hearing from different grower experiences and advisors at the workshop has pushed me over the edge. It appears not to be a magic bullet to cure everything but it more of a general protectorant and tonic with combined benefits of higher disease and pest resistance and lower nutritional demand from artificial fertilisers. The large variety of ‘good biology’ growing in the tea which we brew up on site for a day or two before applying to the crops, gives it the broad spectrum of benefits. We already have a lot of the infrastructure in place to accommodate this new development so hopefully we can get it going quite easily. Thursday was another mind blower, having to proof read again 355 colour label designs. Then Friday was a rodent control seminar where I learnt some scary stuff. Brown rats can deform their skulls to enable them to get through a 13mm yes that’s not a typo, 13mm, hole, and mice 6mm! Mice are inquisitive but rats are neophobic (afraid of new things). So snappy traps are good for mice who will investigate them but with rats it is best to leave any traps unsprung for a week until they get used to them and then set them. Rats can breed at just 3 months old, 9 per litter, mice 3 weeks and 6 per litter. Rats can jump 1 metre vertically and drop 15m unharmed. Poor sight but excellent smell, touch and hearing. They will get used to deterrents like sonic devices so only use then intermittently to keep up the strangeness factor. That’s me done brain full.
Availability
Erysimum varieties are coming on stream already, beautifully bushy with the shades of crimson red on Red Jep already showing really well and even a flush of bud and a hint of colour on the very long flowering and hugely popular Bowles Mauve.
Hellebourus are just starting to come ready with a few new additions to the range. We are trying a new H. orientalis selection called Crown Dark Purple which is reported to flower after its first winter, it is certainly coming on nicely at the moment.
There are three great new H. viridus varieties which are looking very smart and distinctly different from each other. ‘Silver and Rose’ has attractive solidly silvered foliage, ‘White Green’ has deep green leaves with strong cream veining, and ‘Rose Green’ has a more glaucous green leaf with pretty flush of pink in the stems and some leaf veining. Nice short varieties looking enthusiastic in their pots. Euphorbia’s and Ajuga’s looking smart, nice pot full’s of foliage.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday 1 December 2014
Clouded Yellow Sunday
Good morning all.
I’m not sure if I was the only one but I managed to get past Black Friday with my wallet unscathed? I can’t help but get rather anxious about the blatant promotion of unbridled spending and consumption. It might be to do with the fact that I have got so tight on access to cash over the last few years with things the way they are for the plant production industry, or possibly the combination of waste and deception that goes on within a lot of retailing these days. Let’s face it there are very few real bargains in promotional events, either they were over priced before, dodgy quality or it’s old stock/models. Add an extra 30+% to the retail price so we can knock it off later. There are some outlets I know Caroline never buys at full price because if you wait a week or two it will all be discounted by massive amounts, what sort of message of trust, service and loyalty does this give to the buying public when they start to see through it? Ikea and John Lewis seem to be able to manage their customer’s expectations with a more sustainable approach which I assume means steadier sales and more loyal and appreciative customers, a nice asset to have.
Last Thursday was my quarterly therapy session at our NBIS (Nursery Business Improvement Scheme) meeting. The usual mix of figures and trends to analyse and experiences to share, coupled with a large dose of irreverent Mickey taking and laughter. We all overcame the hurdle of having to admit that we were horticulturists and not making any money years ago, and it’s been downhill from then. There are very few meetings that we don’t come away with information or ideas on how to improve something, save some money, reduce our workload or lower our risk levels. It can be a shockingly open discussion but all the
more refreshing for it and much cheaper than a session at The Priory. I often wonder where we would be and how isolated we would feel without this support over the years, it’s a shame that not more people have the vision to see what a valuable exercise something like this can be. I do have an admission to make. I had said that we were going to put QR codes on our new bespoke labels but it looks like this won’t happen now. We had always been a bit worried about their practical application and just how much they would actually get used, but the cleverness of the codes is so attractive. The codes are easy enough to generate and print but the target of the codes was where we could have fallen down. We had started to create mobile friendly web pages for each variety with the dawning realisation that we couldn’t realistically create enough captivating content to provide that gripping or invaluable user experience. We were planning to load up our best pictures and plant info but it is so easy now, and just as quick, to Google search for info or images. We may still do a few limited codes and new webpages to give more detailed background on the pots and the nursery etc, but to try and compete with Google for content is a touch ambitious for us on our weeny scale. The nail in the coffin was a tale of a QR code being issued on a nursery info leaflet taken by many thousands of gardeners at big retail shows, resulting in only 12 website visits. For most people life is just too short unless you are after a very specific piece of individual information. One very useful use I heard about was putting QR codes on house sale boards, taking you straight to the estate agents page for that house. Promoting a sale through an efficient and detailed individual service.
Had a very pleasant flash back this week when I reached for a beer. While in St Ives a couple of weeks ago I saw my first Clouded Yellow butterfly. Stunning colour in flight, invisible when it lands. I only guessed it's name by the reports of sightings on the local birding websites and a quick Google image search provided the backup. Later the same day we spotted another in Hayle and just to prove all good things come in threes I spotted another in the off-license that evening. The third was actually a St Austell wheat beer called Clouded Yellow, but it was just as impressive. Brought one or two home, hence the flashback.
Almost as good as being on holiday again.
Availability
Erysimum varieties are coming on stream already, beautifully bushy with the shades of crimson red on Red Jep already showing really well and even a flush of bud and a hint of colour on the very long flowering and hugely popular Bowles Mauve. Hellebourus are just starting to come ready with a few new additions to the range. We are trying a new H. orientalis selection called Crown Dark Purple which is reported to flower after its first winter, it is certainly coming on nicely at the moment. There are three great new H. viridus varieties which are looking very smart and distinctly different from each other. ‘Silver & Rose’ has attractive solidly silvered foliage, ‘White Green’ has deep green leaves with strong cream veining, and ‘Rose Green’ has a more glaucous green leaf with pretty flush of pink in the stems and some leaf veining. Nice short varieties looking enthusiastic in their pots.Euphorbia’s and Ajuga’s looking smart, nice pot full’s of foliage.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
I’m not sure if I was the only one but I managed to get past Black Friday with my wallet unscathed? I can’t help but get rather anxious about the blatant promotion of unbridled spending and consumption. It might be to do with the fact that I have got so tight on access to cash over the last few years with things the way they are for the plant production industry, or possibly the combination of waste and deception that goes on within a lot of retailing these days. Let’s face it there are very few real bargains in promotional events, either they were over priced before, dodgy quality or it’s old stock/models. Add an extra 30+% to the retail price so we can knock it off later. There are some outlets I know Caroline never buys at full price because if you wait a week or two it will all be discounted by massive amounts, what sort of message of trust, service and loyalty does this give to the buying public when they start to see through it? Ikea and John Lewis seem to be able to manage their customer’s expectations with a more sustainable approach which I assume means steadier sales and more loyal and appreciative customers, a nice asset to have.
Last Thursday was my quarterly therapy session at our NBIS (Nursery Business Improvement Scheme) meeting. The usual mix of figures and trends to analyse and experiences to share, coupled with a large dose of irreverent Mickey taking and laughter. We all overcame the hurdle of having to admit that we were horticulturists and not making any money years ago, and it’s been downhill from then. There are very few meetings that we don’t come away with information or ideas on how to improve something, save some money, reduce our workload or lower our risk levels. It can be a shockingly open discussion but all the
more refreshing for it and much cheaper than a session at The Priory. I often wonder where we would be and how isolated we would feel without this support over the years, it’s a shame that not more people have the vision to see what a valuable exercise something like this can be. I do have an admission to make. I had said that we were going to put QR codes on our new bespoke labels but it looks like this won’t happen now. We had always been a bit worried about their practical application and just how much they would actually get used, but the cleverness of the codes is so attractive. The codes are easy enough to generate and print but the target of the codes was where we could have fallen down. We had started to create mobile friendly web pages for each variety with the dawning realisation that we couldn’t realistically create enough captivating content to provide that gripping or invaluable user experience. We were planning to load up our best pictures and plant info but it is so easy now, and just as quick, to Google search for info or images. We may still do a few limited codes and new webpages to give more detailed background on the pots and the nursery etc, but to try and compete with Google for content is a touch ambitious for us on our weeny scale. The nail in the coffin was a tale of a QR code being issued on a nursery info leaflet taken by many thousands of gardeners at big retail shows, resulting in only 12 website visits. For most people life is just too short unless you are after a very specific piece of individual information. One very useful use I heard about was putting QR codes on house sale boards, taking you straight to the estate agents page for that house. Promoting a sale through an efficient and detailed individual service.
Had a very pleasant flash back this week when I reached for a beer. While in St Ives a couple of weeks ago I saw my first Clouded Yellow butterfly. Stunning colour in flight, invisible when it lands. I only guessed it's name by the reports of sightings on the local birding websites and a quick Google image search provided the backup. Later the same day we spotted another in Hayle and just to prove all good things come in threes I spotted another in the off-license that evening. The third was actually a St Austell wheat beer called Clouded Yellow, but it was just as impressive. Brought one or two home, hence the flashback.
Almost as good as being on holiday again.
Availability
Erysimum varieties are coming on stream already, beautifully bushy with the shades of crimson red on Red Jep already showing really well and even a flush of bud and a hint of colour on the very long flowering and hugely popular Bowles Mauve. Hellebourus are just starting to come ready with a few new additions to the range. We are trying a new H. orientalis selection called Crown Dark Purple which is reported to flower after its first winter, it is certainly coming on nicely at the moment. There are three great new H. viridus varieties which are looking very smart and distinctly different from each other. ‘Silver & Rose’ has attractive solidly silvered foliage, ‘White Green’ has deep green leaves with strong cream veining, and ‘Rose Green’ has a more glaucous green leaf with pretty flush of pink in the stems and some leaf veining. Nice short varieties looking enthusiastic in their pots.Euphorbia’s and Ajuga’s looking smart, nice pot full’s of foliage.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
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