Hairy Nuts

Morning all,

Feeling slightly autumnal now with the cooler evenings drawing in, but we could still get a warm end to the summer, there is always hope. There are plenty of pointers to summers wane though, the blackberries are ripening and earlier in the week we had a pull and my nuts to get them in before the pesky squirrels get the lot. It’s a great little crop, they keep for months, are really tasty and good for you, but enough work in the cracking to slow down consumption to sustainable levels. More than can be said for the apples and blackberries which went straight into a crumble to be consumed all week with the accompanying ice cream. The combined effect of also having a couple of birthdays with associated massive cake supply has been disastrous on the waistline but it’s so difficult to resist. I am wondering if the fact that I am preparing the dessert course may be my downfall. Not only do I get a bit heavy handed on portion control but my theory that if I have an extra mouthful straight from the bowl avoiding the dish it doesn’t count may not be working. I was thinking along the lines of ‘does a tree falling in a forest make a noise if there is no one there to hear it?’ Surely if no one sees my indulgence it can’t count.
We have our last nursery tour of the summer coming up. We are hosting our NBIS (nursery business improvement scheme) group for one of our quarterly meetings. We might have to whizz around to have a bit of a tidy up so we don’t look too dishevelled. It’s quite tricky at this time of year as we finish off the summer crops and clean up ready to get the spring crops potted, it all gets a bit chaotic with some tunnels looking like a bomb has hit and others looking clean, orderly and full of fresh stock, I will just have to steer them in the right direction. Luckily they have all been here before and will know how it is as we juggle staff levels, costs and work demands, most nurseries are all the same. We have a load of new stuff to show off since their last visit which should be fun. all the new LED lights, new lab media room and cold store, new mess room, drainage improvements and I can enthral them with my wind turbine and energy saving graphs as well as all our Green Impact prizes. I might knock up a nice cardboard badge to promote my status as National Green Impact Environmental Hero of 2017 I’m sure they will ridicule me endlessly for that, but then that’s what friends are for!
Don’t forget the Bank Holiday coming up, we are working up to trying for a possible day off with a couple of attractive local options on offer. Crawleyfest (our closest village) looks promising with much sustenance with live music, and possibly getting the passports out for a daytrip to the Isle of Wight. We’ll see, We love living life on the edge!

Availability highlights
There is a fresh batch of Erigeron karvenskianus on line again with bud showing, although not in colour just yet. We have never had this as a late summer line before but last year our trial plant in the garden flowered almost till Christmas and has flowered again nonstop since about April. We don’t have many, I just wanted to try it out. There are a few nice short Nepeta Six Hills in bud at the moment. The dinky little Junior Walker has been trimmed again to make nice bushy plants with another flower flush due in a week or two.
The short blue Campanula carpatica is in bud again after an earlier trim, we have white too but not so much bud on these yet. Lots of the Asters are busting a gut to get into bud, The mildew free Ashvi, Asmo, Asram, Starshine and Eleven Purple now have well developed bud and the odd open flower. Best crop ever so don’t miss out. Lady in Blue, Jenny and Starlight have loads of bud developing.
The gold foliaged Tradescantia is carrying it’s contrasting blue flowers nicely, it seem to go on forever this variety.We have a fantastic crop of Ajuga in range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. The Hosta range is looking good again with a recent fresh summer growth spurt making a smart display. Sage Hot Lips has proved very popular again and we have a fresh batch of short trimmed plants with fresh bud on show. Dinky Erodium varieties are back again, low growing and flowering for ages.Fresh batches of Euphorbia are looking nice in a range of foliage colours
Fresh young plants of the very compact Coreopsis Illico are back on the list with fresh bud appearing, proving to be a popular new line for this year. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.