Hairy developments

Hi Everyone,

A bit drier all round this week, but wetter too! We had a couple of downpours which tested the drains again (passed) and we got the irrigation up and running after the excitement of last week. I lashed out, upgrading the storage tank and pump fittings to all stainless steel and the short flexible delivery pipe, to a 2 inch reinforced rubber version. All much more expensive than the existing set up, which was a combination of galvanised (rusting) iron, plastic and a very rigid but, in theory flexible, spiralled delivery hose. The spirals ran inside the pipe too, so it was almost impossible to seal and when plastic fittings meet metal it isn't always a good match, especially as you can't tighten the plastic as much as you would like. Anyway the fittings where lovely, strong and shiny and the hose, massively over specified, but exactly what I wanted, so well worth the extravagance. It went together like a dream with not a drip in sight, other than possibly the fitter!

We are looking to make a few changes round the nursery on the back of having to get ourselves more Covid safe for the winter. The old loos are on the way out, to make way for a new set of 8, with individual doors to the outside world. Let's hope the drains are up to it. It seemed a big price to pay to cope with a possibly short term problem, but we love the extra benefits we gain. PIR led lights, lots of insulation, lots of basins, more space, efficient heaters, easy clean surfaces, self closing doors, automatic ventilation and hopefully more a pleasurable, convenient and efficient use of everyone's time. It is a specialist local company building the unit, so we are getting cash back into the economy too.

We are also having a refresh of our despatch area and potting tunnel to provide a spaced out heated area, for people to have their breaks in some comfort. Our usual arrangement of huddling together round a couple of heaters in a small stuffy insulated rooms is the last place we would feel comfortable in now, so a new way had to be found. Despatch is a light, airy and open area, where, while the weather is warm enough, we often have our breaks, so an upgrade here was the only sensible option. Local electricians are coming in to completely overhaul the system, installing small suspended low power infra-red radiant heaters over each individual workstation. Several overriding controls will keep power use to a minimum, like PIR sensors so each one will only turn on when someone is under it. It is bound to increase energy use, but we export a lot of our power from the turbines in the winter, which gives us a return of less than 5p a unit, so the real cost will be manageable. Some payback over the years in extra output in such a 'happy and cosy' workspace might help too, fingers crossed.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of good news about at the moment but I have just heard about the new government 'Green Homes Grant Scheme' for domestic homes (announced this week), which could be useful to anyone looking to bump up their environmental performance. You can get a grant of two thirds of the cost of certain home improvements, up to a maximum of £5,000, but you will need to be quick as it has a limited total fund and when it's gone it stops. 

Wooden box returns

We have made a good start on collecting up our wooden boxes as this crazy season slows up for the autumn and winter. The barn is filling really quickly with cleaned, repaired and dried trays all ready for 2021 sales to get going again. We are a week or two later than usual starting this task, due to the volume of sales still going on, but if you haven't heard from us yet and have a collection ready to be picked up please do drop me a line.

Availability list highlights

Last few Verbena Lollipop with plenty of colour but not too big. Ajuga's are still looking great, bold fresh foliage. Fresh batch of Scabious Butterfly Blue looking good with buds appearing. We have a nice range of the evergreen Bergenia's in stock. Watch out for the more unusual Dumbo which as it matures produces really big fleshy and rather hairy leaves, but this is a actually deciduous variety. It will lose its leaves in a few weeks before re-growing in the spring with a flush of pale pink flowers preceding the fresh new leaves.

Strong batch of Nepeta Walkers Low back on the list. As the time moves on we shift into Aster season. Only a few varieties left now. Healthy chunky stock most with buds showing. The ever popular Erigeron Stallone with bud on show but no colour showing just yet. In our garden they will often still be showing colour at Christmas. Fresh Helleborous are now on the list, ready to plant out now for a flower show this winter. We have niger and orientalis on the list now with some bud showing on the niger already.

Attractive foliage colour on our range of Heuchera. Young and fresh. Those were the days. A few Tiarella have pushed out another flush of flower, but very few plants in stock. More in the spring. Cyclamen hederifolium on the list again this week. Not too many left. We have the longer flowering little Cyclamen coum on the list now as well. Only the first few ready at the moment but they will flower all winter and into the spring. Only available this year in a mixed colour range and again in limited numbers.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries