Hairy Spring

Morning all, 

We are still here and still have a few plants to sell, just not many herbs at all. Sales were nuts again this week but at least we are edging up the amount of potting done at the same time. We have a couple more staff we are breaking in but at the same time the number of young plants coming in to be potted is growing. I was obviously in a positive frame of mind when I did the ordering last Autumn judging by the range and volumes appearing each day, let's hope we can keep the machine going, the pots and compost arriving in time and enthusiasm high. I'm very conscious of not overdoing the overtime when the season is now so long, as I realise that there are some odd people out there who like to be at home sometimes and see the rest of their family (within the rules of course). The scale of the demand is just so huge for everyone it seems. Our sales are 70% up a the moment, on the best previous year, which we won't be able to sustain long term, but potting is keeping up, in a way, with an increase of 100% on 2019 so far. (The covid mess had hit the fan by now last year, so comparisons with then won't make much sense really). We still have to ramp up the potting numbers even more, so there will be more staff (returning Easter break students) and a bit more overtime for the keen ones, over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed all goes smoothly.

We have been lucky with our next container of pots which made it through the Suez Canal just before it got blocked. The next one sails in about three weeks so let's hope they have shifted it by then otherwise things could get a bit tight. We should have a little leeway as I tend to overbuy so we have good backup stocks, although this year they could be stretched a bit thin. In the end I ordered 2 extra loads for the year, just to be sure.

We did have good backup stocks of boxes but the extra sales have now left us really short, so please do send any empties back as soon as you can. There is the real possibility that we could run out this week, so we may have to resort to sending some in our plastic (returnable) production trays for you to transfer the pots into the boxes you have on site. Unfortunately our new sawmill supplier, producing the components for the new boxes, was unable to deliver this week and hopes to get to us sometime next week. That still leaves us needing to print, construct and treat the boxes before use, so it's not an easy or quick option.

Our rabbit problem has started to improve, after failed attempts by several people to ferret, shoot or trap them. We have an expert man with some special kit. After clearing it all with the local firearms officer there was a night patrol with a small rifle and thermal imaging sights. So this isn't infra red night vision which is quite clever in itself, this is detecting the body heat of the little tykes and apparently they stand out like a sore thumb day or night, even if they are in the bottom of a hedge, in the undergrowth or hiding behind a pot, We don't think we have many on site, as the damage isn't absolutely rampant and we are well fenced, so a hit rate of three spotted and three despatched was quite a relief. We still think there are one or two others and he is popping back tomorrow for another patrol, but that should make a dent in the nibbling.

In case you hadn't noticed it is pre Easter week coming up so do get your orders in by Monday please, just so we can try and get to everyone in time for the weekend. Just to warn you, we may well be still delivering on Friday and possibly even Saturday to get it all done, although we will do our best to avoid this as we should really be potting by then.

Urgent Box return appeal

Please do send back any empty wooden trays you may have accumulated, we are REALLY desperate for them at the moment, otherwise we won't have anything to send the plants out in. I have another batch on order to bulk things up a bit, but at close to £10 a box this year, by the time we have printed and constructed them ourselves, it is not a cheap option to simply increase stock levels. I know they are an investment and over many years of multiple use they are still great value, but they only earn their keep if they are in proper repetitive use. Thanks.

Availability list highlights

Not too many highlights to mention as I don't really want to drum up any more demand! In fact perhaps that should be the most sensible approach to the new few weeks; It's all damp and hairy and no one will touch it, please don't buy any more!! Pulsatilla with bud showing already in two colours. Another big batch now showing are the Dicentra spectabalis. The white form is about a week ahead of the pink and nearly all gone, but both show bud almost instantly they are up.

There are a few lovely wild primroses (P. vulgaris) grown from seeds I collected from the farm wood on top off our hill. Lovely show of the strong blues of Scilla sibirica are showing, not many left. Fab Anemone blanda White Splendour have appeared now, popping up all over the pot and immediately showing bud. We have a nice range of the evergreen Bergenia's in stock all propagated in our microprop lab, I can see the centre buds swelling ready to produce flower stems, so it won't be long before they do their thing.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy mayhem

 

Morning all,

I can't believe I'm so frazzled already and it's only just gone the middle of March. The weather has taken a slight turn for the better, cool but dry and the odd flash of spring warmth in the sunshine. I might be panicking even more if we had experienced 19C as they did in Edinburgh on Thursday, although the plants might grow a bit faster. Needless to say it has been busy again, this is now 4 weeks on the trot of record sales for the time of year, and for three of those weeks, we only bettered them in the mad three weeks after Lockdown1 ended.

Sorry about the decimation of the herb range, high demand and those pesky rabbits have taken their toll. Fresh crops are on the way but it will take a while. The nibbled crops are now fighting back and we are trying to eliminate the rabbit issue by introducing some instant lead poisoning dispensed at night, although the first night raid went unrewarded, it's not plain sailing. I think last Sundays Solent radio interview went ok, I daren't listen back, it would be way too embarrassing, but I can't remember any huge mess ups. I am told it is on the BBC Sounds app, Radio Solent, Rebecca Parker, March 14th about 1.5hrs in. Probably a good listen if you can't get off to sleep (you can listen here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p098grx7).

All the extra planning and investment preparing for the spring madness has resulted in the usual mayhem. Despite ordering our new van back in October we are still waiting on delivery. Firstly the imported chassis cab got delayed in the Brexit chaos and now the roof manufacturer has had an outbreak of covid and had to shut the factory for two weeks. Should be early April with a bit of luck. Good job I didn't sell the old van in the winter as I very nearly did. To add to the transport excitement, the van we got this time last year, had a manufacturers recall for a potential serious part defect in the steering system. It had to go for an immediate check with the potential for it to be taken off the road for 2 weeks while they wait for the replacement parts to arrive. Not entirely sure why the parts weren't already in stock but what do I know. Luckily the Southampton Fiat dealers booked us in the next day for a check up and we passed, so panic over. Not the perfect approach to Easter excitement. Meanwhile the drill holding bolt sheared off on the potting machine and the next batch of compost got delayed because of a lack of available shipping containers to bring in the coir ingredient. On the plus side I have squeezed in an extra delivery of coir pots for the summer to ensure we don't run out, but it is going to cost us a bit. The next container set sail this week with a cost increase from £1,200 to £4,000 for just the container transport. Supply and demand is all out of kilter at the moment and we are hoping it gets back to normal soon, otherwise it is going to make a bit of a dent in the finances. This is the bit of commerce that I am not very comfortable with, prices rising because demand is higher than supply, I would just feel so guilty. Fair enough if costs overall increase, but to profit excessively from your long standing customers is just not cricket. This might be why I work in a shed (it is a very nice shed).

Old fart issues aplenty after another birthday last week. Caroline gave me a fab little credit card wallet made from cork in an effort to secure my financial welfare. Too late. Tried to find my cards to put in them and they had gone. I've not been anywhere, so they couldn't be far away, so let's wait a few days and they will pitch up. Searched high and low for a week, gave up and cancelled them, only for them to turn up hours later! New one arrives the next day, will it work, not a hope, even after a call to the card folk. Now I'm completely dependent on Caroline paying for everything, I think it's a plot.

Box return appeal

Please do send back any empty wooden trays you may have accumulated, we are pretty desperate for them at the moment, otherwise we won't have anything to send the plants out in. I have another batch on order to bulk things up a bit, but at close to £10 a box this year, by the time we have printed and constructed them ourselves, it is not a cheap option to simply increase stock levels. I know they are an investment and over many years of multiple use they are still great value, but they only earn their keep if they are in proper repetitive use. Thanks.

Availability list highlights

New on the list this week are the Pulsatilla with bud showing already in two colours. Another big batch now showing are the Dicentra spectabalis. The white form is about a week ahead of the pink, but both show bud almost instantly they are up. There are a few lovely wild primroses (P. vulgaris) grown from seeds I collected from the farm wood on top off our hill.

Glimpses of the strong blues of Scilla sibirica are beginning to show, spring is on the way. Fab Anemone blanda White Splendour have appeared now, popping up all over the pot and immediately showing bud. We have a nice range of the evergreen Bergenia's in stock all propagated in our microprop lab, I can see the centre buds swelling ready to produce flower stems, so it won't be long before they do their thing.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy Radio

Morning all,

Another hectic week on the sales front despite the weather not being quite so appealing. We have been turning away potential customers in order to try and keep some control of the exodus of stock, but we are desperately short of herbs now and will be for a few weeks until the fresh stock comes on line and the rabbit harvested crops recover. Not only have we never seen demand like this, but also never had so much rabbit damage, it couldn't have happened at a worse moment and it's mostly the herbs they have a fancy for. We have had the ferreters in and they are back tomorrow, and we have started covering crops with netting in an effort to put them off but they turn to the next tasty crop to try that out instead, the little tykes. The short pause in herb supply might actually work out quite well for us, other than the obvious and frustrating loss of income. We will be introducing new labels for all the herbs in a few short weeks, as soon as Floramedia can get them printed. They are all approved and at their print-shop so it could be any moment, I don't suppose they will have much to do at this time of year! They will be printed on their card B500 material, waterproofed with vegetable starch and threaded onto our bamboo skewers just like our perennials. This will be the first year we will be able to print our own colour labels on the B500 and cut them out on our new press and die cutter, which means that at last all our pot labels will be non-plastic.

It will be a shame to say goodbye to the wooden tongue depressor, home printed, herb labels, which have served us so well. Unfortunately the wooden label printer has got very old and is breaking down far too often. Slow production speeds and unable to cope with increasing demands, messy and prone to mistakes, this printer is in need of retirement. It was the printers 62nd birthday this week and as the only printer operative left, I am definitely getting past my 'best before' date.

There will also soon be a new header board for the boxes, for those of you who use them. Again made from B500, they will be thinner than the old brown card version, but still last well in our tests. Best of all they take out the sticky back plastic label element and the plastic coating on the old brown card version. Just hoping the production of these boards runs smoothly, we won't know until we get into full swing, but I am hopeful of a better header board, lower costs and no plastic ingredients. Feeling good this week after my jab last Friday. Had a good selection of minor side effects for a few days after, but nothing a paracetamol couldn't shift. I was quite pleased to feel stuff was happening in there after the deed was done. Caroline is on for next week (a lot younger than me!) so that will be another covered, hurrah.

I'm lined up for a short interview on Radio Solent on Sunday afternoon (and you can listen here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p098grx7) as a follow up to the one they did nearly a year ago when we first had the idea of giving away all our waste stock to local communities in Lockdown1. Things looked pretty bleak at that point and after finding out about how well we rebounded over the last few months, they wanted to get the good news out there. It is live, so anything could happen. I remember the last one, which luckily was recorded, when I got the National Trust and National Front confused!

Box return appeal

Please do send back any empty wooden trays you may have accumulated, we are going to be pretty desperate for them fairly soon, otherwise we won't have anything to send the plants out in. I have another batch on order to bulk things up a bit, but at close to £10 a box this year, by the time we have printed and constructed them ourselves, it is not a cheap option to simply increase stock levels. I know they are an investment and over many years of multiple use they are still great value, but they only earn their keep if they are in proper repetitive use. Thanks.

Availability list highlights

Sadly our herb range is going to be very light for a few weeks until the fresh stocks have made enough size. Massive demand has caught us out to a degree and the rabbits haven't helped either. Our overwintered range is always a bit limited, just because of the nature of many of the herbs, which may not respond well to being grown overwinter without heat. Fresh crops are on the way we will just have to wait a bit. We have big numbers coming through, we just need the plants to grow quicker. Many of our short Narcissus varieties are now in bud and some showing colour, short and stocky and full of spring promise. Glimpses of the strong blues of Scilla sibirica are beginning to show, spring is on the way. Anemone blanda Blue Shades and White Splendour have appeared now, popping up all over the pot and immediately showing bud.

We have a nice range of the evergreen Bergenia's in stock all propagated in our microprop lab, I can see the centre buds swelling ready to produce flower stems, so it won't be long before they do their thing. Pulmonaria's are budding up now with some colour showing, as well as their very smart dappled foliage. I have two Scabiosa in bud, looking strong, and in the mild temperatures last week there was even the odd opening flower. I suspect with the eastern blast will have dented that rash gesture, but it just shows how close we are to some serious flowering activity. This early in the year their blue colouring definitely has a rosy hue, but colour is colour!

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy Hope

Morning all,

Wow that was a busy week. That little burst of warmth and sunshine obviously opened up the purses of those new gardeners out there. Despite last year breaking records all over the place we only had 4 weeks with more sales than this past week. That is insanely early for us to reach that sort of level, and to be honest slightly scary. The weather seems to have slipped back a bit now so I'm half hoping demand will pause a little too and give us a chance to do all the potting that was planned for the month. We did manage just over two days of potting and it went pretty well after last week's hiccup of a valve failure resulting in the 'take-off arm' not taking off. A new valve was sent really quickly from Rotomation UK who are always so helpful when rescuing us from disaster, I fitted in one evening in the newly LED lit potting tunnel, and it worked perfectly first time. I must be getting the hang of this lark.

New 20 tonne press arriving next week, as an upgrade to the 12t one that came last month which wasn't quite man enough for t he job. 20t seems a bit excessive to cut a thin bit of card but that what it took on the trials they did with our cutter and card we sent up.. We have had to put in a new 3 phase socket to run the bigger version, so it's been quite an effort, fingers crossed it all goes smoothly once it arrives.

We had our fist APHA inspection of imported bulbs this week, all went smoothly, no major problems other than a missing csv file on our Peach application (not our fault). The most animated the inspector got was over our fabulous new nursery loo facilities, which I suspect are a tad above the luxury level she usually encounters!

The flash of warmer weather has produced a slight flush of growth in some plants, but it is still is really early, so growth is still quite slow in many plants, with some still not breaking ground yet, so please do be patient, a widening range will rush along all too soon, once we get a few more weeks into the spring. Mind you it is still quite exciting, even at my ripe old age to see nature waking up as the day length increases. I forgot to report the arrival of our frogspawn a couple of weeks ago. I still marvel how over a few hours the pond they use changes from a quiet still backwater, to a seething mass of croaking bodies splashing about. The always lay the spawn in the same spot in the same pond every year. It lasts about a week and then they all disappear again.

There is another birthday looming next week. Luckily Covid this year won't spoil my usual celebrations, which consist of a walk to the nursery and then a walk home again a bit later. With a bit of luck there might be some covid safe cakes for all who make it to work that day too, I think that is enough excitement at my age, we don't want any accidents to spoil things.

I had the best present this afternoon, which was a bit early I know, but very welcome. With just a days notice I received my Oxford vaccine and am now recovering sitting at this desk. Super efficient crew at the Holiday Inn in Winchester, organised by the local rural surgeries, lots of very jolly and positive NHS staff and volunteers shepherded us through the system really quickly. Two people ahead of me in the queue on arrival, straight in, painless injection (so far) and 15 mins on Candy Crush before the short drive home. I can't quite believe it has happened. It is only now I'm thinking about it, that a little tear is welling, it sort of marks a turning point when things really might start to feel a bit less scary and unknown. It'll be interesting to see if I feel a bit less anxious over the next few days and perhaps a bit more excited about what might be round the corner.

Availability list highlights

Sadly our herb range is going to be very light for a few weeks until the fresh stocks have made enough size. Massive demand has caught us out to a degree and the rabbits haven't helped either. Our overwintered range is always a bit limited, just because of the nature of many of the herbs, which may not respond well to being grown overwinter without heat. Fresh crops are on the way we will just have to wait a bit. We have big numbers coming through, we just need the plants to grow quicker. Our Fritillaria (snakes head lily) are looking green and chunky with more and more bud being produced already.

Many of our short Narcissus varieties are now in bud and some showing colour, short and stocky and full of spring promise. Perfect pot present for the eco earth mothers out there! Not huge numbers left so don't hang about. Glimpses of the strong blues of Scilla sibirica are beginning to show, spring is on the way.

Anemone blanda Blue Shades have appeared now, popping up all over the pot and immediately showing bud. We have a nice range of the evergreen Bergenia's in stock all propagated in our microprop lab, I can see the centre buds swelling ready to produce flower stems, so it won't be long before they do their thing.

Pulmonaria's are budding up now with some colour showing, as well as their very smart dappled foliage. I have two Scabiosa in bud, looking strong, and in the mild temperatures last week there was even the odd opening flower. I suspect with the eastern blast will have dented that rash gesture, but it just shows how close we are to some serious flowering activity. This early in the year their blue colouring definitely has a rosy hue, but colour is colour!

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy preserve

Morning all,

Balmy sunshine today just glorious. It was on the cards on Thursday, so we rushed to prepare our Frankenstein tunnel (built from the salvaged remains of a tunnel that blew down in the 1986 hurricane!) for a new skin, after the tunnel end was dismantled to get the new lab container store into position. The store (due in December) arrived on Tuesday and got left outside the tunnel, which is to be its new home. It was too tall to get through the doors but luckily (good management) was narrow enough (by 10cm) to get between the uprights. We removed the doors and lintel and using a combination of pump trucks and the fork lift, skated it into position. It fitted in beautifully and will be put to full use over the weekend. Greg rebuilt the doorframe and we stripped off the very old split cover, in anticipation of a still, warm and bright day today.

Like all good plans the day went really well, with two potting machine breakdowns, a lost plug extractor board, and several people off for the day! This all delayed the start of the re-covering by several hours but we couldn't afford to miss the glorious weather window, so with the help of a few heroic staff delaying their weekend by a couple of hours, we got it on. That just leaves me the weekend to finish off the trimming and fitting of the corners, and come Monday morning we will have a fully freshened store tunnel. Quite a relief. Definitely suffered Pre-Tunnel-Covering Tension most of the day, it's our most difficult one to cover and I'm so glad it's off the to-do list.

The weather has woken everyone up to the wonders of plant buying again and sales took off this week. Looks like there are plenty more to come which is fantastic, but scary, at the same time. The public's new love affair with gardening doesn't look to have diminished since last summer which is very exciting for all in the trade, a bit of warmth this week has got them coming out of hibernation and looking forward to the spring. We will be doing the best we can to satisfy demand, but we are still taking each week as it comes and doing a certain amount of flying by the seat of our pants. There is loads of fresh stock on the way over the season, much more than even last year, which was 25% up on volume, but we are still suffering from shortages following on from last summers excitement. This will mean some early range and volume shortages especially in the herbs which again are selling at record levels. We are responding to the extra demand but it will take a little while to catch up again, we need some good growing weather and a little time.

We had a new van due in next week to cope with all the extra work, but like all good plans of mine this one didn't quite fall into place either. The design is the same as last year's Fiat which we are really pleased with, but a combination of Brexit delays and Covid disruption has caused a delay until the end of March. It's not the end of the world as luckily I decided not to sell the older Peugeot over the winter preferring the security of having that extra backup (and I didn't get offered much for it!).

We've been treating our wooden boxes to a new coat of water repellent preservative to try and extend their working life and improve clean up times, I'm trying it too! Over 7,000 boxes took a hell of a long time, but we finished this week, much to the painting teams relief. Just hoping it makes a positive difference in box turn-round times at this end. With the high demand we are going to be tight on boxes this year, I suspect, I have a new load of boxes on order, but at twice the price we were paying two years ago, so we really need to make the best of what we already have. The printing and construction of the boxes was so expensive I have decided that we will do that bit ourselves, we have the printing kit and nail gun so it should be just matter of finding the time. It will save us a bit and give us a bit more flexibility.

Availability list highlights

Spring time is here and quite a few of the early spring bulbs are thrusting forth. We have lovely bud and colour on many varieties now. Our Fritillaria (snakes head lily) are looking green and chunky with more and more bud being produced already.

Some of our short Narcissus varieties are now in bud and some showing colour, short and stocky and full of spring promise. This includes the pretty dainty Hoop Narcissus (Narcissus bulbocodium Conspicuus) which are now in bud.

We have a few wood anemone (Anemone nemerosa) emerging and showing the odd bud, a woodland beauty. We still have some great Helleborous niger and orientalis on the nursery.

We have a nice range of the evergreen Bergenia's in stock all propagated in our microprop lab, I can see the centre buds swelling ready to produce flower stems, so it won't be long before they do their thing.

Pulmonaria's are budding up now with some colour showing on the Blue Ensign and lovely tight bold foliage on the other two.

I have two Scabiosa in bud, looking strong, and in the mild temperatures last week there was even the odd opening flower. I suspect with the eastern blast will have dented that rash gesture, but it just shows how close we are to some serious flowering activity. This early in the year their blue colouring definitely has a rosy hue, but colour is colour!

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries