Hairy plumbing

 Morning all,

Wow that was a busy selling week. I know it's early and we are not at full barmyness levels yet, but that was our biggest week despatching in any January or February week ever, other than one week last year when the last week of February was a tiny bit more. Unfortunately we got slightly knocked off course on all the other jobs but still managed to make progress and the bank manager will be relieved that some money is already due to come in.

The overwintering plant tidying took a hit, but we ploughed on with the some of the biggest projects. We are so close to finishing the wooden box making, all the bits are printed, painted and treated and just a 100 or so boxes left to construct, a big relief to see the end in sight. We will have to do a stock take of bits left, once complete, because I know we are short of one component so I will need to order a few more to tidy up the last bits. The wooden POS boards for the season are nearly done too, just another days printing and treating and I should be there. Might get that done over a quiet day on Saturday.

Big day on Wednesday with the arrival of all our card based colour labels for the year. Nearly 500,00 to file away before Monday. Luckily I started earlier in the week by relabelling all their little storage boxes so we are just about ready to unpack and get filing.

Following on from last week, all my plumbing bits arrived for the installation of our new water treatment system. Today Greg and I spent the day dismantling all the pipe-work in the pump shed, repositioning the pumps to fit in the rather large new unit and then cutting and gluing the new bits together. Naturally the first fitting required was the wrong size, swiftly followed by two more and I wondered if starting this whole thing was a mistake. Luckily we found an old spare bit which sorted one issue and fitted a temporary bypass round the other. I have ordered a couple of reducers to sort out the ordering mistakes (yes me again) so that shouldn't be an issue. I must say the rest of the operation went really well and everything is now more or less in one piece but the test will come tomorrow when all the glues and jointing compounds have set and we can put the system under full water pressure. I know there is likely to be the odd drip, but fingers crossed for no major flooding. We still have to get the electrician in to do the final powering up for the control panel but we are nearly there.

We are progressing swiftly with the work to join up all our tunnel drains and start harvesting some decent volumes of rainwater. The last of the drainage pipe arrived this week, with water pipes and float cables etc coming on Monday. We have a monster submersible pump already here to drop in the water collection sump and today the farm pitched up with their JCB to dig out the hole for the sump. They are kindly fitting us in around all the farm work they should be doing, so progress may be a bit erratic but they are off to a great start, it would be a big hole to dig by hand! With 300m of trenching to do we will be very grateful for their mechanic assistance and hopefully we can get it all together before the season goes mad. It will be a close call.

We very nearly did our first bit of spring potting this week, but ran out of time. The weather next week looks reasonably settled so with luck we can catch up then. It's a our annual crop of bare root strawberries which always seem to do so well, although they are a bit of a pain to get in the pots as they are so chunky. It might well be the last time we use the old potting machine because the new one should be here very shortly. It has done us proud over 23 years, but it's only the rust and paint that holds most of it together so we will be glad to see the replacement. It should more than see me out!

Availability list highlights

Things are still pretty quiet during this cold snap with most plants still in winter dormancy, but there are still a few stars shining out there. The spring bulbs are beginning to sprout with one or two hinting at some colour.

Please do bear in mind that it is still mid-winter so our unheated plant growth, although healthy, is likely to be winter 'tight' in habit and not soft and lush.

Helleborus niger are still in strong bud and flower, looking like they should.

Pulmonaria varieties are shooting nicely after their winter trim. Trevi Fountain and Opal are even showing tight buds.

Aubretia in blue and red shades are looking bushy, nice and tight in growth habit with some occasional flower colour showing, especially in the red.

Centaurea Amethyst Dream showing bud and the odd flash of deep purple colour.

Another spring favourite are the Erysimum's which are coming on line now. Just the Red Jep has tight bud lurking among the foliage at the moment, but the Apricot Twist and Pastel Patchwork are looking strong and bushy too.

Scaboius Butterfly Blue and Pink Mist think it's spring, with bud on show.

Wild primrose with bud and the odd flash of very early spring sunshine yellow. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy aprons

Morning all,

Despite the winter weather the plant sales are already ticking over with quite a busy coming week already lined up. Slightly scary that it is the new plant season already, but it does give us a bit of a push to get all those winter jobs tidied away. The only fly in the ointment I that keep adding to the job list which might turn round and bite me in a few weeks time. However if it goes well we should be well set for an exciting year with a few new toys to play with.

This week's 'dressing up' went brilliantly with all manner of Hairy Pot customised kit on display. We did have a few sizing issues so we ended up doing a few swaps between us all, and we will need to put in another order to fill in the gaps. There was a second order on the cards anyway as a few items wanted were out of stock. The layered look was definitely 'in' this week with the cool temperatures, shirts, sweatshirts, then body warmers, fleeces and coats, plus for me an apron in the mix too. Very cosy. The aprons are proving to be a hard sell, despite them looking really smart (navy organic cotton blue bib apron with the Hairy Pot Plant Company name and logo, embroidered discretely, centre front), the chaps and a few of the girls are definitely anxious about their image and the idea of a flouncy apron just doesn't hit the spot. I on the other hand think they look very artisan and craftsmen like (and keep my other kit clean), it just shows how your minds image can shape your view of the world.

I came embarrassingly close to a possible harassment charge earlier in the week, when I brought down a couple of polo shirts I had tried on at home, for one of our ladies to try for size. She took one home and all went well, but later in the week I found I had lost my yoga 'safety pants' (I'm a boxer man usually), and where did I find them? In the office wrapped up in the second shirt. That was a close call!

One of this winters projects is to install a new irrigation water treatment system, which will improve the water quality, help control fungal diseases and reduce any spraying we have to do to control the occasional outbreak. It was a tad expensive at over £10,000, but the running costs are tiny, especially in comparison with any chemical treatments we might otherwise have to use. We only have to save a few plants each year and reduce our sprayer operator time a bit, to make it pay. I think they call it a long term investment rather than a quick fix, but it does tie us into sticking it out a few more years yet! All the kit arrived this week on one pallet and I must admit to being slightly taken aback by the size of it. It was a classic case of eye's bigger than stomach. I had originally worked out the sizing and fitting based on a lower range model but had been tempted into a higher rated one, based on easier and more efficient operation, but failed to notice the larger dimensions (it looked the same in the photo). It wasn't until I actually measured it and then visited the pump shed that I realised my error. There then followed a major re-jig on how the pumps and pipe-work are to be repositioned so we can squeeze it in. I now have a sizable order in for new pipe-work bits to make it all come together and will have a very nerve racking day or two while we dismantle the existing system and rebuild. All the time we are off there will be only a small mains supply so no pressure there (no pun intended if you can believe that). The amount of kit in there, all joined together using combinations of BSP and metric threads, male and female ends and various pipe diameters, is daunting, I just hope I've ordered all the right bits. Of course I have every confidence it will go as smoothly as these things always do.

Availability list highlights

Things are still pretty quiet during this cold snap and most plants are still in winter dormancy, but there are still a few stars shining out there. The spring bulbs are beginning to sprout with one or two hinting at some colour.

Please do bear in mind that it is still mid-winter so our unheated plant growth, although healthy, is likely to be winter 'tight' in habit and not soft and lush.

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 gives a more subtle and modest appearance than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours,

Helleborus niger are still in strong bud and flower, looking like they should. Pulmonaria varieties are shooting nicely after their winter trim. Blue Ensign and Opal are even showing tight buds. Aubretia in blue and red shades are looking bushy, nice and tight in growth habit with some occasional flower colour showing, especially in the red.

Another spring favourite are the Erysimum's which are coming on line now. Just the Red Jep has tight bud lurking among the foliage at the moment, but the Apricot Twist and Pastel Patchwork are looking strong and bushy too. Scaboius Butterfly Blue think it's spring, with bud on show, although the cold may stop full colour showing just yet. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy irrigation

Morning,

Hope all is well. Nice to be a bit of sunshine and some cool winter temperatures. Although it is much easier to get stuff done in the warmth, I always get a bit nervous at this time of year that if it's too warm now we will pay for it later. Much better to get the cold out of the way early. Not a lot we can do about it, but it's comforting to have a belief system, no matter how nuts, lurking in the background.

Still very early in the year but we are back into exciting stuff already. The updated printing screens for the wooden POS boards arrived on Tuesday, just in time to get a few printed off to go with most of this week's orders. It was all a bit hand to mouth with liberal splashes of permanent black ink decorating the surroundings, but the combination of new screens, new ink and kind weather worked pretty well and we got there in the end. You may notice that we have changed the mounting arrangement for the larger boards so they are now screwed to a box base only, without the wooden box sides. This makes them a bit more versatile in what you can do with them, they should be easier to hang or screw to a display area or bench. It also saves on a few resources at this end and with timber prices the way they are we are going to need to hold onto all the savings we can make. Once the boards are all done we can finish off the box making which will complete this winters investment in new box stock (3,500 boxes at £10 a pop, ouch!),

For the last 4 winters we have been preparing the nursery for rainwater harvesting. We have hand dug over 1.5km of french drains between all the tunnels (too restricted to get a machine in there), initially with the intention of reducing the flash flooding we were regularly experiencing on the production beds inside the tunnels, but with the hope that we could start harvesting the output to use in the irrigation system. This week I had a chap out to give us some advice on the next step in the process, and what a revelation it was! It was one of those rare occasions when someone comes up with a series of practical, sensible and economic ideas that fitted perfectly with where we are at the moment. I was envisaging sumps, filter beds, a banked and fenced reservoir, multiple pumps and a whole heap of work and expense. But by working out what we needed to achieve, applying it to the site and looking at the work we have already done, we just need a small settlement sump, a single pump and an extra water tank to store some of the water. We don't need to save all the water we get overwinter, just the rainfall when we are in the growing season. We can fairly easily feed the proposed sump with all our drain water and any excess can overflow back into the chalk aquifer. By positioning the new storage tank with the top of the tank at the same height as the existing one we don't even need to pump from one tank to the other, just leave them joined together and they will equalise levels. That is the sort of planning I like. We will need to trench from the sump at the bottom of the nursery to the new tank at the top, but we can utilise the same trench to send some of the tunnel drain water back to the sump at the same time, so that works joyously as a double ended solution. It just gets better and better. Generally 50% of the annual rainfall is in the winter when we don't need it on the nursery but the rest falls when we are irrigating so we should be able to get a good proportion of the rainfall recycled through the irrigation to take the pressure off the borehole use. Can't wait to get started, just wondering if we can fit it in before the season gets going full tilt.

Watch out this week if you get a delivery, there may be a flash of Hairy Pot livery on display. First batch came today, it's like Christmas again! 

Availability list highlights

Things are pretty quiet now and most plants are still in their winter dormancy, but there are still a few stars shining out there. The spring bulbs are beginning to sprout up with one or two hinting at some colour. There will be more appearing over the next few weeks I'm sure, especially if we don't freeze up too solidly. Please do bear in mind that it is still mid-winter so our unheated plant growth although healthy, is likely to be winter 'tight' in its habit and not soft and lush.

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 gives a more subtle and modest appearance than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours. Some of the Helleborus niger are still in strong bud and flower,

Pulmonaria varieties are shooting nicely after their winter trim. Blue Ensign and Opal are even showing buds. Aubretia in blue and red shades are looking bushy, nice and tight in growth habit with some flower colour showing, especially in the red. Most of this crop came to grief last year in a batch of dodgy compost, but thankfully it is looking fab this time. Another spring favourite are the Erysimum's which are coming on line now. Just the Red Jep with tight bud lurking among the foliage at the moment, but the Apricot Twist and Pastel Patchwork are looking strong and bushy too.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Hairy Energy

Morning all,

Happy New Year to all and I hope you all had a lovely festive break. We had a lovely time, not hugely social but a lot more relaxed than 2020.

Managed to squeeze in a few days screen printing boxes, in that bonkers mild weather, which was great to get done. Back to reality this week with early starts and some pretty cold nights again. The forecast doesn't look too bad for the next week or so, once Saturday is out of the way, cool but not frozen and not too wet either.

Not quite got a full crew back yet with a few elongating their break and making the most of our relatively quiet period before the madness descends on us again. The first couple of retailer orders went out this week so spring must be on the way. It is obviously very early I know, but I was quite impressed at how nice the plants looked considering it is the first working week of the year. I already have a couple more lined up for next week so we am going to have to brace ourselves for getting properly organised for some serious despatching again. It always catches me out, December is so short, and sales get going so quickly once those bulbs start popping into view. Those winter jobs we were going to do in the quiet spell become more and more difficult to shoehorn in, but hey-ho, the cash-flow will be relieved at some income again.

Still slogging away at box construction with our small gang of 'craftsmen', and I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have never had so many stacked pallets in the barn at one time, fingers crossed it will be enough for the peak sales in the spring and we don't have to rush about making more when we have no spare time. I am currently awaiting the arrival of a new set of printing screens for the wooden POS boards that will be accompanying everyone's early orders. I have updated the wording to be more up to date with current developments on the nursery. All the wood has been prepared for the printing and we just need the screens to get going on the refresh. We are going to be so organised this year!

Another job that will end up being a rush I suspect, will be the sign writing on the vans we are hoping to get sorted. We were waiting for the new 7.5 tonne van to arrive to get them all done at the same time, but it hasn't pitched up yet so we are going to have to start without it. No slipping quietly in as just another unmarked white-van man, this season you will know we have arrived. When we add the new staff kit into the equation it could almost be called professional, which would be a novelty!

We are having a serious look at bolstering our energy production by putting in a few solar panels to top up the wind turbine output. It's not many because our system can't handle too much extra generation without major upgrades which would be too expensive. With more kit being electrified and prices increasing alarmingly it seems like the right thing to do. Just found out we will have to get planning permission first, which might delay things, we'll see.

Sadly our plans for driving around in a nice electric car have gone on hold with delivery delayed from January until late April at the earliest. Good job we aren't busy then, I will have loads of time to cruise around showing off to the locals. 

Availability list highlights

Things are pretty quiet now and most plants in their winter dormancy, but there are still a few stars shining out there. The spring bulbs are beginning to sprout up with one or two hinting at some colour. There will be more appearing over the next few weeks I'm sure, especially if we don't freeze up to solidly. Please do bear in mind that it is still mid-winter so our unheated plant growth although healthy, is likely to be winter 'tight' in its habit and not soft and lush.

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 gives a more subtle and modest appearance than some of the very showy modern and less hardy pot cyclamen. A favourite of ours,

Some of the Helleborus niger are still in strong bud and flower, 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.

Spring bulbs are shooting and there are a few on the list this week, so more exciting sales levels are on the way.

Pulmonaria varieties are shooting nicely after their winter trim.Blue Ensign and Opal are even showing buds, so the rest won't be far behind.

Aubretia in blue and red shades are looking bushy, nice and tight in growth habit with some flower colour showing, especially in the red. Most of this crop came to grief last year in a batch of dodgy compost, but thankfully it is looking fab this time. Another spring favourite are the Erysimum's which are coming on line now. Just the Red Jep with tight bud lurking among the foliage at he moment, but the Apricot Twist and Pastel Patchwork are looking strong and bushy too.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries