Hairy Eunice

Morning all, 

Hope you are all ok after the Big Wind of Friday. Sitting on the side of a hill in a valley facing southwest we feared we were going to be a bit vulnerable, but despite some horrendous conditions, I think we have got away with it reasonably lightly. As the crow flies, if he could get off the floor, we are not that far from The Needles on the Isle of Wight (122 mph) so we definitely faced a good blow, but with a bit of planning and a good dose of luck we are still standing.

I'm touch late with this list, because we did lose power on the nursery for 24 hours, in fact the house is still off. It's only when you are without it that you realise how much depends on that power coming down the line. Even the oil fired kit won't go without the electric controller, so no hot water, central heating, phones (now we are internet run), the list goes on. On the nursery we do have a generator to keep the essential heating systems going but other than that it's a complete shutdown. Luckily we decided not to have anyone in on Friday, so that kept the tension a bit lower considering the conditions. It did get a bit exciting when two of the tunnel covers let go, but a bit of sensible cutting and dragging meant I was able to get the wildly flapping sheets off the tunnels and into some shelter. Then a small tree by our entrance fell across the road which disrupted the traffic, but we quickly cleared that with the help of a neighbours chainsaw skills and the forklift. There is a lot of stuff blown about and a few bits of other relatively minor damage to still sort out but, fingers crossed, that is the worst done and dusted.

Sadly we didn't even benefit from any extra turbine output, the wind speeds were forecast to be so strong that our maintenance company advised us to park the blades, just in case. Then with no power on the grid we couldn't restart them until this morning (they are understandably not keen on us putting power into the cables when someone might be up the pole doing repairs!). They are bowling along again now, so hopefully they will help pay for some new covers.

We whizzed out a few orders early in the week so we could avoid deliveries on Friday and I had in the back of my mind that we could have a thrash at cutting back a big dollop of the last of the crops that are still waiting for their winter trim. Events got the better of us which is a real pain, I just hope we aren't too busy this week and we get time for another go before the spring madness sets in. The forecast looks to be quite breezy and wet at times, which might hold sales back a bit and there will be quite a bit of tidying up for everyone to do after Friday, so maybe we will get that chance.

I should be printing labels now the power is back on but I'm just beginning to wonder if we are going to have to do some emergency decanting of the fridge and freezer this afternoon. There is a tiny freezer on the nursery we can use and the rest we might have to de-thaw and eat. I have already started clearing the fridge where there was a large collection of bottled larger getting too warm, although I didn't get very far through it last night before I fell asleep in front of the wood burner. Too old to cope these days.

Availability list highlights

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 big, soft and lush. There isn't a lot of colour yet and where there is some, the plants are disappearing fast. A bit more warmth and we'll get another flush of varieties, I can see the signs of action, just not quite enough to send just yet.

Not in flower but always very popular at this time of year, the Alliums and Camassia bulbs are shooting nicely. It's a shame the foliage goes a bit tatty and they are impossible to handle in a pot by the time they flower, as they are both such great garden plants. Good ones for the pollinators.

Scilla sibirica have royal blue colour peaking through. An early spring stunner.

Our dwarf Narcissus varieties are starting to bud up now and look springy. They won't hang around long, as I try not to overdo volumes of this sort of plant, just in case the weather turns on me!

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, but both now carrying lots of tight bud.

Another spring favourite are the Erysimum's which are coming on line now. The Red Jep and Pastel Patchwork have tight bud lurking among the foliage at the moment.The all time favourite Bowles Mauve are there too but not quite as advanced as the others.

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

Primula veris (Cowslip) have bud and the odd flash of very early sunshine yellow. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries