Wet and Hairy

Hi Everyone, 

Bit of a washout down here. The last few days have been extremely wet, close to a month's worth of rain in 3 days and a lot more to come over the next couple of days. We are only half way through refurbishing the drains but I'm glad to say they have done a pretty good job so far. They have struggled to cope during the heaviest of deluges but once the rainfall eases a bit the floods are clearing quite quickly, which will save a lot of damage. There is still quite a bit to do, but it is encouraging to see some positive results already.

On the opposite side of the equation, where we are trying to add water rather than take it away, the irrigation pumps have been a nightmare this week. I had noticed that our electric use had picked up a bit in the last few days and put it down to the extra LED's in the prop unit we have just started using again as the days shorten. However a trip into the pump shed told the true story, our variable speed pumps were continually running, alternately accelerating and slowing, which is definitely not right when I knew the irrigation was off. The meter was turning correctly one minute then running backward the next (we are not directly joined to the mains, the reverse running would push the water back into our storage tank). Phoned the pump company, who of course had never heard of such a thing happening before and helpfully suggested we got a local water engineer in to have a look. Hero Rod arrived and we had a play with all the valves etc to see if we could see what was actually happening. I turned off the main gate-valve from the tank to the pumps which confirmed the backflow issue into the tank. We will need to install a non-return valve to prevent this and that should cure the issue. Spoke to the pump set makers and they confirmed that each pump had its own NRV and perhaps one had failed. Now you would think that was the issue sorted, but life is never that simple here. I tried to reopen the main gate-valve and it just went round and round in my hand, it had also broken! Now, to get the gate valve off means emptying the tank, which we couldn't do because the valve was stuck shut. Greg and I dismantled the top of the valve (in full waterproof kit) and took the top off, no problem, but the gate itself was still stuck in position, preventing the water flow. Next I pulled the gate out with some grips and the contents of the 2 inch pipe with 80 cubic meters of water behind it, erupted vertically getting into every nook and cranny! Luckily the volume of water now inside my waterproof suit warmed up pretty quickly so it wasn't too uncomfortable at that point. To stem the flow I just had to fit the top of the valve back on, without the gate, so I leapt back into the fountain and managed to screw it back on. Slightly hysterical by this point, we were feeling quite smug at having overcome this hurdle, until I looked into the pump shed to find the whole thing under about 4 inches of water with my coat and boots floating around. I stood in there wondering where it had all come from, there was no sign of cascades or fountains but I did eventually spot the end of a hose under the water which had been left open during the earlier testing. Shed is now dry, the tank is emptying and the parts are ready to install once the rain holds off. As always I'm sure the installation will go smoothly without any hitches.

Availability list highlights

Salvia nemerosa varieties are still showing some good colour. Particularly good this week are fresh plants showing colour of Blue Marvel and Compact Caradonna. Fresh batch of Scabious Butterfly Blue looking good with buds appearing.

Ajuga's are still looking great, bold fresh foliage. 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. Last few Verbena Lollipop with plenty of colour but not too big. 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 as well as a few of the larger argutifolius. Some bud showing on the niger already. Attractive foliage colour on our range of Heuchera. Young and fresh. Those were the days. Sedum Autumn Joy are in bud. Classic late summer flowering and so good for the bees, trimmed back earlier to produce nice short plants. Munstead Dark Red are nearly there too

A few Tiarella have pushed out another flush of flower, but very few plants in stock. More in the spring. The sharp sighted among you might spot the Cyclamen hederifolium on the list this week. We had trouble getting the young plants this summer so we only have very limited numbers available so please don't order too many, we will probably have to restrict supply to make it fair for all. We have the longer flowering little Cyclamen coum very soon, which flowers all winter and into the spring, although only available this year in a mixed colour range and again in limited numbers.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries