Hairy archaeology

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I'm a bit late. No potting team this morning as I decided we all needed a break from the relentless production pressure. We have had a productive week on the machine despite a bit of a breakdown yesterday which took me a while to sort out and so a bit of a break for everyone seemed the right thing to do. I suspect we will be back at it next Saturday but we'll see how thing go. Sales were still up to the previous week's levels which is just great but nuts at the same time.

The breakdown stopped my nursery walk round yesterday and by the time I had repaired an irrigation issue this morning the morning has disappeared.

No major news this end on the nursery, just busier as is the new norm. There was a young hedgehog rescue on Friday when we found one stuck in one of our water pipe chambers. It was a bit weak, but an overnight rest in Caroline's spare chicken house with water, bedding and some proper hedgehog food and it has perked up no end. He is eating well and quite active so the signs are good for a quick release, although we might hold on until they have finished harvesting our field which they started yesterday. I know hedgehogs are surprisingly quick but the monster cutting heads of the harvester could make for a sticky end.

I had a great distraction this week and a good excuse to finish work early (by 8.00pm). Caroline had noticed that the grass crop in our field was showing really clear markings where the iron age field boundaries run through our shallow chalk soil. In certain years, with some crops, they show up really well, but we have not been able to get a really good view before, other than the odd Google Earth shots, which can show some lines. Our nephew Tom got himself a little camera drone a couple of years ago and I had in mind that at some point it might come in handy. This was that point in time. Unfortunately he was tied up with harvest so couldn't fly for us, which meant mastering another skill on the hoof. Luckily the drone is cleverer than me. The weather has been almost ideal for several evenings this week, although last night was very dodgy in the wind and we had to abort the mission in a bit of a panic as we were a bit close to the turbines! Other than that it all went brilliantly and I have a collection of great shots showing quite a lot of detail. No real idea of what all the patches and lines mean, but it looks like a lot of activity was being carried out on our hill 2,500 years ago. I love the idea that people were doing their thing on the same spot that we do ours, all that time ago.

Here is one of the images with the nursery in the background, so you can get an idea of scale.

We trenched through the parallel ditches that come out of the nursery hedge, when putting in the electric cable for the turbines, each ditch is about 2m across and 1.5m deep and dug into solid chalk, so they are significant features.

Sadly there is even less money in prehistoric archaeology than nurseries, so yet another project to make me poorer. 

Availability list highlights

Monster herb sales just keep going, maintaining the pressure on availability. This week's sales again only just fell short of last week, by about 2 trays. There are still a few lines to pick from and some lines returning. I keep thinking we will start catching up on the range, but the sales beat me up each week and I find there is still a shortage. There is still lots of stock on the way so please don't be tempted to overdo your buying, there should be new stock as each week passes. The perennial range is also under pressure but this too should recover in the next few weeks as sales dip and potting catches up.

Main current highlights on the flowering stock front are;

Osteospermum Tresco Purple are erupting into bud now with the odd open flower. Hopefully enough for several more weeks! Erodium are still going strong, the flowers just go on and on. Erigeron Stallone are back in numbers for a minute or two. Bud showing but not colour on the current batches yet. I just can't hang on to them long enough to get the flowers open!

We don't have it often but we have a few Lythrum Blush coming into bud. A delightful pink as the name suggests. The Salvia Amythyst Lips are still there with colour just showing on a few plants. Only a handful left of Hot Lips at the moment. I have another couple of batches coming through, just not quite ready yet. Summer flowering Gaura are coming along nicely with buds on show and colour very close. Some varieties already sold out but a couple of others are on the list to replace them.

Fresh Helleborous foetidus and argutifolius too are now on the list, ready to plant out now for a flower show this winter. Other Helleborous to follow shortly. Smart, neat and fresh new crops of Little Moonshine are in bud and looking good, but only a few left of this batch.

Ajuga's are looking great, especially Burgundy Glow which is showing some bud too. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy hideout

Hi Everyone,

Bit of summer again today, but luckily for me it's cooling off again over the weekend. Good productive weather for the potting team who are back in tomorrow for a bit of weekend overtime in an effort to make headway into the mountain of stuff to do. Luckily the good plant sales have made tunnel clearing fairly quick and efficient so we haven't had to stop to make any new space, just need to find time after the orders are got under control each week. Not only do we have a few extra plants to pot to cope with the great sales, but we are still trying to get stuck into next Springs potting and with sales this week running at double the same week last year, the time just runs away from us and before we know it I'm asking for a weekend team to keep the cogs turning a bit longer. Each week I'm saying it will be the last weekend potting and at some point I will be right, just not yet.
I still can't really get my head round what is going on in the world and how so much has changed over such a short time. The ongoing stories from around the world on the virus and economic chaos are too much to take in for a simple man, so I'm keeping my head down and just getting on with what I can. Other than a couple of emergency trips out in the van I have only left the site once since the middle of March, which is scary when you think about how long ago that was. Luckily for me everyone has come here instead, to keep us occupied, and Caroline has dodged out for groceries etc every couple of weeks to keep us going. The milkman, weekly Riverford veg-box and monthly cheese and chocolate deliveries have kept the essentials coming in and suddenly it is the middle of July. Working 12hrs+ a day for 7 days a week doesn't actually leave much time to miss anything else, but it has been a bit intense without the usual other distractions that gave my brain a bit of a holiday during the week. No gigs, dancing, meals out and the prospect of doing it all comfortably again still a long way off I feel. To be fair I do get a daily holiday, at tea time when everyone else has slipped away. Once my mug of tea magically appears I'm on the Aspects Holidays webcam of our beach (Porthmeor) in St Ives for a few minutes R and R. Our house overlooks the beach from the far end, so it's a place we know very well. When I say 'our house', what I mean is it's ours for two weeks in November! It has of course been really quiet there up, until a few days ago. It is too far away for a day trip for most, so even in the recent heat-wave it was still pretty deserted. The crowds have been building in the last few days and today was the busiest I've seen it, so there are definitely people out there getting stuck back into things. That must be such a relief to the businesses and local population that rely on that trade to survive. I hope they hang on until we make it back there, we always love to support the local eating and drinking establishments while on our break and are desperate to do so again.

Availability list highlights
Yet another big run on herbs last week, so the list has shrunk again this week. This week's sales only just fell short of last week, which itself was huge. There are still a few lines to pick from and some lines returning, they are just not coming back as quickly as others drop off! There is still more stock on the way just not quite ready, so please don't be tempted to overdo your buying, there will be new stock as each week passes. The perennial range has shrunk a bit too under the relentless pressure, although I suspect that the number of other distractions for the buying public and lateness in the season will draw back sales a bit now, mind you I've been thinking that for a few weeks and it hasn't happened yet..

Main current highlights on the flowering stock front are;
Osteospermum Tresco Purple are on the list again in bud. Hopefully enough for several more weeks!
The Salvia Hot Lips and Amythyst Lips are back in numbers now. Loads of buds are appearing now, after my extra trimming to get super bushy plants.
Summer flowering Gaura are coming along nicely with buds on show and colour very close. The fab compact Rudbeckia Little Goldstar have just started to produce their flower stems, with tight bud appearing. A little while before colour shows but the promise is there.
Fresh Helleborous foetidus and argutifolius too are now on the list, ready to plant out now for a flower show this winter. Other Helleborous to follow shortly.
Smart, neat and fresh new crops of Achillea Moonshine and Little Moonshine are in bud and looking good. Ajuga's are looking great, especially Burgundy Glow.
Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy haircuts

Hi Everyone,

Perfect weather for us, bright and cheery but cool enough to crack on at full pace on the tunnel clearance and potting. Hopefully it is good for you too, the tills must still be ringing judging by the level of orders last week. Having had a slightly quieter week previously and a better week on potting, we reverted back to manic sales and not enough potting! Had to have a team in again this morning to try and catch up a bit, but at the moment with next year's crops arriving at the same time as the late summer crops, it feels like we are under pressure again. Definitely not grumbling though, we are very lucky to be so busy and be given the chance to work our way out of all the earlier difficulties. As each week goes by things look a little easier although the battle to support the microprop lab out is proving a bit of a dampener. It is such a shame because the lab was performing it's best ever for the rolling year up to the end of December. At least that does give us the incentive that once back on track, it should regain that position, it just might take a year or two.
The continuing high sales levels are brilliant in the long term, but it is constantly putting availability and stock levels under pressure which I sometimes find difficult to cope with on a week by week and day to day basis. I can't help feeling guilty when we run out of stuff or the availability list looks a bit depleted so do forgive me if I sound a bit stressed if you contact me during the week. We don't like to let anyone down, but we will continue to work through very bewildering times and do the best we can to keep everyone happy.
Stopped early at eight last night so I could make time for an emergency home haircut, things were getting out of hand. No excuse really, I always get a home cut, it helps Caroline justify the mortgage she puts out for her trips for a tidy up. Luckily she had a cut immediately before the lockdown so got away with the first period, although various new bits of retaining kit have made an appearance in recent weeks trying to hold things back. We haven't yet embraced the new freedoms on what we
could now get up, to so no appointment in the diary yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. Greg has his first cut booked for this afternoon, for someone who loves a sharp and very regular cut I think he has resorted to borrowing some of Caroline's bands to keep things in check. There is a definite element of a continental footballers style at the moment, so we look forward to seeing the new creation later. I think that is the highlight of the upcoming weekend, lots of label printing and seed sowing and Caroline has a load of microprop modules to prepare for delivery on Monday morning. Making hay while the sun shines and all that.
After all that hot weather we thought the farm harvest might have got started early, but it seems not. The cooler wetter weather has slowed things up quite a bit but hopefully to the benefit of the yield for most crops. It had been looking a bit thin earlier with the weather being so erratic. Too wet in the winter and early spring to sow crops, then after very late drilling a really long hot and very dry spell, a quick splash of rain then back to hot and dry, it didn't look good. Hopefully the recent change will have come just in time for the later maturing crops and not spoil the early ones. A lot of fingers crossed!
Availability list highlights
A massive run again on herbs last week after I managed to produce a list last weekend. I have done one again for this week but with herb sales last week reaching close to the whole of July last year, stocks are again under pressure. There is more stock on the way just not quite ready, so please don't be tempted to overdo your buying, there will be new stock as each week passes.

Main current highlights on the flowering stock front are;
Osteospermum Tresco Purple are on the list again in bud, as well as just a few plants of the other varieties. Hopefully enough TP for several more weeks!
The Salvia Hot Lips and Amythyst Lips are back in numbers now. Loads of buds are appearing now, after my extra trimming to get super bushy plants. Summer flowering Gaura are coming along nicely with buds on show and colour very close.
The fab compact Rudbeckia Little Goldstar have just started to produce their flower stems, with tight bud appearing. A little while before colour shows but the promise is there.
Fresh Helleborous foetidus and argutifolius too are now on the list, ready to plant out now for a flower show this winter. Other Helleborous to follow shortly.
Nice neat and fresh new crops of Achillea Moonshine and Little Moonshine are in bud and looking good. Ajuga's are looking smart, especially Burgundy Glow.
Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy holidays

Hi Everyone,
All that heat seems like a distant memory today as the official restarting of the holiday season gets underway. After the chaos on the beaches in the sunshine a short while ago, I suspect a damp, cool and breezy weekend is actually the perfect start for most of those in charge if not for those lucky enough to get away. It should allow everyone to get the hang of things before any huge waves of enthusiasm threaten to overcome all the new arrangements. The press don't exactly help with all the talk of Super Saturday, whipping up the excitement levels when most of us I suspect just want to be sensible and keep safe. It's great that things are opening up again but we will still have to cope with living with the virus for a long while yet I suspect. Any thought of a holiday is a little way off for us just yet, 7 days a week in the relatively safe environment of the nursery is just fine with us. It's a long haul back to recovery and our time has to be spent getting things as right as we can make them for the next few months, to ensure things all hold together. The sales chaos of the last few weeks which resulted in such big stock shortages is showing some signs of easing, although it is all still a bit hand to mouth (with gloves on). The range of perennials has expanded slightly this week and I'm hoping it will continue to do so and joy of joy I have been able to put a herb list together for the first time for several weeks. The herbs stocks are still pretty restricted in range and numbers for some lines so there will still need to be a bit of flexibility in the system  but we do have some good numbers now of some of the most popular mints, parsley, sage, coriander, basil etc. We will just have to see how it goes, but with herb demand being so spectacularly high I just don't know quite how it will play out. We will continue to offer the option of us putting together a herb mix for you, as this seems to have gone down quite well with many customers and it does ensure you get the best mix we have to offer at that moment. We got back to some serious potting this week despite the continuing high sales demand. I am hoping to catch up even more this week as I know we have a couple more big module deliveries on the way and we need to be prepared for those. It's all go! I ordered all the spring bulbs last week and checked up on the continuing supply of the coir pots from our village in Sri Lanka. It has been such a rollercoaster over the last few months and in the early days, when we feared the worst, I did have to warn the importer that we may have to reduce our order for the rest of the year. This did cause some consternation both here and in Sri Lanka, because we are the main outlet for this small village unit and it would have made a big hole in their finances. Luckily it quite quickly became apparent that we were going to shift a lot of pots off site through the big plant giveaway, which took away the production blockage and allowed us to get back into full swing. In fact by the time we add the plants given away to the plants sold and those potted for summer sale, we will have used more pots than ever this year, so we definitely will need all three loads. This was great news for all but still left the worry of how the virus could affect potentially affect the villagers, the worker attendance over there, and possibly delay delivery. Luckily the production process is quite long, we always place the orders a year or so in advance and make sure we have plenty in stock here too, so we knew we had a little bit of leeway. We feared the worst with a less developed country, but in fact they coped with it all really well with low infection and death rates in the country as a whole and there was just a 3 week factory/barn shutdown. Our first load was already completed before the close down and that came in a couple of weeks ago, the next load should be here at the end of this month and the last comes in October, ready for some late autumn potting and to hold in store for the spring rush. Relief all round after all that excitement.
Availability list highlights
We will all have to continue to be a bit more flexible than usual if we are to get all the stock delivered over the coming weeks, but as always we will be doing our best, most of the time it seems to be working ok, bar the very occasional brain freeze on my part. Main current highlights on the flowering stock front are; Osteospermum Tresco Purple are back on the list again, hopefully enough for several more weeks! There are more batches on the way for these beauties too. The Salvia Hot Lips and Amythyst Lips are back in numbers this week! Buds are appearing now, despite my extra trimming to get super bushy plants. Summer flowering Gaura are coming along nicely with buds on show and colour very close. Fresh batches of Salvia nemerosa varieties are on the list. Buds showing but only small numbers available. Couldn't get any more stock! Red/purple foliage of Lysmachia Firecracker nicely on show with short bushy plants. Only have a few. Fresh Helleborous foetidus on the list, ready to plant out now for a flower show this winter. Other Helleborous to follow shortly.
Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.