Monday 18 June 2018

Breaking Hairy News

Morning all,
It's still all go. We seem to have missed out on the rain this week and today which is a shame, we are getting bit dry down here it hasn't rained for ages and the garden soil is getting very dry. After such a long cold early spring we are very grateful for a good run of near perfect weather for plant sales and I know you should be careful what you wish for but a couple of decent nights rain would be appreciated.
It's been a week of breaking and mending stuff this week. Some more exciting than others but all having an impact on performance. The electric buggies that stopped last week needed the mending man to take a look and see why the new batteries hadn't cured the lack of go. Luckily he was fairly close by on another job so a full trip from Oxford hadn't been required. Just as well because he had spotted the problem within a minute of looking at it. A small wire had come adrift from the starting solenoid, it must have got knocked out while the old very heavy batteries were being manoeuvred out of their cradle. A simple push back on was all that was needed and problem solved. Then on to the second buggy to find exactly the same fault, the same wire knocked off. How we laughed. Quite a relief that it wasn't something more serious or costly and it was good to touch base with a friendly new supplier who can supply us with the odd specialist part and help to fit it.
Another new contact was a local engineer who popped in on the off chance of picking up the odd mending job, we gave him our two broken metal hose trolleys which have been waiting for specialist attention for a couple of years. They went away for a couple of days and are back again, even better than before with a sturdier hose carrying central mesh cylinder and mount which had rusted away. One of our main printers died this week and was quickly replaced with a new one, an updated model which for the first ever actually did plug and play. Still a bit of fine tuning needed but very pleased with that.
The final break of the week was a bit more dramatic with Caroline managing to over bend her arm last Saturday night. A backwards tumble and a hand down to try and break the fall was all that was needed for a late night visit to casualty and an operation on Wednesday to pin it all back together. Ouch. A combination of a 'good' night out, live music, over excited dancing on the edge of a sloping and slightly overcrowded dance-floor tipped her over that edge (quite literally). There was no blame attached to me, the fact that I didn't catch her coming out of a spin was hardly mentioned at all! Luckily it was her left arm so many tasks are still within her scope with just a bit of extra help needed for those two handed jobs. Things were a bit more chaotic than usual as a result this week, but we got there in the end thanks to lots of help from friends and family doing plenty of ferrying about and donkey duties, so thanks go out to you all.

Availability highlights
The purple spikes of Liatris spicata won't be long, buds are there on stonking plants. More purple and rosy spikes are showing on the Lythrum varieties. We are into a fresh batch of Catananche which are just starting to send up their flower stems. The papery blue flowers are a delight, one of my favourites.
We are trying out another couple of short new Achillea varieties, Milly Red and Milly Rose, both are looking short and strong with bud and colour showing. We also have fresh short batched of the Achillea Dessert Eve varieties too. We have a chunky batch of Persicaria Inverleith coming into bud, don't hang about they won't be here long.
On the theme of striking foliage, Tradescantia Blue and Gold is doing its thing. Blue flowers are opening among the bright yellow strappy leaves. Very sunny. The dinky little flowers of Dianthus deltoidies Flashing Light are bursting open, don't miss out, masses of bud and the odd flash of cerise flower. We have fresh batches of Dalmation Digitalis on sale, the Purple variety is showing flower stem growth but still a little way from colour and the others (Peach and White) can only be a week behind. Very strong plants but not a huge number in stock. Gaillardia showing plenty of bud and colour now, very summery although only a few left.
The garden pinks Dianthus are all in bud, showing some colour and smelling delicious. We have a few of the taller old favourites, Doris, Gran's Favourite and Haytor White as well as the more compact Scent First range.
The massively popular Erigeron karvinskianus Stallone is sprouting flower buds, full of promise and the odd open flower. Both little tidy Erodiums are in bud and showing a few open flowers, neat and floriferous. Summery yellows are coming out now with Coreopsis in bud. Subtle cream flowers of the pretty Foam Flower (Tiarella) are showing nicely with plenty of bud to come. All the knockout dwarf Leucanthemum are holding swelling buds. The pale yellow Broadway Lights is now opening
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

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