Hairy New Year

Hi,
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all had a fun break and are as delighted as I am, to be back behind the grindstone. Crash diet on the cards after the calorie excesses of those few days off. When added to the gains achieved on holiday in November, it seems to add up to quite a bit. Good job I had my MOT before we went away!
I have just about had enough of dealing with our plant passport labels, it seems to be an endless job. Over-sticking of the perennial labels has progressed now to the letter L, so not too far to go, perhaps another couple of weeks. The herb printing plates are all replaced and old stock overprinted, so I can at last start printing the stock for the coming season. All the updated paperwork seems to be printing ok so far, although we won't know for sure until we get stuck into the new sales season.
Don't forget that the new year sees our new prices coming into operation. This modest rise, to try and compensate for increasing prices, has already just about been used up by the extra expenses involved with implementing the plant passport rules, even before we have to cover the 6.5% wages rise coming in April. We will have to increase efficiency and production rates again to balance the books, but I'm sure we will manage. At least we are involved in an expanding and exciting market at the moment, so hopefully this will all help. We are looking forward to the coming season with lots of the usual attractive stock as well as a few new additions to boost those impulse sales.
We are managing to fit in a few positive winter jobs between label sticking and plant tidying. The gates have had a fresh coat of paint in preparation for hanging a new nursery entrance sign. The old sign had just about faded away with delivery drivers forever missing us as a result. We have lashed out on a new wooden affair with raised wooden lettering, which might even give visitors the impression they are entering a professional nursery. It's a start anyway.
Plant passport changes have arrived ready or not!.
The official start date was the 14th of December and although we have, in theory, a 12 month grace period to get it all set up correctly, we are trying to get it right from the word GO. Like many producers we have had to take a bit of a punt on how we interpret the new rules but I am hoping you will not actually notice too much of a change.
We have tried to keep our implementation as seamless as we can, with the following changes taking place;.
- All individual plant labels from now on will have extra PP info on them (A- the genus and species of the plant, B-our producer plant passport number, C- a batch number, D- country of origin, and an image of the EU flag).
- All delivery notes have been redesigned to include the same info.
- All invoices have been redesigned to also include the same info.
All new colour labels will have the PP info printed on them, and all old label stock will be over-stuck with small sticky labels with PP info on each. The wooden herb labels, which we print ourselves, have had new printing plates made for them and the info will appear towards the bottom of the label.
The changes to the delivery note and invoice are so that you can easily comply with the latest regulations and conveniently
keep the PP records for the required three years.

Availability lists
Quite a short list at the moment as we are supposed to be in the depths of winter and we don't expect a huge rush on the sales front just yet. Signs of spring are already there with the spring bulbs shooting well and the odd tight bud threatening an appearance. The earliest snowdrops (Galanthus) are thrusting, with the odd flash of white poking out, not quite enough to say they are in full bud but given the mild temperatures at the moment they won't take long. We have a few more small Narcissus to look forward to this spring and they are looking strong. Crocus Remembrance are well up and I think showing signs of budding up, although that maybe wishful thinking on my part.
There is the odd flower opening on our home sown wild primroses (P. vulgaris) above tight little plants. The plants will expand as the temperatures and light levels improve.
We still have a few Cyclamen coum in bud and flower to see us through the next few weeks and other buds are showing while the weather is favourable (Armeria, Scabiosa, Dianthus, Primula).
There are quite a few evergreen plants looking happy enough over the winter period, so we can make a nice display up of stock with the promise of the good times ahead. Spring flowering Euphorbia, Bergenia and Doronicum are looking good and Leucanthemum, Papaver, Stachys and Digitalis are all looking smart. Polemonium Heaven Scent always puts on a great early show and they are currently sprouting attractive chunky bronze foliaged rosettes, before the buds appear in a few weeks.
Best wishes for a great New Year from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.