Monday 24 October 2016

Hairy mumurings

Morning all,

Things are quietening down now on the sales front as much of the stock starts to go into hibernation, but the jobs on the nursery just keep on rolling out. We have had a hectic couple of weeks with loads of exciting projects getting underway. Deliveries have started to arrive with materials accumulating to get going on all the new winter tasks. The bank manager looks like being helpful so we have plunged into a fair bit of site investment. No real single big job but several smaller developments which have been waiting in the wings for a while.
The new roof structure to erect over the rather leaky lab and growth room is already more than halfway to being completed. A giant jigsaw, the guide being an A4 diagram with part numbers shown for instruction and with none of the parts labelled, it has taken a bit longer than I planned! A couple of parts were missing which hasn’t helped and the cover is not big enough but we’ll get there. The main structure is up, square and solid with not too many bits left over, just the fine tweaking, cleaning and cover to go on, so good job done there.
A few tunnel sides had rotted away over the years and the covers were only just hanging on, so a couple of us have been removing the old timber and replacing with new while the covers are still in place. It’s a tricky job but with one tunnel complete and another well on the way the results are very impressive, nice tight covers and the net sides neater than they were before we started.
The first batch of LED lights for the growth room arrived last week and I’ve used the weekend while the lab is empty, to get started and fit a few. With 120 units to fit I should have the first 18 up by this evening. It’s nearly as frustrating as those plug and play computers that don’t. The units are really neat, easy to hang and plug in, but taking down the old units, changing the shelf support structures and all the wiring to make them fit is monstrously time consuming. Good job it’s my cheap labour doing most of the work. Everything is on tight shelving and there is loads of unscrewing and refitting of bits that are just out of reach or on the borderline. It’s a good job there is no CCTV recording the colourful dialogue in there as yet another nut slips from my fingertips and drops down the back never to be seen again. The first bank is lit and looks great, there’s loads more working height on the shelves and 65%+ less electric used, so well worth it in the end.
We had two new company’s visit us with regards to our wind turbine maintenance, as our original installers are no more. One used an ultrasonic tester to check all our foundation bolts, just in case, and found all ok which was reassuring for the insurers and the new servicing company who came this week for the annual check and greasing. Natural Energy are the new team and they have certainly made a good impression so far. Very detailed reports, reduced the slight blade whistle on the one slightly noisier turbine (if you get up close) and no extra costs on top of the quoted rate which was very competitive.
On the birding front we have been graced with an expanding starling roost in our wind break this autumn. What started as 50 or 60 is now several hundred and if the weather is right we get a nice little murmuration in the late afternoon. They create quite a racket as they settle down for the night, a raucous alternative to the summer chatter of the house martins and swallows but evocative none the less. 16 Wood Sandpipers last weekend but had to rough it on Tresco for that one.
Availability highlights
We have a few winter performers still on offer and if anyone would like to make up a smaller order we will do our best to get it to you asap. Ideally a 15 tray minimum is best but we could stretch to 12 trays if you are fairly local or we are passing by. Still a few Asters looking great with bud and colour showing. We have several new varieties, many mildew free/resistant (ageratoides and frikartii types). The large intensely purple flowered but compact Purple Dome and the taller strong growing deep pink Andenken an Alma Pötschke are both carrying masses of bud just beginning to burst open. The little hardy Cyclamen coum are just getting started now, with a few flowers open and loads of bud to come. This range flowers from now until April, a real winter star.
The Hellebores coming on well and a few are ready to roll. We have a great new range of orientalis with several colours and forms (singles, doubles and spotted). They should be flowering from their first winter, in fact we have already spotted the occasional bud, so hopeful of some good sales there, They are certainly looking strong at the moment. There is a very pretty fresh crop of Tiarella in flower at the moment, should look good for a few weeks yet. Lamium and Ajuga are have attractive fairly evergreen foliage and can look good through the cooler months.
Wooden box collections
We have been collected up lots of wooden trays in recent weeks before things get too damp and cold, so if you have any needing collection just drop us an email and we will add you to the list of destinations.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Monday 10 October 2016

Hairy Impact

Morning all

Definitely a bit cooler now with summer seeming a long way off already, although we did spot a couple of quite big flocks of swallows seemingly heading north earlier this week, although they were feeding rather than making haste. Sales have taken their usual autumnal slide so the cash-flow is due to follow suit very soon which is always a bit scary. However the bank manager was on the phone earlier in the week and making positive noises so hopefully the planned expenditure on the new LED lighting in the growth room and other winter projects will get some support.
I’ve just frightened myself by checking out the new Winchester Green Impact online toolkit (run by the NUS). I had got quite excited at the launch a few weeks ago and raved about how much more valuable it could be as a means of further improving our environmental performance when compared with some other schemes we have joined in with over the years. Sure enough there is far more depth to this accreditation and plenty of help available, but the realisation that I have just added a whole extra layer to my workload is now hitting home. The main tricky bit is that the underlying drive of the project is to change the culture of organisations to a more sustainable outlook and so it doesn’t always sit easily with organisations that already have sustainability as a core ingredient of all they do. There are definitely some improvements that will be prompted by the scheme but it will take a while to get me to toe the line with filling in all the necessary evidence and written stuff needed for completion of the award levels. There looks like a minimum of two or three years to get to the top level and maybe longer if things don’t go smoothly, but then if there is a constant nudge to improve that will keep us interested and engaged. Apparently one of the benefits of the process is that we may get to meet some people in the organisation we may not have seen before, I’m hoping that isn’t the case here, although I do sometimes wonder where all the wages go each week.
Cold enough to light the wood-burner yesterday, a nice warm glow in the house but rather unsettling because of my lack of winter preparation. There are a few logs ready to use but it looks like being a hand to mouth winter as far as fuel is concerned unless I give in to buying in some timber. Not enough hours in the day to fit it all in, especially as it is now dark by the time I’m homeward bound.
Hockey match in a couple of hours, likely to be another thrashing against one of the best teams in the old farts league we are in. Still at least they are very nice about it, and it’s not raining or too cold and we won the quiz last night.

Availability highlights
Still a few Asters looking great with bud and colour showing. We have several new varieties, many mildew free/resistant (ageratoides and frikartii types). Starshine and Stardust are two of the new ones looking great. The large intensely purple flowered but compact Purple Dome and the taller strong growing deep pink Andenken an Alma Pötschke are both carrying masses of bud just beginning to burst open, both mildew resistant stunners.
The little hardy Cyclamen coum are just getting started now, with a few flowers open and loads of bud to come. This range flowers from now until April, a real winter star.
The Hellebores coming on well and a few are ready to roll. We have a great new range of orientalis with several colours and forms (singles, doubles and spotted). They should be flowering from their first winter so hopeful of some good sales there, They are certainly looking strong at the moment.
We still have a few Erigeron karvinskianus  in bud and flower. Prettily scrambling away and still in flower. We have a late flush of bud on many of the Anemone japonica varieties.
There is a very pretty fresh crop of Tiarella in flower at the moment, should look good for a few weeks yet. We have a few pink Erodiums in flower which are looking nice and should keep going until the frosts. Some of the summer potted Achillea are showing bud as they bulk up before their winter rest.

Wooden box collections
We have been collected up lots of wooden trays in recent weeks before things get too damp and cold, so if you have any needing collection just drop us an email and we will add you to the list of destinations. Lots collected and cleaned up already but always room for more.

Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Tuesday 4 October 2016

Light and Hairy

Morning all,
A lovely morning here after some heavy showers yesterday and a couple more nice days to come, let’s hope this weather holds a bit longer as we tweak every last bit of growth out of the plants before the cold sets in. Some stock has already come to a halt with the shortening days but it always amazes me how much growth still happens between now and Christmas with some lines. It’s those evergreens that just keep on rolling, some like the Erysimum we don’t even pot most until October otherwise they would be too big by the spring and of course the more obvious winter stars like the Helleborus and Cyclamen coum just come into their own. I would have loved to still have some Schizostylis to offer but they have already flown although if the weather holds we might get a few red ones again in a week or two, we’ll see. Despite reduced activity on the sales front, it’s been a week of building pressure with tunnels still to clear, the potting still to be finished, microprop pricking out still rushing through, the spring flowering bulbs arriving and materials for the ‘quiet time’ projects starting to arrive. The new roof for the lab and growth room is sat on a pallet in the yard begging to be put up and a host of electrical fittings and slotted angle iron are stacked up for the big growth room LED light conversion which the sooner it’s fitted the sooner it will start to repay itself. It has a target saving of 50% of the entire nursery electric consumption although I can’t quite believe it will be that good, I suspect I won’t be able to resist putting up a few extra lights to add to the output potential of the lab which would help payback but bump up consumption a bit. It will take 12+ weeks to get all the lights in due to the amount of shelf adjusting, new wiring and delays to most of the light unit delivery but as usual I will keep an eye on the daily consumption and report any improvement.
Luckily having some big projects has given me the chance for some retail therapy and improve my tool collection, a new wire stripper has improved productivity of the 150+ or so cables needed by the electrician and a mini rechargeable screwdriver and mini ratchet set is helping shelf reconstruction a lot, there must be 1,000 or so bolts to be undone and repositioned as well as 500+ screws to undo and tighten. Tried both out already and they work a treat although I suspect by the end of the job I may well be sick of the sight of them.
Must get on and get some more wood cut for winter, the pile is growing but not quickly enough, due mainly to a number of nursery distractions and my new toys to play with.

Availability highlights
A wide range of Asters are looking great with bud and colour showing. We have several new varieties, many mildew free/resistant (ageratoides and frikartii types). Starshine and Stardust are two of the new ones looking great, while the Rosenwitchel, Lady in Blue and Snowpillow are full one with their autumnal displays. The large intensely purple flowered but compact Purple Dome are carrying masses of bud just beginning to burst open, a stunner.
The little hardy Cyclamen coum are just getting started now, with a few flowers open and loads of bud to come. This range flowers from now until April, a real winter star. The Hellebores coming on well and a few are ready to roll. We have a great new range of orientalis with several colours and forms (singles, doubles and spotted). They should be flowering from their first winter so hopeful of some good sales there, They are certainly looking strong at the moment.
We still have Erigeron karvinskianus  in bud and flower. Prettily scrambling away it flowers for ever. We have a late flush of bud on many of the Anemone japonica varieties. There is a very pretty fresh crop of Tiarella in flower at the moment, should look good for a few weeks yet. We have a few pink Erodiums in flower which are looking nice and should keep going until the frosts. Some of the summer potted Achillea are showing bud as they bulk up before their winter rest.  There is also flower on the Anthemis Charme which is a bright new compact variety with numerous pretty small yellow daisies which flower for an age.

Wooden box collections
We have been making a concerted effort to collect up lots of wooden trays in recent weeks before things get too damp and cold so if you have any needing collection just drop us an email and we will add you to the list of destinations. Lots collected and cleaned up already but always room for more.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.