Tuesday 7 November 2017

Snug and Hairy

Morning all,

Damp and autumnal here, the sun is desperately trying to shift the fog and in an hour or two it might just do it. Glad to have the spaced and refitted grow-lights on in the weaning tunnel where all those baby plants from the lab have come out to try and romp away in some rather cool damp weather. That extra bit of help does seem to con them into thinking a late summer is still hanging around and growth responses are looking good. Glad we only have a small area for this type of input as it does make the meter turn! Good job the wind turbines are more active at this time of year.
The log burner is now well warmed up, chimney swept and toasty evenings dozing off in the glow are becoming the norm. A great time of year for looking for any cosying up opportunities. A lovely touch of luxury was added here a couple of weeks ago with the retirement of our ancient set of bath towels. I suspect they were a wedding present (1984, married at just 14!) they have certainly been around a while reaching that stage of life when they felt a bit like sandpaper and rub off the water rather than soaking it off. The replacements are amazingly thick, soft and absorbent, pure joy to use, I only need to walk close by and all moisture wicks away. Mind you they worked out a bit expensive as they broke the washing machine on their first visit. To be fair it had been complaining about its work-load for ages and the mending man had written it off last time saying that the time was approaching for a new one. Anyway the new one is super efficient, doing some washes with unheated water and adding its own air bubbles to help things along, the wonders of modern technology (or creative marketing).
New drainage pipe has arrived, time to get on a dig some ditches. Nice to get stuck into some winter site improvements again. Just wait ‘till next year the nursery is going to be so productive and efficient we’ll be millionaires. If only.

Winter delivery minimum orders
Ok I know it’s not quite winter yet, but for the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.

Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too.  The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. The Erodium Bishops Form is making the most of the late warmth and flowering nicely.
We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Tiarella are having a last minute flush of foamy flowers. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.

Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.

Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

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