Old Hairy Records

Morning all,
A whole week at work is a bit of a shock, although not everyone quite made the full week with a collection of colds, ailments and jury service making a dent in appearances after the festive break. Hoping for a bigger show next week as PST (pre- season tension) is beginning to build already and I'm getting desperate to cut back more of the earliest crops to get them in perfect condition for those early sales. Spring seems a long way off before Christmas but now it's nearly halfway through January and there is plenty of plant activity, it is suddenly nearly here. If the weather doesn't get too rough we will be fine and that little bit of pressure does give everyone a bit more focus and direction in what can be a difficult time of year to find motivation, especially after recent excitement and excesses.
We did really well and caught up with the pricking out from the microprop lab this week, we have loads of pre-sold crops now growing away and looking really strong, which is a great position to be in. The combination of LED growlights, extra light getting into the tunnel after the 'trimming back' of the hedge and re-jigged heating regime seem to be paying dividends. The heating bill has dropped, although the weather has been favourable too which helps. Greg has a constant battle keeping the rats at bay, as every winter they are attracted to the warmth and potential food in that tunnel, but this year so far the damage is minimal after a successful ongoing control strategy. Looking forward to getting those crops through to a really good grade out, delivered and invoiced in a few weeks time. It's always nervous time on the cash-flow front as we juggle all the ins and outs over the winter and early spring and any early sales are a help.
The new office construction took another big step forwards with the laying of the levelling pad of concrete. It took a long time to prepare for its arrival, getting all the levels right and edges secure enough not to move under the pressure and just half an hour to lay. We got the quantity ordered just right with a tiny excess which we used to fill a hole in the yard and the resulting pad looks great. Hoping to get the under-floor joists joined up and mounted on the foundation pads over the weekend, ready for building upwards next week. Exciting stuff.
This week saw a fab personal rediscovery after we found that you can get bluetooth enabled turntables for playing those old forgotten LP's. About a year ago I tried to revive our old deck, buying a new belt drive and dismantling everything, all to no avail. I also couldn't find a place to site a deck close enough to the current system to be able to wire it in so gave up. Now we have a new deck with no wires in a different room and it's brilliant. Over 200 LP's are now being rediscovered, a few scratches and a lot of dust add their own background story to when we last played these. I'm sure digital will win out overall, but it has been great to hear some classics again. Old fart reliving his youth again, slightly sad but old enough not to care!
Availability highlights
There are a few vivid purple flowers beginning to show among the super hardy Primula Wanda, there will be loads more as we move towards spring. Our wild primrose (P. vulgaris) are also bursting into flower already. We saved the seed from the wood on top of our hill and it was worth the effort.
We have a few spring flowering bulbs showing signs of good growth and even the odd bud on a few (Crocus Remembrance, and Scilla). Lots more to follow.
Helleborus orientalis in a variety of colours are now well under way, for that winter interest and early exotic colour. Stonking bushy plants which are mostly from a strain (Crown series) that has a high percentage of first season flowering. I hardly dare mention it, but there are a few plants in bud already. I haven't put them all on the list as being in bud as there aren't that many yet and stocks are beginning to run a bit low anyway.
The winter and spring flowering Cyclamen coum varieties we grow are now showing colour. The strain we grow has an exceptionally long flowering season with colour usually showing from November through to March and even April. They rarely get swamped with masses of flower at any one time, they just keep going on, producing a pretty and dainty show for ages. We still have a few of the hardy autumn flowering Cyclamen (hederifolium) left with attractive evergreen silvered winter foliage. We have a load planted in the garden by a hedge and they make a lovely winter ground covering.
The ever popular Erysimums are looking fresh and strong as we approach the spring. I have marked a few varieties with bud although it will be a little while before they show much colour, but the promise is there.
I'm not sure for how long they will continue flowering but we have late potted batches of Armeria maritima (both the pink and the white forms) which are in flower with more bud still coming.
Compact and chunky Leucathemums are generally pretty evergreen throughout the winter. There are several varieties looking very strong. Foliage continues to be of interest at this time of year and there are some good shows of colour from the Carex Evergold, Ajuga, Lamium and Euphorbia.
Have a great New Year from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.