Chatty and Hairy

Morning all,

Very busy week after the return of a list! Good job the weather was dodgy otherwise we probably would have struggled to cope. Several lines sold out again already but luckily the slightly warmer weather has push things along a bit so there are more lines coming on stream to replace them.

Not much time this evening to fill you in on all the excitement of the week, I lost a chunk of my afternoon rescuing Phil our big van driver, not him, the van, who ran out of driving hours on the tacho. Just managed to get the potting shift finished before leaving, now this to do and my mum to entertain with whatever is left of the night.

There must be some 'normality' creeping back in as this is only the second time in a year that we have seen my mum so we are looking forward to a chatty weekend and getting the conservatory a good spring clean! I think tomorrows flat out potting team might be a bit much for her so I have promised not to try and talk her into joining in with that.

Very windy over the last couple of days which has moved the turbines round nicely but made the rest of nursery life a bit tense and messy. Moving compost and plants about in storm conditions is not much fun but we couldn't hold off as we were reduced to just a day and a half potting after so much time despatching.

Nice piece about the nursery this week in the online version of 'Hort Week', covering many of our latest updates. Not sure if we will make the cut into the paper version, but it was a nice bit of recognition for what we have achieved recently. It was entitled 'How the Hairy Pot Plant Company came of age' which to my mind puts me back at being 21. If only!

Must go as I am overdue for entertaining and I still have the modules to pick up in readiness for tomorrows session.

Availability list highlights

Ok, there is a list again this week, hurrah! Numbers of some lines are still limited so there could be a few substitutions in the orders to make up numbers. If you prefer we can still do a selection of our own choice of the herb and/or perennial range again and will take your guidance on any lines you don't need. There is even a little bud on a few lines, but not a lot, so please don't ask me for a trolley in bud and flower. As hard as I try I can't get the little tykes to grow any quicker.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy improvements

Morning all,

A slightly warmer week, the frosts have subsided and the soil has replenished it's moisture level in most areas. Plants are responding with a little flush of growth although it's not exactly tropical out there, so it's not as rampant as it might be. However we have an availability list of sorts to offer this week, after several weeks of no such luxury, so there is definite progress. I can't quite believe the number of plants we have got potted, nearly 2 and a half times the number of spring 2019, all ready to satisfy that pent up demand. There are still masses of modules arriving each week so it's not like we've finished yet, although quite a few are stock for the autumn or next year, fingers crossed we can get plenty sold over the remaining spring and summer.

We had our second container of coir pots of this month delivered yesterday together with a little dose of trepidation. We nearly ran out a couple of weeks ago, so two containers in two weeks has restocked us nicely and resulted in a bit less finger nail chewing. We don't like to sit still in our quest for improvements and we had asked for a tweek in the pot design to make separating the pots a little easier when loading the potting machine. A tiny bit less latex to make them a little more flexible, the removal of the newspaper inserts between each pot (they, in theory, made pot separation easier) and a very small reduction in pot base diameter which would increase the angle of the pot wall, hopefully making the release easier. We opened the first box of the 130,000 pots to find the plan had worked and we now have pots that one pot wrestler alone can separate and feed the potting beast. I immediately sent of an email congratulating the production crew in Sri Lanka who were probably as anxious as we were, a nice step forward for us and a small production/packing saving back in Sri Lanka.

I read a short piece this week by a grower on some of the issues with using more sustainable ingredients within their production process and how there are quite a few inconveniences and extra costs involved, including the problem that they don't always fit in with the current mechanisation plans that most of the big growers have understandably invested in. With a very strong focus on keeping costs low it is going to be almost impossible to make major changes to our approach in how we use alternative materials in our production processes, for producing just about anything, and if we don't start changing we are pretty well stuffed as a planet. I wondered what they would think if they saw us bashing our stacks of pots with a 10kg tarmac tamper before we could then wrestle the pots apart. It's not like it is the odd stack that needed bashing, it's all 500,000 each season! Having literally wrestled with this issue for many years, we have now found a possible solution, to the point where I am seriously considering reinstating our automatic pot dispenser on the potting machine. It will need a few modifications but it may now be a workable option. It's a project for the winter but quite an exciting one to have up our sleeve.

Our peat-free journey has followed similar challenges along the way, with the earliest recipes being a bit of a disaster, but we stuck with it and now we have a great mix which has been growing some lovely plants. It is not a journey without risk, this winters big overwintered trial of a UK 'alternative' peat-free mix was a disaster as it killed a high proportion of the crops that went in it and those that survived were stunted and very late into growth. The survivors are eventually going to make nice plants as the weather warms and the nutrition becomes available to the plants again, but this was not the season we really wanted late crops let alone high losses. It was a shame as the previous smaller trial had gone so well, but sometimes the gamble doesn't come off and we have to revert to the tried and tested.

The non plastic label and packing developments we have completed recently, have taken years to get where we are now. Almost all our labels and POS header boards etc are now completely plastic free, with just the remains of a bit of old stock still to use up. Each year we take a few small steps and see if things work in practice, it isn't always more convenient or cheaper for us, but sometimes it eventually works out to save us on material costs. The header boards and small run pot labels are now cheaper with using the Floramedia B500 waterproofed card, our new die cutters and 20 tonne press, and on the wooden box front, even with a doubling of the cost this year, they still work out cheaper in materials than using single use plastic trays.

In a nut shell if we are going to save the planet we are going to have to work more sustainably, not necessarily more conveniently or the easiest, cheapest way. That is how we got in this mess in the first place. David A is saying that we need the urgency and effort of fighting Covid applied to climate change and I don't doubt him, but I worry that as a society we are not yet prepared for that level of application. Come on, surprise me!

The new van is still sat in the yard unused. The extended mirrors arrived, but they sent the wrong ones! Meanwhile we ordered a new 7.5t lorry this week, hopefully for delivery in the autumn. Took some effort but managed to get them to put in a lorry sat nav not a car one, I couldn't believe they could get away with installing a car version. Luckily it was only another £250 on top of the standard installation. I'm absolutely sure they can see me coming.

Availability list highlights

Ok, there is a list this week, hurrah! There are quite a few lines on there, but numbers of some are still limited so there could be a few substitutions in the orders to make up numbers. If you prefer we can still do a selection of our own choice of the herb and/or perennial range again and will take your guidance on any lines you don't need. There is even a little bud on a few lines but not a lot, so please don't ask me for a trolley in bud and flower. As hard as I try I can't get the little tykes to grow any quicker.

After a few weeks of slightly less frantic sales I am a bit anxious that providing a list will kick off a big rise in demand, so I'm quite pleased the forecast looks a bit unsettled, which hopefully will prevent a mass buyout from your plant areas. There will be plenty more stock coming from us, so please don't overdo it in week one of our comeback. Fingers crossed we can keep it all together and keep up with the deliveries.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Be selective and hairy.

Morning all,

Another cold week with a frost most mornings, but hopefully this morning's (Friday) will be the last for a while or even for the year. I always have Tim, one of my ex college friends, on my mind when it is frosty at this time of year, it is a pain for us but he is a top fruit farmer and his crops can get wiped out if the blossom gets caught at the wrong moment. He has had two bad years on the trot for apples and I daren't ask how it looks for this year. It may be too early to tell and there is the possibility that the consistency of the low temperatures will have both held things back and toughened them up a bit. There are definite signs here in the hedgerows that things are slower into growth and don't seem to knocked about. My fingers are crossed for all those fruit farmers hoping to see a good harvest in the autumn, but especially Tim.

Our mad spring continues with a rise in sales again despite not being able to put a proper list together. The weather this weekend doesn't look to clever, although Sunday shows some promise down here. Hopefully consumer demand will hold off another week or two until we all get back on our feet again and the weather then properly warms up. Then I suspect the fan will get hit with plenty of the smelly stuff, in a positive and groovy way of course.

Our longer distance customers may have to be a bit flexible on delivery timings as I have heard that already the carriers are struggling to keep up with demand to get stock delivered before the weekend. When we use a carrier we are not told when the plants will be delivered, we simply book the space on the lorry and they pick up the trolleys from us on either a Tuesday or Wednesday. After that it is out of our hands and we trust they get it all done in a timely manner. I know they try very hard to get things done as quickly and efficiently as possible but when demand gets hectic it must be a nightmare to organise especially when you add in traffic issues and breakdowns etc. We do like to keep our customers as local as we can so we can control the delivery service with our own vehicles and drivers, it is still a huge challenge at times but at least we have a bit more control over timings and box returns. I am hoping that with an extra van this spring we will be able to keep up the 'before the weekend' service but I daren't promise anything as these times are pretty bizarre and a little scary. 

Another great production week with lots more potting done and boxes made. The new van goes to the garage on Monday for its extended mirrors to be fitted and back door handle to be mended (don't ask). It's still all go despite the frustrations of not having enough plants for sale. Still turning away customers daily, from garden shops to garden centre chains it's just crazy. I'm still getting plenty of emails offering advice and webinars on getting our business up and going again after Covid, which reminds me how lucky we really are and the pressures we are all under, although difficult to handle sometimes, are a positive thing really. There was a nice piece in Garden Trade News this week by the HTA president highlighting the pressures we are all under and how we could snap if we are not careful. It has been 14 months of extremes from despair to flat out production and sales with little time for a rest. It was great to see that situation recognised as sometimes you do wonder if it's just you. It's only seven days a week for March to August, so not too far to go now.

There is still a Very Urgent Box return appeal

Please do send back any empty wooden trays you may have accumulated, we are REALLY, REALLY, desperate for them at the moment, otherwise we won't have anything to send the plants out in. We now have the parts in for 2,000 new boxes but at close to £10 a box this year, by the time we have printed and constructed them ourselves, it is not a cheap or easy option to simply increase box stock levels. We are spending £40,000 on new box stock over this spring and summer but that is not helping us yet. I know they are an investment on our part, 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

We can do a selection of our own choice of the herb range again for this coming week and can take a little guidance on any lines you don't need. We may have to restrict total volumes again on orders to a trolley or possibly two of herbs, to ensure everyone who wants something will hopefully get some. We have a few more herbs than recent weeks with a few strawberries coming on line after recovering from earlier rabbit grazing, but still not huge numbers. There is lots more on the way. 

Another week of frosty nights is continuing to delay growth all round, but particularly in the perennials. Growth is there but just painfully slow in bulking up the plants. With a fair (and wet) wind we are hoping for a sudden spurt of growth in the perennial tunnels so we can add to the selection available next week to send out. We should be able to put together a trolley or possibly two, if you don't mind some repeats. There will definitely be very little colour or bud so please avoid making me more stressed by asking for a trolley of colourful perennials, that is going to be a little way off yet! There should be a couple of Delphs appearing as well as some Lupins and Digitalis as well as a few other fresh lines. There is still not enough to list in either herbs or perennials but I have my fingers crossed that the warmer week ahead will bring back at least the herb list and maybe the perennials, but don't hold your breath. At some point we are going to be overrun with plants when I look at what has been potted, I just hope we can all cope with the volumes from everyone when that happens! 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

New hairy kit

Morning all,

Great celebration here with the arrival earlier today of the new 3.5t van. Looks lovely, it's amazing how different a van looks when it's so clean! Ordered for the start of our busy season (late February) it has now come at the moment we have run out of stock, but we got by and it's great to have such a lovely new bit of kit. Shame they put the short armed wing mirrors on it so you can't see down the side but new extended ones are on the way so that won't be a problem. Worse things happen. Lovely reversing camera and wider loading ramp should make life easier, plus super low emissions with the latest engine mods. Shame that an electric version still seems so far off, but range and load capacity are such big concerns for our type of delivery that there is nothing out there that is anywhere close to being practical yet. Hopefully it won't be too long because we have the wind turbines to recharge them, which would make them super economic to run.

Sales this week took a major downturn with the distinct lack of stock. I was quite surprised it took this long to slow up, we managed to stretch out the last of the perennial stock further than I expected to. It did give us some extra clearing and potting time this week, which we made good use of. We have potted 3 times more stock than we ever have done before, by the end of April, I hope we can find homes for it all, as well as the stock still to be potted of which there is plenty. Best not to look too closely at the numbers, it all gets a bit scary when you think that all this has to be potted, grown, despatched and delivered somewhere over the next few months. everything looks like being bigger than ever before. Everything seems to be hanging together at the moment, other than the obvious current shortfall in stock. Compost, young plants, wooden box parts and pots have all arrived in the nick of time with increased supplies lined up for all the extra production. One day at a time and it will all be fine.

The weather doesn't look brilliant for plant sales over the bank holiday weekend, it has been pretty wet today here which is a relief for the farm, but not so nice for us. There has hardly been a morning without a ground frost or worse here for the whole of the month and despite the sunshine plant growth has suffered. Now it has got wet but without much of a temperature rise which is disappointing and a bit miserable to work in! Good job we put those little heaters in for everyone. I think it was Thursday when we had a wet, cold breezy day and I was in the potting tunnel with fleece, coat and hat doing an active job and still feeling the cold. Luckily I was able to find an excuse to go and do something very important in the office after a couple of hours. I think it was testing Caroline's latest batch of ginger flapjacks. Anyway, we are looking forward to some warmer spring weather at some point please.

At least it is a bank holiday weekend which will be a relief to many. A nice break before returning to the fray next week. So we have the Saturday potting team set up and ready to roll, Sunday is lined up for mega herb sowing as usual, and Monday has a skeleton crew in to keep the potting machine turning over and picking up a few orders ready to despatch on Tuesday. Need to print some more box sides in any spare moments and a few price labels being printed wouldn't go a miss. It's a 'lifestyle  choice' I know and one I can enjoy, if I could just find time to reflect and consider what's going on. Luckily there seem to be others out there excited for us, which is lovely and does make you realise for a moment or two that we are in a good place really, especially when you look at the chaos of last season.

Keep up the good work out there and stay safe. We will have lots of plants very soon, so don't forget us.

There is still a Very Urgent Box return appeal

Please do send back any empty wooden trays you may have accumulated, we are REALLY, REALLY, desperate for them at the moment, otherwise we won't have anything to send the plants out in. We now have the parts in for 2,000 new boxes but at close to £10 a box this year, by the time we have printed and constructed them ourselves, it is not a cheap or easy option to simply increase box stock levels. We are spending £40,000 on new box stock over this spring and summer but that is not helping us yet. I know they are an investment on our part, 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

We can do a selection of our own choice of the herb range again for this coming week and can take a little guidance on any lines you don't need. We may have to restrict total volumes again on orders to a trolley or possibly two of herbs, to ensure everyone who wants something will hopefully get some. We have a few more herbs than recent weeks with a few strawberries coming on line after recovering from earlier rabbit grazing, but still not many. There is lots more on the way, just not quite yet. 

The continuing cold weather is delaying growth all round, but particularly in the perennials. Growth is there but just painfully slow in bulking up the plants. I am hoping that by after the weekend we can offer a simple perennial selection, if you are desperate, of maybe a trolley or possibly two, if you don't mind some repeats. If you can I would rather everyone holds off at least another week to allow some more growth at this end. There will definitely be very little colour or bud so please avoid making me more stressed by asking for a trolley of colourful perennials, that is going to be a little way off yet!

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries