Hairy team

Morning all,

Christmas is creeping up quickly, it's Secret Santa on Monday, I must get out and to do my gift shopping. In the light of high covid rates and the appearance of the new variant, we opted for an in-house socially distanced gathering in despatch, which is big and airy. Jacket potatoes and a selection of stews is the order of the day, followed up with mince pies and brownies, and all is, I believe, organised and ready to roll. Our decorating expert Danny is currently erecting a light display to rival any Mickey Mouse grotto and the heaters will be turned up to max. What excitement there is in store for us all.

The first set of replacement printing screens arrived this week, along with some slower drying ink and thinners, and yesterday I bit the bullet and had a go with them. It's not a job I used to look forward too, as it was fraught with impending disaster. Large volumes of permanent quick drying thick black ink and clumsy old folk are never a comfortable mix. Last time I managed to relegate a perfectly nice old sweatshirt to decorating duties within minutes of starting to 'help out'.

Thankfully one disastrous session actually prompted new investigations and some major improvements. Conversations with experts prompted a change of ink, some tweaks in technique and the production of the new set of screens The upshot of it all was a relatively stress free and very productive session, of fairly mess free printing,. Quality and consistency of print improved and output rate more than doubled. Who says you can't teach an old dog and all that. Ok, so I won't remember tomorrow how we did it, but luckily with a few younger minds about someone will remind me. Just another 9,500 slats to go, no worries.

With confidence in screen printing revived, this week I sent off our old printing screens for the wooden POS boards for re- hanging. A refresh of the wording on some of them to bring them up to date, and we will see a fresh start to everyone's displays in the New Year, when you receive your first orders. It might mean getting right into the printing groove very early in the year, but now we are so much better at it I'm sure it will be fine.

I finalised the staff kit range early in the week and put out a display of the stuff on offer so everyone can make their own decision on what they would like to adorn themselves in. It was surprisingly tricky selecting for the variety of weather conditions, peoples individual dress styles and jobs we have to endure on the nursery, and at the same time sourcing only sustainable items, When buying in quite big quantities the temptation is to go cheap and cheerful, but I eventually bit the bullet and went for the right kit, not based solely on price. Some of the designs look really sharp, so I think we will get more for our money than just organic or recycled, time will tell. With a choice of 22 items, some in a choice of colours, it is going to be quite a mash up of looks, but being a member of an exciting team shouldn't stop you from standing out.

Despite the covid scares we squeezed in a bit of socialised this week, pub quiz with fab food Monday and a great blues gig on Thursday. Oli Brown at the cosy Farnham Maltings venue was sensational and luckily not too crowded. Such an astonishing talent on guitar, with a great voice and very, very loud. It was only his bands second gig of the year and the last, such was the disruption caused by the chaos of the last 20 months, but he was so excited to be there doing his thing, it was infectious (but in a good way!).

Autumn wooden box collections are now just about done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop us an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. Just been informed of another timber price rise, so definitely need them back!

Availability list highlights

Things are getting really very quiet now and most plants are settling into their winter rest. There are still a few stars shining out there, but fewer each week.

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with flowers opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours,

Some of the Helleborus niger are in bud and flower, Christmas has come early. Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy charging

Morning all,

Getting some nice results now from our winter endeavours which is great for feeling like we are making progress again rather than just juggling endless demand. I was surprised how exciting it was to get the new EV charging station wired up and running. We have had the trench dug and concrete pad prepared for ages, just waiting for the kit and installer to arrive, which they all did on Tuesday. By lunchtime we were up and running with a system that more than surpassed my expectations. It is a Zappi smart charger so it doesn't just charge up the vehicles, it manages itself over the Wifi and selects when and how to do the charging. We have it set so that it only charges when the wind turbines are generating more than we are consuming and it constantly adjusts the charge it uses to match the amount being exported. This means the effective cost of charging comes down from about 18p/unit if we used imported power to 5p which is what we get paid for exporting it. That brings to fuel cost down to just over 1p a mile, once we get our car delivered. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can get our first delivery van plugged in as well, although that might be a year or two yet. The electrician has an electric van so we were able to test charge that for a while just to make sure it all worked ok. An app on the phone gives us real time data and records of all power imported from our site, exported and used for charging, so we can see what's going on whereever we are. Can't stop checking it out now! Luckily it's been fairly breezy over the last few days so the graph looks pretty good at the moment, even though I know in reality that the year as a whole has been the lowest turbine output since the turbines went up 10 years ago.

We have got through all our end of season wooden tray drying and cleaning and the barn is full of pallets of neatly stacked trays, very satisfying. Now we are getting stuck into the construction of the new tray stock. As demand has increased and some of the old boxes bite the dust, we are having to replenish supplies in a fairly major way. The huge increases in timber prices and difficulties in getting the components printed and constructed has meant we have had to bring the job in-house. It's a monster amount of work but at least at this time of year we have a few of the team more available to get it done. We had a problem with the screen printing last week but a new set of screens and fresh supplies of ink should see us back into full production again. It gets a bit scary when I think about 4,000 new boxes being made at about £10 per box, but because we started some in the summer we are nearly halfway through, so we will soon be on the easy slide down to completion. The propagation tunnel had its climate control computer repaired and reset on Monday and a heater fan repaired on Wednesday, so fingers crossed it will hold out through the cold weather keeping all the microprop crops toasty, although it sounds like the whole system may be close to the end of its serviceable life. Might be time to check out the air source heat pumps suitable for the job.

The tunnels are looking more organised with each passing week, as the rest of the team crack on with tidying and top dressing the pots and cutting the dormant plants back. It's surprising how much growth is still going on despite the cooler weather, I think winter has still to really get a grip on things.

Nursery Christmas lights are on already around the mess room entrance, anything to brighten up a December day and alleviate my guilt at sitting in a comparatively warm office while everyone else wraps up and gets going in the unheated net- sided tunnels. Now where are those crumpets?

Autumn wooden box collections are now just about done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop us an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. Just been informed of another timber price rise, so definitely need them back! 

Availability list highlights

Things are getting really quiet now and most plants are settling into their winter rest. There are still a few stars shining out there, but fewer each week.

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with flowers opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours,

Some of the Helleborus niger are in bud and flower, Christmas has come. Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy projects

Morning all,

A very productive week, most of it done in the warm, but with a fluffy brain produced by the end of today! Battled my way through the last of the plant orders for next year, a job I started over a month ago. The numbers are mind numbing and the decisions needed endless when you are looking at over 600 lines, multiple deliveries of each and probably ten different suppliers. Then the whole lot has to be juggled onto a label ordering spreadsheet, along with the current stock of plants and left over labels from this season. I stick in a column for this year's sales for each variety, just to add an extra level of thoroughness and complication and then pluck out a number of labels I think we will use. Then there is the final jiggle to make the total number ordered add up to a multiple of 72,000, so that they fit onto the label printing sheet efficiently. What fun. 

Now I can get back to some more fun planning and spending. I only get a very short time frame to get the winter projects ordered and underway and although some have already started like the new vehicle charger, the new van, new electric car, new potting machine and the wooden box production programme, I have a few other bits up my sleeve waiting for the go ahead. The hairy pot plant themed work-wear is coming along, just need to get the next batch of samples ordered. I know lots of people cover this sort of thing, but it adds another whole level of complication when you try to pick out sustainable items to use rather than just the cheapest. 

The irrigation water collection system should take another step forward this winter but I haven't quite decided on the scale yet. I think we will take a steady route into more investment into water storage, which we will have to fund ourselves, rather than spend £90,000 and maybe become eligible for a partial grant. I saw a very interesting bit of water treatment it this week, which I first saw 8 years ago, it should improve our plant health and resistance to disease so reducing the amount of spraying we have to do. I was a bit sceptical originally but after many years use it had proved itself to be very effective on this particular nursery. A good test was when it broke down this summer the diseases returned and once repaired it all settled down again. We don't do a huge amount of spraying but any reduction will be welcome in labour saving and fewer chemicals being needed. This will be another valuable experience we will have picked up from being part of the NBIS scheme which has served us so well over the 25 years or so we have been members, although the best bits are the talking therapy, which I need a lot of, and the pub lunch. I don't get out much. Everyone in the group is still pretty anxious about what lies ahead and the news of the South African new variant is an added worry, but I'm glad to say Caroline and I got our boosters done today so feeling slightly smug. So many ups and downs. Might go for a lie down in a minute just in case I am overcome with weakness and fatigue. That log burner is beckoning.

Autumn wooden box collections are now just about done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop us an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. Just been informed of another timber price rise, so definitely need them back! 

Availability list highlights

Things are getting really quiet now and most plants are looking for their winter rest. There are still a few stars shining out there, but fewer each week. The mild weather is keeping things ticking over at the moment but the coming cold snap might slow things up.

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with flowers opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern & less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours, Some of the Helleborus niger are in bud and flower already, Christmas has come early. 

Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy winter planning

Morning all,

It already seems like weeks ago that we were away, I'm ready for another break already! Got back into the swing of things fairly quickly and started planning some winter projects which is usually quite exciting if not a bit expensive. We are so busy for 9 months of the year producing and despatching plants that we don't get much time to look at investing to improve things and then we get this short little window to cram in all the planning, spending and installing of anything new. This period is punctuated by holidays, Christmas, winter weather and lower staffing levels, so it does have its additional hurdles to get it all done. Last year we fitted in a luxurious new loo block (by horticultural standards) and heating and lighting systems in despatch and potting to make the cold weather work a bit more bearable and hopefully productive. There was a new 3.5t van to cope with all the extra demand, masses of trench digging, drain making, slab laying, remodelling despatch and updating the despatch work benches, it was all go. A government covid bounce back loan did help a lot with all that work and I was hoping that this winter would be a lot quieter, but things already seem to be hotting up to another active winter. We are printing and constructing over 2,500 new wooden trays so that we have enough stock for the spring rush, the old 7.5t van has to be replaced so we are nice and clean on our emissions and our first electric car should be here in the New Year. I have just ordered a replacement potting machine as our old one has been held together with plywood, screws and cable ties for too long and has been moments away from becoming scrap on several occasions over the last year or two. It has been refurbished a couple of times but there is little on it solid enough to hold a repair now so the time has come.

Then on top of all this there is another couple of sustainable hurdles we wanted to jump. One is to increase the amount of water we collect and put into our irrigation system. We have been building quite a bit of the infrastructure over the last 3 or 4 years by hand digging french drains along the edges of all the production tunnels but we have yet to join everything together to actually collect a significant amount of water. The drains have done a great job in reducing the amount of tunnel flooding we get if there is a torrential downpour, but the investment in time, effort and money to join it all up and build a reservoir/sump, install filters, pumps and pipe-work has just been a step too far. There was funding announced this week for farms and nurseries to help fund this sort of investment but as usual it looks like we will miss out. We would have to spend a minimum of just under £90,000 to et a £35,000 grant which is quite a bit more than I had imagined spending and there would be a lot of rings to jump through to get it, if we were lucky enough to get selected. The grant scheme for smaller investments doesn't fit what we want either, so not much help there. The problem is that the amount of money we would save is minimal for the investment made, but the environmental benefit would be great. We might be better off looking at replacing the oil boilers in the prop tunnels and replacing with air source heat pumps, still expensive but a much better financial and carbon return. Decisions, decisions.

Autumn wooden box collections are now just about done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop us an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. Just been informed of another timber price rise, so definitely need them back!

Availability list highlights

Things are getting really quiet now and most plants are looking for their winter rest. There are still a few stars shining out there, but fewer each week. The mild weather is keeping things ticking over at the moment but the coming cold snap might slow things up.

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with flowers opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours,

Some of the Helleborus niger are in bud and flower already, Christmas has come early. Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy return

Morning all,

Back to it after a few days off in sunny St Ives. A lovely break with loads of weather, walking and way too much eating out. Major personal self control required over the next few weeks to try and recover the situation, but well worth it. The increase in taking UK breaks is obviously continuing in Cornwall, we have never seen it so busy in November, even out on the hills the parking was packed out when we usually hardly see a sole. Unfortunately for us a few of our favourite restaurants were closed or on short time opening as they struggled to find staff cover for holidays through the rest of the season. They had been extremely busy over the main season and so just shut up shop for a couple of weeks or longer in their quietest month, so they could all grab a break. I have every sympathy for them and in the end we didn't starve. Glad to say that three new Moomaid ice cream cafes had opened up in the area and we made the most of that! Local ice cream from the village of Zennor just down the road, way too good to pass by un-tasted although a double scoop Shipwrecked nearly finished me off. 

The nursery needless to say survived without us and it looks like lots got done in our absence. Must go away more often. Greg and the team seem to have kept a lid on everything although the list of things to mend seems to have got a bit longer. The house is spotless after being looked after by my mum and the post holiday mountain of washing and ironing is already nearly done after just 24 hrs!

The wind turbines had their annual service last week, with just one hiccup. Looks like one of the generators will have to be replaced shortly. It's not cheap to do but the design is supposed to have been improved for quieter, more efficient operation and a longer life span (this one lasted 10 years), so there are benefits. We had one done before and is does have a marginally better output and so far seems to be running smoother, which should lead to a longer life, touch wood. It will be interesting to see if the current electric wholesale price remains at a higher level that it was 12 months ago, as it would make a big difference to us in a few years time when the turbines have to justify their ongoing maintenance from savings and income alone, without any feed in tariff. I am investigating a few solar panels to add to our energy arsenal as we increasingly turn to electric fuelling for heat and power rather than the alternatives, but it's early days yet.

I will be sending out the updated catalogue and price list as soon as I can get it all together. There will be a 10p per pot rise for next season to try and cover some of our cost increases. I thought a few weeks ago that this was going to be enough, because some of the costs would begin to settle down again after the covid disruptions to world trade, however I must admit to being a bit nervous that this might not happen as fast as I thought it might. With big pressure on wages and labour availability adding to things, we are having to aim at even more efficiency improvements to make it work out right for 2022 and I suspect we are already looking at more rises for 2023. That is a long way off yet but just to let you know the pressures are there, with little scope for many more material cost savings. At the moment 75% of the 2022 price increase will be needed to cover the extra container freight costs for importing the coir pots, which are currently nearly ten time the cost of a year ago! Fingers crossed this will settle down again but it shows no sign of doing so at the moment.

On the bright side, demand is still growing with a healthy list of new sites wanting stock in 2022 so no complaints there. Just need to get the plants grown as efficiently and beautifully as we can.

Autumn wooden box collections are now just about done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop us an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. Just been informed of another timber price rise, so definitely need them back!

Availability list highlights

Things are getting quiet now and most plants are looking for their winter rest. There are still a few stars shining out there, but fewer each week. The mild weather is keeping things ticking over at the moment The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours.

Some of the Helleborus niger varieties are in bud and flower already, Christmas has come early. Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy hols

 Morning all,

An early list this week as I might not be here for a few days, depending on how things turn out. The nursery will still be up and running, but with some younger blood at the helm for a short while. Possibly time for a bit of a reassessment of how we go forwards from where we are and how to keep up the positive momentum, and eat a lot.

There seems to be so much big news about at the moment I am finding it hard to watch sometimes, I am looking forward to some head burying on the beach and overdosing on pasties. What with the budget, Covid scares, COP26, labour shortages, supply chain problems, energy price chaos, general price rises and all the rest, it is hard sometimes to pick up on something a bit more joyful to lighten the load. When you add in a spot of Harry Billinge, the war veteran, visiting the Normandy War memorial a couple of days ago and an episode or two of 'The Repair Shop' and I'm all over the place! Luckily I do have a holiday each day with a tea time online visit to our St Ives beach and a check over of any potential retirement homes that have come on the market. Fantasy can then take me on a bit of a break as I work out what we might do. There was a very exciting one last week, that we are going to have a look at, on a bit of a walk next week, but it is a bit old and has probably too many restrictions on it. Set in 23 acres, with distant sea views to the north and the south, it is an iron age hill fort. Ok so you can't actually live there, but what a fun thing to have. Perhaps I'm on my own on this one! I have done a bit of research and it has bronze age and iron age features and it has never been excavated, hours of fun.

Back to reality and good old nursery life, it's been another hectic week with a little flurry of half-term orders, plus a lot of pot mulching and wooden tray maintenance going on. We are knocking off a few winter site jobs already, the windbreak poplar leaves are mostly down and have been raked up before they block the drains down the sides of the tunnels and the irrigation acid tank has had its fencing upgraded and signage refreshed. Good jobs to get under the belt. I'm almost looking forward to having no income for a few months, just to get a few more of those things out of the way, so we can feel under some level of control again. It seems a long time since I felt even remotely in control of anything. We over did it a bit last winter, with new loo's going in, new electrics and heating in despatch and the potting tunnel, everything took so much longer than expected and was double the cost, plus all the usual winter jobs we had to get through as well. It didn't help that last winter was pre-vaccination and tensions were high with lockdowns and NHS worries. This winter, I'm trying to be a bit more modest in my ambition and hopefully it will be a bit more relaxing and prepare us better for next season. Although covid is still a worry, it is not the untamed beast it was a year ago, and hopefully that situation will continue to improve. We have all our covid secure practices and facilities already in place here so no rushing around trying to make things right, it is already our 'new normal'. How we took for granted those earlier carefree days, I do hope they return at some time before my brain pops.

Autumn wooden box collections are now nearly done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop us an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. Just been informed of another timber price rise, so definitely need them back!

Availability list highlights

Things are getting quiet now and most plants are looking for their winter rest. There are still a few stars shining out there, but fewer each week.

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours,

Some of the Helleborus niger varieties are in bud and flower already, Christmas has come early. Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy propagation

Morning all,

Just a quick one today. Despite the big jobs for the year mostly out of the way now, there still aren't enough hours in the day. I won't bore you with the details but getting stuck into updating COSSH assessments etc isn't as much fun as it sounds and takes an age to do properly! Now I've only got a few minutes to get this email and list all polished off before I have to rush off and get my flu jab. Booster Covid due at the end of the month and then hopefully I'm nearly set up for the winter. Just the eyes and teeth to rescue and I might make it physically through until the spring, touch wood. Whether the mental capacity will keep up I'm not so sure after another embarrassing evening. Caroline rustled up a fab cauliflower cheese with parsnip chips (first of the new winter season) which went down at treat. I say it' went down' I may be misleading you, as later in the evening I found a good dollop of Romanesco and cheese sauce in my hair, what is going on? Best not think about it too long.

Things on the nursery are quieting down a bit although as usual the list of things to do seems to be getting longer. We had a big box repair session this week which brought several hundred boxes back to life which is great and very cost effective.

We also had a well overdue tidy up in the irrigation pump shed and sorted out the hanging up of all the tools we use in there to make our running repairs. No more lost spanners with a bit of luck. The new straw mulch we are using this winter to slow up the moss and liverwort growth on the top of the pots is now being applied by several teams of hardy staff. It all looks so clean and tidy once it is done, but it is going to take a while.

The microprop lab which has made such a strong recovery after pretty devastating covid disruption, is just about to go into its busy period building up the numbers for the spring orders. Not the time to suddenly go from 7 staff to 3, but hey-ho we will hopefully get back to proper levels before too long, not all the losses are permanent, just unfortunate timing on multiple events. Such is life. We are in a slightly tricky strategic position in the business as a whole but especially in the lab. The government drive towards a high pay, high productivity, economy is going to need a bit of thinking about as we find ourselves at the wrong end of that equation. 70% of the costs in the lab are labour and that labour is pretty skilled, it takes months to get new staff to achieve good work speeds coupled with the right quality of work. It doesn't take many heavy handed or misguided cuts with a scalpel blade to destroy the quality of a batch of plants, so the quality has to be there before the speed builds up. With most microprop production now being centred in developing countries where labour is cheap, there is limited chance of major price increases for us, so any hope of increasing the value of our output compared with the cost of our labour is pretty slim. With very little scope to mechanise the process, I suspect this is one area of our production which is only going to have a limited life as wages rise, which would be a shame after doing this for so long and being quite good at it, even if I do say so myself. Hopefully the nursery output which is slightly less labour orientated and less easily replaceable by imported plants, will have a brighter future but I'm sure productivity pressures will build as well as prices rise, Interesting times!

Autumn wooden box collections are now nearly done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop me an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. Just been informed of another timber price rise, so definitely need them back!

Availability list highlights

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours.

Some of the Helleborus niger varieties are in bud and flower already, Christmas has come early. Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink. There are a few fresh grown Erigeron Stallone available and in bud. Ours in the garden have been known to still be flowering at Christmas. Only a few left.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy last straw

Morning all

The continuing warm weather is helping us get some extra growth on our autumn potting and fingers crossed it looks like another week of it to come. Quite a significant week has passed, with the module potting being all but completed, all the spring bulbs are all done, and we recovered the two tunnel covers that had split over the summer. As next week looks a bit damp and windy, it was perfect timing to get all that sown up, so I feel like we are getting things back under control again after another hectic year. If only we could put our feet up and take a couple of months off, but now comes the winter rush with all those jobs put on the backburner for the last 9 months.

When I look back at all the things we did last winter, I'm hoping this year's currently shorter list, will be easier and cheaper to complete, although I haven't got off to a great start with the imminent arrival of a new very expensive 7.5t van to replace the rather old one we currently use, and the delivery off our first electric car in the New Year, together with the installation of smart charger points etc. We made masses of site improvements last year and we still have a few of those to finish off, but most should be fairly simple to do. That should give us time to get stuck in early on the pot topping and cutting back of the stock once it goes dormant, which should set us up nicely for those early sales. We are overwintering significantly more plants this year in an effort to have plenty of stock ready for next year and hopefully minimise the sort of shortages everyone suffered last spring. I suspect it will still be a challenge but we are going to try and be as prepared as we can. At least this winter we shouldn't have the threat of more lockdowns etc hanging over us and we can look forward with a more positive outlook.

To control weed, liverwort and moss on the compost surface we have been topping all the overwintered pots with a bark dressing. In theory the mix of bark shapes and sizes helps lock themselves together so not too much falls off when they are handled. It was a mix that was far better than the first one we tried, but it still left a bit too much behind for our liking. Because so many growers are now looking to apply a pot topping rather than using chemical controls to keep composts clean and attractive, the range of products is now much better, as is their performance. We have been trialling several and have plumped for a straw product which has so far performed really well, I can't quite believe how it is so easy to spread, creates such a thorough covering, sticks together so well, and retains it clean look for so long. It was only a small trial so I have my fingers crossed that it works for everything, as we have just taken delivery of 55 cubic meters of the stuff! If all goes well we will save so much time in despatch in the spring and have far less clearing up to do.

These things don't always go to plan, late last year we did a large trial of a radically different peat free compost after a successful smaller scale test earlier in the season and that was a disaster. I was reminded of it earlier this week when I saw the current overwintering aubrietia crop growing away so beautifully. Last year they were one of the victims in a loss of over 10,000 pots. Ouch. Live and learn!

Autumn wooden box collections are now nearly done

Most of our wooden trays have now been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop me an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many.  .

Availability list highlights

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours.

Some of the Helleborus niger varieties are in bud and flower already, Christmas has come early. Helleborus orientalis are looking strong with the occasional bud showing. A slightly enlarged range from us this year with the introduction of the Pretty Ellen range of a red, white and a pink. There are a few fresh grown Erigeron Stallone available and in bud. Ours in the garden have been known to still be flowering at Christmas.

The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is still flowering, looking strong and pretty. Asters are coming along with colour showing. We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Silver leaved Stachys and purple leaved Heuchera. We also have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy branding

Morning all,

Still really mild here, but not much in the way of sunshine. Never mind, the wind did get up for a few days so October has got off to a good start on the turbines. We are quite excited to see where our electric export rate goes in March, but it is a long way off yet and the energy company we sell to must be relieved at getting some power at such a reduced rate. Sadly for them we are only a tiny exporter! The wholesale price has gone from just over 4p last November to nearly 17p last week which is nuts. I feel the potential fallout from all this has yet to be truly realised, but it will encourage a lot more energy conservation which must be a good thing.

Our last container of pots is currently held up in Sri Lanka as we wait for a reduction in container shipping costs. The market remains extremely high with the cheapest rate we can get at well over $10,000 rather than $1,200 of a year ago. I am told by a shipping lawyer I met, that virtually the whole container shipping system is now controlled by a very few large shipping companies and I must admit to being a bit suspicious as to how the market is being manipulated. Hopefully it will settle down soon but I suspect it may take a while. I'm sure lots of people will be holding off on shipping goods, hoping for similar results, but that builds in more pent up demand and we are back to square one. I just hope we can cope with the cost implications.

On the bright side, we have finished the annual stock take which achieved all the usual levels of fun. Just need to get all the other numbers crunched to see if it was all worthwhile. We are hoping there is a bit of a surplus as we are looking to kit out some of our staff in some fancy (not) hairy pot themed kit. We have had a few samples done and they look ok, might need a tweek here and there, and then decide on what items to include in the range. My hat, made out of a hairy pot, failed to make the cut, but you may notice a bit more of a hairy pot vibe coming from our drivers as we go into the next season. I know it's not exactly earth shattering news, as I'm sure most of you retailers out there will have their team kit all lined up, but for us in mucky hairy pot land it is quite a novelty. We are not making it a compulsory uniform, as it may be regarded as less than cool for some, but it will be nice to reinforce the hairy pot theme and ethos through the whole nursery. I must admit I have always been a bit hesitant at this sort of idea, but the consistency it gave my conference video and panel session last week did sway me a bit more in favour of doing more.

Big week on the social front, with a great gig at King Somborne Village Hall (The Hawkmen - blues and rock and roll band based in Bristol, can't go wrong with guitar, bass and drum) followed by a return to a bit of jive dancing later in the week. It's been a long time coming, but now some of the work pressure has reduced, I feel I can risk a bit of hand to hand combat over the odd evening. I had forgotten how mentally absorbing learning new stuff like dancing can be. Great fun and a big brain break from nursery stuff, must do more. After 18 months away I wish I could say it was like riding a bike, but it wasn't, it took a while before a few moves returned to the muscle memory. Luckily it was a new venue and I hardly knew anyone so a bit less embarrassing!

Autumn wooden box collections have started

Lots of our wooden trays have already been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop me an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. .

Availability list highlights

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours, Anemone varieties coming into bud and flower. Some are quite tall now but strong stemmed. The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is still flowering, looking strong and pretty. Asters are coming along with colour showing.

We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Silver leaved Stachys and purple leaved Heuchera Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We also have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for. The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up to their spring flower display. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy and autumnal

Morning all,

Very autumnal here, wet, windy and sunny, not sure if it's coming or going. At least the turbines have started up again after a very lacklustre few weeks. Hopefully it might take a bit of pressure off the energy price madness, if the wind output picks up everywhere, although there are so many other upward pressures on the energy market which keep driving the wholesale prices up. Both gas and electric wholesale prices are nearly triple what they were 12 months ago after quite a long time at a fairly modest level. Eventually we should benefit a bit from higher turbine returns, but not for quite a few months, as the export rate we get paid only changes once a year. We still import electricity when the wind is low, so will also be paying more for that, so swings and roundabouts and all that. Hopefully the price hike will focus everyone's efforts on finding more ways to use less, there is nothing quite like a big bill to get you thinking of how to save.

Talking of sustainability, I managed to bluff my way through my on-line appearance at the AIPH conference, as a member of the sustainable marketing panel. At the last minute I was asked if I could do a summary of what we had been up to over the past 16 years as an introduction, so I had to cobble together a bit of a 'show and tell' presentation with a few hairy props. It went fine although afterwards I realised that I had missed out half the things I had planned to mention. Never mind, they should have got the gist of where we were coming from. It was pretty nerve racking for a country boy who doesn't get out much, but I suspect I ended up being a bit of light relief for those who had managed to stick it out until the last session of the day. I won't be giving up my day job!

Busy weekend, as it is our financial end of year and we have to go and count everything. Already made a start, but it is a big job and frustratingly unproductive. Not to worry, it's only once a year. Hopefully all the numbers work out on the right side, it should be ok, although it's been a very up and down year. Demand early in the spring was so dramatically high, that everyone, including us, came close to completely running out of stock for a few weeks. It certainly led to depressed sales in mid-season as we waited for fresh stock to grow big enough to sell. The weather wasn't very helpful with that cold and very dry April followed by a wet and miserable May. Then a heat-wave, followed by a very dull August, rounded off by a fabulous September blast. It completely messed up the production schedules, not enough stock early on then, too much stock in the summer and disrupted summer production affecting the autumn offers. The potting for the overwintered stock was later than scheduled due to the summer chaos, which could lead to some shortages in the spring again, although stock levels are actually higher at the moment, assuming that everything survives the winter weather.

Costs have skyrocketed with importing and transport costs for incoming goods drastically increased after Covid impacts on world trade and Brexit implications too. Timber prices have more than doubled for our hairy pot box making and we have now had to take the printing and manufacturing of them in-house in order to keep costs in check. It all adds to the fun.

Autumn wooden box collections have started

Lots of our wooden trays have already been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop me an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now, we can't afford to lose too many. 

Availability list highlights

The long flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing, flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours, Anemone varieties coming into bud and flower. Some are quite tall now but strong stemmed.

Fresh batches of bushy dwarf Bran Series Chrysanthemum coming on with bud appearing, nearly all gone now. The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is still flowering, looking strong and pretty. Asters are coming along with colour showing. We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Silver leaved Stachys and Artemesia, purple leaved Heuchera. Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We also have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for.

The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up to their spring flower display. Osteospermum Tresco Purple are still selling well with flowers and buds opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy professionalism

Morning all,

It's been a glorious week in Winchester, warmer than it was in August and all set to continue into this weekend. Looks like we might all get a bit more autumnal weather going into next week but nothing too dramatic.

Sales have gone quite quiet which has meant lots of tray collecting, tunnel clearing and potting, but the pressure remains with the race to get everything potted before too long. The spring bulb compost and the bulbs themselves arrived a week early, just to add to the backlog of work but they will hold until we are ready.

My hopes of an easy run into taking part in the AIPH conference discussion panel on sustainable marketing evaporated pretty quickly. I had to rustle up a profile and find a mug shot to decorate their website first and then produce an online presentation with visual commentary to illustrate our 'sustainable journey'. Many years ago I did manage to put some images on the Powerpoint, but never with any degree of professionalism. Luckily we have a management consultant currently helping us clear tunnels and get the potting done and he has put in some extra hours this week to get something out there. It was still down to me to provide the video commentary and sort out the content but Andy made it look pretty slick and not the embarrassing mess it could have been if I had been given free reign. It still took the best part of two days to compile and play about with and to top it off, the final stage, the video recording, was a nightmare. It is scary how odd your own voice sounds on playback and how old the bloke looks when he is staring back at you from the corner of the screen. Luckily the software allows you to rerecord over each individual slide, otherwise I would still be there, trying to get all the words out in the right order. It's a good job the outtakes aren't recorded as it got a bit colourful at times. I did it in the evening so I wouldn't be disturbed, but I didn't expect it to take 'till gone midnight to finish it off. Anyway it's all done, downloaded and up on the conference website so there's no going back now.

A much appreciated evening off on Wednesday, with a trip round a new suite of sustainable buildings at Winchester University with our local Sustainable Business Network group. It was our first physical meeting since Covid started, up so it was great to be back and see how everyone fared. At £40 million the building was a bit beyond our budget but the amount of clever stuff and 'well being' design features was astonishing. I had been quite excited to have put in motion controlled heaters in despatch and the potting shed, but this was on a different level. The contemplation room and meeting pods, wrap around chairs to reduce disturbance, all furniture wired up for plugging in devices, air vents in the floor and ceiling it was nuts. There were holes cut in walls lined with cushions, earphones and usb sockets, where students could tuck themselves away to escape the world. I wonder how many of the graduates are going to be looking for work on a nursery once there are done? Might be a bit of a shock. Maybe I'm being short sighted and we should all be installing cubby holes for staff and customers to crawl into and escape the world.

Autumn wooden box collections have started

Lots of our wooden trays have already been collected up, but if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop me an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now we can't afford to lose too many.  .

Availability list highlights

Running low on Cyclamen hederifolium already, but the longer flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours,

Anemone varieties coming into bud and flower. Some are quite tall now but strong stemmed. Fresh batches of bushy dwarf Bran Series Chrysanthemum coming on with bud appearing, nearly all gone now. The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is still flowering, looking strong and pretty. Asters are coming along with colour showing. We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Silver leaved Stachys and Artemesia, purple leaved Heuchera. Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We also have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for.

The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up to their spring flower display. Osteospermum Tresco Purple are still selling well with flowers and buds opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy ambition

Morning all,

A lovely sunny and warm spell of weather here over the last couple of weeks and it looks set to continue for a few more days yet. Not much in the way of wind to turn the turbines but you can't have everything. At least the newly potted stock is having a good growth spurt which is reassuring.

Not a lot to report this week, lots more potting done, although as usual not as much as I had hoped! We had a host of holidays and illness again this week which left us a bit short on every day this week. Luckily still no Covid outbreaks, a couple of scares, but disruptive none the less.

We set free our last main batch of predators this week, it will be too cool fairly soon for them to be active enough to dent the pest populations, but they seem to have done a reasonable job in keeping any major outbreaks at bay. We used quite a lot more Lacewing larvae this season to spot treat any larger aphid outbreaks or susceptible crops. They are quite aggressive little tykes and need putting in amongst an active pest food source, otherwise they start eating each other. They are one of those introductions that needs a certain degree of pest presence to succeed which is why we do have a base level of pests on occasions, it is just a matter of trying to get the right balance. We spend a lot of the 4 weekly introductions and it is sometimes a difficult thing to justify. You can't usually see them doing their thing after you let them go, they just disappear into the crops, we just have to trust that the reason we don't often have any major pest outbreaks is because they are doing their thing. Touch wood, we haven't seen as much leaf hopper this year but we are not a 100% sure why. There isn't a specific commercial predator available yet and they were becoming a bit of a problem. They used to be taken out by some of the more generalised pesticides years ago but now we are not using them they rather came to the fore. We have been using red sticky traps hanging just above the most susceptible crops, which attract them quite well and are especially effective in knocking back the overwintering populations. The extra lacewing larvae through the summer could be helping too as they have a very varied diet, or maybe it just wasn't a good year for the leaf hopper!

Might have made a mistake this week in signing up to be on a sustainability marketing discussion panel at an upcoming international horticultural conference. I tried to put them off but failed and first rehearsal is now on Monday, for the event on the 30th. It seems to involve a load of stuff I don't do, social media, group presentation software, mug-shots, profiles it's an alien world out there. Good job I've got nothing better to do, I am wondering how little I can get away with!

Autumn wooden box collections have started

We are starting to hoover up our wooden trays from many customers already, so if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop me an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. The barn is already starting to fill up with pallets of cleaned stock all tucked away ready for next season. There is a small stack of damaged ones to repair or replace, which is just part of the usual process for us, so don't worry if there is some damage, we like to get back as many as we can. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now we can't afford to lose too many.  

Availability list highlights

Running low on Cyclamen hederifolium already, but the longer flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours. Anemone varieties coming into bud and flower. Some are quite tall now but strong stemmed. Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go, only a few left. Fresh batches of bushy dwarf Bran Series Chrysanthemum coming on with bud appearing, nearly all gone now.

The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is flushing again with bud and flower, looking strong and pretty. Fresh batches of Salvia Sensation and Marvel series are looking good, buds about to appear if not there already. Asters are coming along with bud now appearing. We have some colourful foliage plants in stock, silver leaved Stachys and Artemesia, purple leaved Heuchera. Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for.

The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up to their spring flower display. Osteospermum Tresco Purple are still selling well with flowers and buds opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy Jive

Morning all,

With sales settling back into autumn mode we are pressing on with the potting despite the potting machines attempts to thwart us. This week the on/off button took on a will of its own, at times stopping the machine every minute or two. A quick dismantle and clean up of the mechanism helped hugely reduce the interruptions, but they are still there. A sign of age and overuse I suspect, I know how it feels. Time for a new replacement (on both fronts).

Potting is now flying, so hoping for a major catch up over the next few weeks and a warm gentle slide into winter to get a good growth spurt in before most plants go into hibernation. No chance for us to go to sleep for the winter, there are loads of jobs lined up already, all those things we never got time to do over such a manic season. I am feeling quite pleased with myself for securing a load of cut timber for constructing another big batch of replacement wooden trays. The price of wood and delivery times are getting are getting scary, it was bad enough getting this load in but at least we have it here all ready to print up, treat and construct. A great winter job that will keep several of us occupied for weeks. We have water recycling pipe-work still to dig in and weed mulches to finish off and a few tunnel covers to replace. The list is growing.

Things seem to be getting back to a bit closer to normal out there in the real world, although I am struggling myself to feel comfortable in close proximity to groups of strangers. One of our newer recruits is our modern jive dance instructor, who has now restarted his evening sessions with groups of up to 100 or so dancers, all in close hand to hand combat and sharing partners. All have to prove double jabs or testing on the day before entry but there are few masks in evidence, mainly because it is such a social exercise you lose so much if hidden behind a mask. He was saying how great it was to be back in action but how odd it was moving from his dance environment back into the shops and restaurants where everyone is still so mask and socially distance orientated. Such a contrast and mentally quite confusing. I haven't made it back yet to strut my stuff, the risk of missing work was too high when we have been so busy, but I think the time is approaching when I'm going to have to have a go. I really miss the social side and the complete mental break it used to give me, you can't think of anything else when you are trying to remember what move to do next! It has been 18 months since I last went and I can't remember anything, I'm just hoping it all comes flooding back when in the right environment, although I'm pretty sure that quite a few brain cells have left the building since then!

Autumn wooden box collections have started

We are starting to hoover up our wooden trays from many customers already, so if you have a collection of trays ready to go, please do drop me an email and we will call in a pick them up as soon as we are in your area. The barn is already starting to fill up with pallets of cleaned stock all tucked away ready for next season. There is a small stack of damaged ones to repair or replace, which is just part of the usual process for us, so don't worry if there is some damage, we like to get back as many as we can. At a replacement cost now in excess of £10 a box now we can't afford to lose too many.  

Availability list highlights

Running low on Cyclamen hederifolium already, but the longer flowering Cyclamen coum varieties are coming along with the odd flower opening already. This coum series we are growing flowers continuously from September to April given reasonable winter conditions, it is really hardy although the number of flowers open at any one time is more subtle and modest than some of the very showy modern less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours, Anemone varieties coming into bud and flower. Some are quite tall now but strong stemmed.

Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go. Fresh batches of bushy dwarf Bran Series Chrysanthemum coming on with bud appearing. The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is flushing again with bud and flower, looking strong and pretty. Fresh batches of Salvia Sensation and Marvel series are looking good, buds about to appear if not there already. Asters are coming along with bud now appearing.

We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Silver leaved Stachys and Artemesia, purple leaved Heuchera, plus a couple with paler marbled foliage. Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for. The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up to their spring flower display. Osteospermum Tresco Purple are still selling well with flowers and buds opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy Manual

Morning all,

Back to  a five day week next week so hoping to have a real good bash through some of the remaining potting and pricking out which still seems to be a bit behind. Bank Holiday Mondays potting went really well, it was well worth dragging a team in to bump up the volumes done. It certainly helped this week's totals completed, as we had a bit of a disaster on Friday which is usually our most productive day. Mid morning the take-off conveyor stopped and wouldn't restart. The motor and chain drive were fine but the end of the conveyor driveshaft had worn down to a cylinder shape so the square motor drive connector could no longer turned it. It has been on the cards for months, if it hadn't been that then the belt was quite close to breaking and the internal rollers no longer rolled, so we were lucky it lasted this long really. I had already got in a new replacement belt and accumulation table which I was planning on fitting over the winter, so it was just a matter of wheeling them into position plugging them in and away we go. Good plan, rubbish execution! Needed an extra conveyor stand, no problem, plenty round the back of the barn. All looked good until we tried adjusting the height, rusted solid and no amount of hitting with lump hammers could shift them so ended up adding some wooden 'spacers' cable tied onto the stand. Next, turn it all on, belt turns but the table doesn't. Eventually work out the correct combination of buttons and knob positions to get the table going (what's an instruction manual?) and both are running in reverse. Rewire the 3 phase supply to run the right way and the belt works nicely at an adjustable speed, but the table is whizzing round and tipping off the pots. Eventually work out that we could reposition the drive roller to the outside of the table (what is this manual everyone keeps mentioning?) to slow the turning speed, but it is still too fast. Adjusted the take off guide arm to push the pots further onto the table which slows the speed to a manageable level and off we go. Two hours lost so coming in again tomorrow to try and catch up. I think in the end the new set up will be more efficient because the machine as a whole doesn't need to stop as often, but we might need a bit more electrical kit to slow up the turntable motor. Oh the joys of nursery production.

A mini heat-wave due next week which hopefully will help the farm get through the bulk of the remaining harvest. After a stuttering and damp start which looked a bit worrying for a while, they have had a good run over the last couple of weeks so hopefully they can get most of it cut and in the barn. Harvest pressure then falls away to be replaced by the race to re-sow for next year and off they go again.

Back in the real world, I still can't quite believe Charlie Watts has left us, a man who knew what he liked. He loved his drumming and the fact that he was in one of the biggest bands ever, was financially very convenient, but never really dominated his life. In recent years we were very lucky to see him play at least 4 times, once with the Stones at Southampton football stadium which was a fantastic rock and roll performance and the other times in little clubs, pubs and theatres locally, playing in the Boogie-Woogie group he was part of with our favourite pianist Ben Waters. It was great to see such a legend playing for fun and slightly bizarre to be able to see him so close up in such a small audience. Now all extra treasured memories.

Availability list highlights

Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go. Anemone varieties coming into bud and flower. Fresh batches of bushy dwarf Bran Series Chrysanthemum coming on with bud appearing. The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is flushing again with bud and flower, looking strong and pretty. Summer is still in sight with the Armeria's still with flowers coming. Nice chunky and bushy Verbena rigida coming into bud just a few left.

Fresh batches of Salvia Sensation and Marvel series are looking good, buds about to appear if not there already. A couple of Campanulas are still flowering nicely on strong plants. Posharskyana and Clockwise are the best. Still have some strong hardy fuchsia looking smart and colourful. The dainty and upright white flowered Hawkshead look fab. Asters are coming along with bud now appearing on Lady in Blue and Starlight. More to come over the next few weeks. 

We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Silver leaved Stachys and Artemesia, purple leaved Heuchera, plus a couple with paler marbled foliage. Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for. The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up a head of steam for their spring flower display. Osteospermum Tresco Purple are still selling well with flowers and buds opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy pasties

Morning all,

Holiday time again for all those lucky enough to be at home and not still beavering away at work. Looks like very pleasant weather for the weekend, nicely settled and dry and not too hot, perfect weather for me anyway. Plans for a day off evaporated this week with by far the busiest pre-August bank holiday sales week ever. We were full time in despatch until late Thursday afternoon so only a tiny bit of potting got done, plans for Monday off have been shelved for a few of us and the Saturday team will be in too, trying to catch up a bit. I suspect next week will be quieter but to be honest this year has been so erratic and unpredictable I haven't a clue what Tuesday morning will bring.

Deliveries next week may be a little later in the week than usual due to some driver availability issues here, early in the week, but assuming we aren't quite so busy it should work out ok. Keeping our third slightly older 3.5t van rather than selling it for not a lot, has worked out really well with all the running about we have had to do in the last few months. It takes a lot of the stress out of the transport planning when you have a bit of flexibility in the system which makes life a bit more comfortable. Because all three are fairly new they all currently get through any emission charge zones without cost which is another bonus and I'm looking forward to the delivery of our new 7.5t van in the winter so we can clean up our act there too. NBIS (Nursery Business Improvement Scheme) meeting this week was our first on site group meeting for a year and very refreshing. It is so good to get off site and be inspired by what other businesses are up to and great mental therapy too. There is nothing like having to admit your mistakes in front of a group of understanding folk and to have a good laugh about it, even if the consequences of your slip ups are still there when you get home. It is also great to hear of everyone else's issues and successes just to help put things in perspective. Pub lunch was a treat too!

We had a bit of a holiday treat yesterday with the delivery of half a dozen frozen cornish pasties from our favourite maker in Hayle. Their arrival triggered happy memories of holidays past and the many trips to collect our days walking sustenance. I remember one year early on when I was asked what size I would like and I went for a 'large' which turned out to be a family roast size and despite my extreme hunger and best efforts I had to give up half way through. Not only that but I could face another pasty the entire holiday!

Take care out there.

Availability list highlights

Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go. Anemone varieties coming into bud and flower. The repeat flowering Hemerocallis Big Time Happy is flushing again with bud and flower, looking strong and pretty. Summer is still in sight with the Armeria's still with flowers coming.

Nice chunky and bushy Verbena rigida coming into bud. Fresh batches of Salvia Sensation and Marvel series are looking good, buds about to appear if not there already. A couple of Campanulas are still flowering nicely on strong plants. Posharskyana and Clockwise are the best. Still have some strong hardy fuchsia looking smart and colourful. The dainty and upright white flowered Hawkshead look fab.

Asters are coming along with bud now appearing on Lady in Blue and Starlight. More to come over the next few weeks.We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Silver leaved Stachys and Artemesia, purple leaved Heuchera, plus a couple with paler marbled foliage. Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for. The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up a head of steam for their spring flower display.

Osteospermum Tresco Purple are still selling well with flowers and buds opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. Fresh batches of bushy dwarf Bran Series Chrysanthemum coming on with bud appearing. The last batch of Lobelia Starship Dark Leafed Scarlet still looking good, loads of bud on fresh attractive foliage.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy imports

Morning all,

August Bank Holiday approaches, so one last summer fling of a week coming up I suspect. Quite a few orders already lined up and I'm sure a few more to come. Potting will have to go on the backburner again until this one is out of the way. We are going to run the potting team for a few more Saturdays yet, but hopefully the end is sort of in sight, we might even let everyone have the Bank Holiday off which would be a treat.

Took delivery of another container of hairy pots on Monday which gives us a pretty big collection to go at for the rest of this season and into next. It is always a bit of a gamble trying to judge how many pots we will need and when we will need them as I have to order them months in advance in order for the village team in Sri Lanka to get through the production process. When things took off in the Spring I must admit I did stick in an order for an extra container load, as it looked like we might need them. As it happens demand did quieten and we probably could have managed without, but better safe than sorry. They keep for ages when tucked up in their boxes in the barn, so no worries there, but at £35,000 a load it does make a dent in the cash-flow! There is a silver lining, the villagers were delighted to have the extra work over a period where there was so much disruption to their other income streams, although they were a bit panicky over the explosion in container transport costs. In the end we did well to get the pot stock in when we did, as there are now big problems getting anything out of Sri Lanka as the container ships aren't calling in there anywhere near as often at the moment and costs have soared again. Hopefully by the time we need the next load things will have settled again and costs dropped back a bit, but stories of container costs increasing from £1,200 to £12,000 are making us a bit nervous.

All this stressy stuff was put in perspective this week with some sad news of a couple of horticulturists passing on. Will George the long term chairman of our NBIS nursery 'therapy' group slipped away last weekend after a long illness and will be missed by so many. He was the driving force of our group and kept us all on our toes, challenging us when we lacked confidence and ambition and always encouraging us to make the most of our expertise, assets and opportunities. He was also an expert in so many other fields, with his steam train exploits, real ale experience and spoon playing expertise!

The second loss was someone we didn't know ourselves, but a long term employee of another nursery we work with. He had been at work out in the fields last Saturday, went home, sat in the sofa and quietly passed away. Such a shock for everyone and a bit of a wake-up call for anyone not making the most of every day. Our thoughts are with all those suffering with such sad loss, things are already challenging enough without adding more to the load.

We are living each day as it comes, looks like a curry tonight and sod the consequences for an early start tomorrow. Take care out there.

Availability list highlights

Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go. Anemone Pink Cloud is a new one to us this year and is suddenly thrusting up its chunky short flowers stems and bud. Loads of promise for a neat strong showing over the next few weeks. Very few left now. Summer is still in sight with the Armeria's still with flowers coming.

A couple of Campanulas are still flowering nicely on strong plants. Posharskyana and Clockwise are the best. Still have some strong hardy fuchsia looking smart and colourful. The dainty and upright white flowered Hawkshead look fab. Asters are coming along with bud now appearing on Lady in Blue and Starlight. More to come over the next few weeks. 

We have some colourful foliage plants in stock. Sliver leaved Stachys and Artemesia, purple leaved Heuchera, plus a couple with paler marbled foliage. Euphorbia are there in a range of colours too and the stripy golden grass Carex Evergold. We have some really strong and colourful Ajugas to watch out for. The variegated foliage of Pulmonaria Opal and Mageste are very smart, ready to build up a head of steam for their spring flower display.

Both Gaillardia Messa Red and Messa Yellow varieties looking strong and showy, but not many left. On the list this week is the popular Cerostigma plumbaginoides, showing its first buds and the odd flash of deep blue flowers, Penstemon Garnet are still putting on a good show and we are moving into a fresh batch of Sour Grapes which aren't quite as colourful yet, but show plenty of promise.

Osteospermum are still selling well. We have several batches potted in three varieties and all have flowers opening. Summer favourites the Gaura are all coming into bud and flowers opening on many, a nice range of colours bushy plants. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy Electric

Morning all,

Yet another busy week on the sales front which is great, although the potting is still on a go slow. We have a team in again on Saturday to push it along a bit, but getting through the backlog is proving a challenge. At least the weather is being kind to us at the moment, not too wet, not too windy, not too hot so we can work in all areas without too much discomfort. Thankfully the Southern European heat wave hasn't moved in our direction yet, 48C is just unimaginable. We struggle to find sensible work here for everyone when it gets to the upper 20's, the 30's are a real struggle, but 40's and we would have to give up.

I can't hang about long as I have to finish getting the tunnel space ready for tomorrows team. It is all very hand to mouth at the moment, as soon as there is a clean bit of space it gets filled. Looking forward to October when hopefully the pressure will be reduced and we can reduce the hours a bit, it is all getting quite tiring after 7 months of 7 days a week!

We did take a couple of hours off earlier this week to have a drive of the VW id3 electric car. Very exciting and pretty impressive. Range is now getting sensible although the cost is still a bit scary, but we have to start somewhere and our 12 year old little diesel car is certainly no longer very comfortable to live with. We have to invest in a better future and it will cost us, but I'm comfortable with that. Investing in dodgy green stuff comes second nature to us, so just need to decide on the colour and then wait 20 weeks for delivery! We are going to put the charger on the nursery wind turbine circuit so we get nice cheap charging, we only get about 5p a unit when we export into the grid, so that is the effective cost if the wind is blowing. I believe you can get clever chargers that can detect when there is spare power being exported and it just uses that excess, which will definitely keep the cost down.

Availability list highlights

Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go. Anemone Pink Cloud is a new one to us this year and is suddenly thrusting up its chunky short flowers stems and bud. Loads of promise for a neat strong showing over the next few weeks.

Erigeron Stallone are perfect, loads of bud and flower and a nice chunky size. One of our best sellers through the summer. Both Gaillardia Messa Red and Messa Yellow varieties looking strong and showy. Eucomis autumnalis now showing their exotic creamy flower spikes,

On the list this week is the popular Cerostigma plumbaginoides, showing its first buds and the odd flash of deep blue flowers, Penstemon Garnet are still putting on a good show and we are moving into a fresh batch of Sour Grapes which aren't quite as colourful yet, but show plenty of promise.

Osteospermum are still selling well. We have several batches potted in three varieties and all have flowers opening. Summer favourites the Gaura are all coming into bud and flowers opening on many, a nice range of colours bushy plants. Stunning batches of the Lobelia's are coming into bud, and showing colour and attractive foliage to back them up.

Nice range of the scented Phlox Sweet Summer series now showing colour, Multiple stemmed and looking good. Fresh batches of Calamintha this week, with first flowers opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow.

The mini Chrysanthemums are back on the list and producing bud. Very compact and bushy in a good colour range. Most Crocosmia are standing tall and now showing bud, but stock levels are getting low..

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy soaking

Morning all,

Where is all the time going, August already and not enough potted here. Mild panic setting in as to how we are going to fit it all in this summer before the nights draw in and growth slows. That point is still quite a few weeks away yet but I am determined to make sure we are carrying over loads of strong stock this winter without a spare inch of production area uncovered, I can't face running out of stock like we all did in the spring. The difficulty is just trying to shoe horn in all the different tasks at the moment, despatching, crop trimming, tunnel clearing, pricking out and potting. We seem to have lots of people on the books but never quite enough on the job. Holidays are kicking in now, as well as plenty of other absences for one reason or another, family crisis, sport injuries, car issues, study demands, dancing demands, covid scares, builder problems, long term illnesses, the list goes on. As soon as one is back another goes off. I think it was Monday we had 9 off! it's hardly surprising how it all adds up and impacts on what you want to get done. I can't even blame anyone as they are all perfectly legitimate reasons and everyone has certainly earned some time off after such a mad 18 months. One day at a time and we will get there.

Just an early heads up, that prices will be increasing at the end of the year by more than usual. I suspect this is going to be fairly typical of both UK and European suppliers, as so many costs have just gone through the roof. We have worked so hard this season and it looks like any extra returns we made have been more than swallowed up in those increases. As growers if we are going to attract the desperately needed young guns, we are going to have to be financially viable with lots of potential, at the moment that is not the case.

A combination of advancing years and tiredness manifested itself this week with a near drowning, well a bit of a soaking anyway. On the way up the track to the house for lunch, I got caught in a really torrential downpour, so heavy that I gave up outdoor progress to duck into a tunnel for shelter. I was stood there, still with the remains of my brolly above my head, for a couple of minutes before I realised that I was really very wet. With the noise of the rain on the tunnel cover I hadn't noticed the irrigation was on which added significantly to my clothing water content. Lunch was taken in my underwear while trying to dry it all out. It might have been funny if it wasn't slightly tragic.

Availability list highlights

Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go. Anemone Pink Cloud is a new one to us this year and is suddenly thrusting up its chunky short flowers stems and bud. Loads of promise for a neat strong showing over the next few weeks.

Erigeron Stallone are perfect, loads of bud and flower and a nice chunky size. One of our best sellers through the summer. Both Gaillardia Messa Red and Messa Yellow varieties looking strong and showy. Eucomis autumnalis now showing their exotic creamy flower spikes. On the list this week is the popular Cerostigma plumbaginoides, showing its first buds and the odd flash of deep blue flowers, Penstemon Garnet are still putting on a good show and we are moving into a fresh batch of Sour Grapes which aren't quite as colourful yet, but show plenty of promise.

Osteospermum are still selling well. We have several batches potted in three varieties and all have flowers opening. Summer favourites the Gaura are all coming into bud and flowers opening on many, a nice range of colours bushy plants. Stunning batches of the Lobelia's are coming into bud, and showing colour and attractive foliage to back them up. Nice range of the scented Phlox Sweet Summer series now showing colour, Multiple stemmed and looking good. Fresh batches of Calamintha this week, with first flowers opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow.

Lavender Spear Blue, very bushy with loads of bud and colour, just perfect for those smelly lavender sales. The mini Chrysanthemums are back on the list and producing bud. Very compact and bushy in a good colour range. Most Crocosmia are standing tall and now showing bud. Tiarella wherrii (Foam Flower) is in flower with its short spikes of tiny creamy blooms. Popular summer star is the Platycodon which are on the list again and both varieties are already in bud and disappearing fast. Helichrysum Nevada range has an impressive display of bright papery flowers. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy gig

Morning all,

Not much room for news this week due to the large number of plants needing a mention because they look so good! An easier week, with the arrival of lower temperatures which was a relief. We had some torrential downpours again which caused a few minor flash floods but nothing too damaging so far. The lack of concrete and buildings means the water has plenty of places to soak away, so we are less vulnerable than some in the cities where it all accumulates and runs down to the lowest sites. Might need a serious rethink on infrastructure in urban areas to cope with this climate change lark.

Our NHS plant giveaway has drawn to a close now, we saturated the local surgery, vaccination and hospital sites and cleared a bit of space too, so a win for all. We have had some lovely responses which adds to the whole feel good mood, now we just need to find time and space to rebuild stock levels for next spring. The race goes on. It's already August next week so can't afford to relax, we need to get plants in pots to make the most of the remaining growing time this season. Personally I'm a bit over tired after our first gig to see our favourite Boogie Woogie pianist Ben Waters. Great to get back to a proper evening out although definitely suffering today. Good to focus on something non-planty for a change, must try harder to do more. Ben has always been a great story teller and if anything can go wrong for Ben, it will, he's worse than me. I always remember the one where he and his band drove to into northern Norway to play, but had to drive back to Oslo to catch a morning plane. After the gig Ben set off in the dark to drive the band back, but after a few hours he needed a kip so looked for somewhere to pull over. There was nothing on his side of the road but he spotted a lay-by on the other side so he swung across, and parked up. He slept well, waking to find that another member of the band had taken over the driving. Unfortunately he hadn't realised Ben had parked on the opposite side until after a couple more hours they arrived back in the town they had just played in!

Availability list highlights

Erigeron Stallone are perfect, loads of bud and flower and a nice chunky size. One of our best sellers through the summer. Both Gaillardia Messa Red and Messa Yellow varieties looking strong and showy. Eucomis autumnalis now showing their exotic creamy flower spikes. New on the list this week is the popular Cerostigma plumbaginoides, already showing its first buds and the odd flash of those stunning blue flowers,

Penstemon Garnet are still putting on a good show and we are moving into a fresh batch of Sour Grapes which aren't quite as colourful yet, but show plenty of promise. Osteospermum are still selling well. We have several batches potted in three varieties and all have flowers opening. Summer favourites the Gaura are all coming into bud and flowers opening on many, a nice range of colours bushy plants. Stunning batches of the Lobelia's are coming into bud, and showing colour and attractive foliage to back them up.

Nice range of the scented Phlox Sweet Summer series now showing colour, Multiple stemmed and looking good. Fresh batches of Calamintha this week, with first flowers opening. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers all over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. Two compact Helenium varieties in bud and flower. Salud Golden has flecks of orange in the yellow petals and Salud Yellow does what it says on the tin.

If you have a sheltered spot to keep them in we have some lovely, fairly compact, and strong stemmed Delphiniums in bud and showing some colour. They won't be around for long but they are always so popular with impulsive gardeners. Lavender Spear Blue, very bushy with loads of bud and colour, just perfect for those smelly lavender sales. New hardy Gerbera range in 4 lovely colours, just fab, real impulse plants and flower for ages. Only a few left.

The mini Chrysanthemums are back on the list and producing bud. Very compact and bushy in a good colour range. Dainty Lewisia Elise in flower. Flowers all summer in a range of pastel colours. Most Crocosmia are standing tall and now showing bud. Tiarella wherrii (Foam Flower) is in flower with its short spikes of tiny creamy blooms.

A popular summer star is the Platycodon which are on the list again and both varieties are already in bud. Oxalis Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers. A fresh short bushy batch in bud and ready to go. Compact Campanula's (carpatica, Clockwise and posharskyana) are colouring up, about to show off their summer displays. Helichrysum Nevada range has an impressive display of bright papery flowers. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries