A very pleasant day on the nursery, not too hot, not too cold, dry enough to get things done and breezy enough to get the turbines earning their keep. Still not enough hours in the day but you can’t have it all.
Although sales are slightly less rampant than earlier in the year, the other jobs are starting to mount up, plants and weeds grow so fast, new plants arrive for next year’s output and we try and clear up remaining old stock in the tunnels to clean up and start again. Then there is all the planning for improvements for next year, we need to keep pushing the productivity boundaries to offset the big wage increases we are paying and those still to come.
We have had a couple of fortuitous visitations in the last couple of weeks both offering by-products that they wanted to find a home for and that we might be able to use. One was graded out (too small) dried wood chip and bark from a biomass fuel company and freshly chipped tree surgeon output (of the green and woody variety). We are testing the bark for some specific jobs we have and are looking to use the fresh chippings as a mulch over some of our un-cropped outside areas. We try to minimise the weeds around our site to reduce encroachment into the crops and this helps keep expensive hand weeding to a minimum. We already use old coir pots as a mulch in the more sheltered spots but the chips give us another tool to reduce weed spraying and hopefully save on cost.
The microprop lab has been on a bit of a knife edge recently because of big wages increases (70+% of costs) and foreign competition keeping prices down. But we are feeling a bit more confident now after negotiating enough of a price rise to at least keep pace with the wage rise. Production may slip back over time depending on how well the foreign labs perform and if sales of our customers suffer due to the higher prices. It seems a shame that premium products selling at high prices to the consumer may all be propagated abroad for the want of 10-20p. Unfortunately that’s the world we live in and we do have a choice as to what we do about it. Anyway the choice has been made to do a bit more investment into it, the growth room roof leaks, the cold store has sagged to the ground and won’t stand up to another winter and we still haven’t completed the change from florescent tubes to LED’s on the growth room shelves. We are going to make the investments convertible each having an alternative use so if the lab slips away we can use them for instead for nursery output. Just the LED’s have a specific growth room use and they could pay for themselves very quickly, so the sooner they are in the better. Now then where did I see that credit card application form.
Availability highlights
This year’s hardy Fuchsia’s are wonderfully bushy plants and showing their first of masses of flower buds. The first of the summer flowering Crocosmia are producing flower bud as the spikes appear from the amongst the upright foliage. A great colour selection but not huge numbers left. The golden Sunglow was especially popular last year. It must be summer, the Hemerocallis varieties are now producing their flower shoots. We have some stonking Lobelia Salmon with their buds beginning to form at the top of their colourful stems. I have seen the odd flower head forming in the Eucomis. Short stocky pale yellow and exotic flower spikes. First buds and some opening flower in our crop of white Platycodon Astra are there. A dwarf Balloon flower, it’s a beauty. The first of the buds are showing on most of our mini garden Chrysanthemum range. There will be masses to follow of these non frost hardy stunners. Tight compact plants with very dinky flowers in a great colour range. Fresh crops of Phlox are beginning to bud. Flame is a compact series, pretty mildew resistant in a good colour range. We have a fresh crop of short and bushy Coreopsis Moonshine and Zagreb and the first buds have now appeared. Attractive feathery foliage under the small yellow daisy blooms, one of my favourites. Many of the Echinacea varieties are starting to produce their upright flower stem. Strong purple foliage of Oxalis triangularis contrasts fantastically with delicate pale pink flowers.
Two of our most popular lines this season are on stream and in bud. Erigeron karvinskianus are bushy and showing colour and Salvia Hot Lips are there with bud and the odd flash of puckering lips. The Gaillardia varieties are producing masses of bud now, a blaze of colour to come. We have some very strong Anemone japonica varieties already producing signs of flower shoots, they must think it’s summer too. Seranade and September Charm looking particularly good. Bright gold foliage contrasts nicely with the deep blue flowers of Tradescantia Blue and Gold making it a popular choice.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
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