Hairy Risks

Hi
Still topping up the water aquifer levels over the past week, which must be good news for next year's supplies locally. We had one lull in the dampness and managed to get one tunnel recovered, just 5 to go. I'm hoping the brighter forecast for early next week will appear as predicted, as I have taken a gamble and removed another two more covers in anticipation. It doesn't take us very long to attach a new cover, it's the preparation that can put a spanner in the works. It's not until you get the old cover off that you can really see the condition of the wooden beams along the tunnel edge and if the odd one has rotted or split,
then we need to get it replaced before the new cover goes back on. It doesn't take a huge amount of time or resources but it just adds in an irritating delay and the dreams of getting two covered in a day evaporate. With a good run we might get them all done next week which would be perfect timing, before temperatures drop and the tunnel sheets get less stretchy.
As the potting slows right up, just the odd little batch still going through, and sales drop away, we get started on the autumn clear out and clean up. All through the main season we just don't have the time to keep on top of all the housekeeping, sales and production output, naturally take priority. Now pressure on storage space in the barn builds as we squeeze all in the cleaned up wooden boxes to store dry through the winter. Suddenly the quantity of recycling materials we have stored away in there becomes a huge inconvenience, so to clear that away and make a load of space is very gratifying to all. Today we managed to take 16 pallets of material to Eco Gen Recycling in Alresford which is just a few miles away. The plastic tubs we use in the lab all get recycled along with the old tunnel sheets and big card boxes that the pots are delivered in all find a home there. The recycling collections we get from the local waste collectors are like many, more expensive and very restricted in what they will take away, so to get a higher percentage of our waste recycled we have to organise collecting stuff together ourselves and then finding other parties to help out on the recycling. It is surprising how much extra we can get recycled rather than incinerated with a bit of effort.
Tunnel clearing continues into the autumn as we amalgamate the remaining pots from some of the summer and autumn plant batches. It's another satisfying job, transforming the tunnel from a bomb site to a clear and clean space ready to produce mega crops again next spring. We aim to have 8 or so empty tunnels ready to put the potted bulbs down onto in a month or two, and for the late winter and early spring potting which needs a home before more space appears after the anticipated early spring sales. It's all go.
Time for a bit of shopping too. Our next big batch of card based colour pot labels is ordered which will, unfortunately for me, trigger a mind numbing session of proof reading in few weeks, before the actual print run. We are delighted and relieved how the new card labels we introduced last year, went down, we used about 160,000 which were used in about 50% of all the stock sold, without any know issues and the labels we have left are still in mint condition. These new initiatives are always a bit of a worry, however much testing you do beforehand, so to be able to order 288,000 for next year with confidence is a nice position to be in (until the invoice appears). As the first outdoor plant supplier to develop and commit to using this type of thing, we might even make a bit more fuss about it this year and perhaps mention it to the trade press, apparently single-use plastic avoidance is quite the in thing these days.

Wooden box collections
We are just about done with the collections of our wooden boxes, just a couple of outlying ones still to gather in. If anyone still has any trays ready to go, just drop me a line and we will pop in when next close by. Thanks for all your help, on the whole we have kept up a great return rate, which helps the whole system continue to work sustainably.

Availability highlights
Autumn flowering Cyclamen hederifolium are now showing great colour. Cyclamen coum varieties are now beginning to bud up and flower. These hardy stars will flower from now until mid Spring. Nicely subtle bloomers with a constant feed of new flower rather than one huge flush. Autumn evergreen coloured foliage seems to be a popular theme among the remaining stock in flower, We have fab looking Ajuga in an attractive range along with the lovely Euphorbia's. Winter interest lines in evergreens bowls along too, with Hellebore orientalis in stock and the Bergenia's coming back on line.
Yet another fresh batch of Erigeron Stallone is in bud, it just goes on and on. Autumn is here with Sedum Autumn Joy in bud. We have trimmed them short to flower low, but the flowers are still making a great show. The neat little Erodiums are still flowering well. Neat and tidy, they will flower for ages. We have an ongoing flower flush on the ever popular Scabiosa Butterfly Blue.

Have a great week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.