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