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