Hairy measurements

Morning all,

Well we made it, It's Easter time and everyone seems to be talking about holidays and days off, as usual. Naturally in our trade we all are making hay while the sun shines, in today's case literally! It sure is a busy old time for all of us and I hope Joe Gardener out there isn't making your weekend too difficult and is still opening their wallets wide. We certainly had a challenging week mainly due to the workload, but also those extra challenges that pop up from time to time, or in our case on a seemingly weekly basis.

Last Saturday we had a mega potting day planned which went swimmingly well until the new van arrived, after being picked up a year after being ordered. Just in time for the busiest week of the year, it drove into the yard every inch bright and shiny. However it very soon became apparent that we had a bit of an issue. They had made the box 8cm too narrow and the trolleys don't fit! They have made a box for us before, and for other nurseries, so they knew all the dimensions, but someone somewhere made an error and here we are. I spent the rest of the weekend building bits of frame to securely hold a different pattern of trolleys, which means we can squeeze on 14 rather than the 17 on the original design. It will have to go back in the winter for a rebuild, but we can't afford to be without it now as the old one has gone and demand is so high. Phil our driver may well be huffing and puffing a bit more than usual when unloading in the next week or two, as the new loading pattern isn't as easy to operate, so please bear with him. I suspect he will get the hang of it in a bit. Now I understand what I have heard before, a tiny difference in size can make all the difference to your level of happiness. One day something will go right and we can all get excited again!

New potting machine is settling in nicely after a few KFN tweaks and alterations and we have just had a very productive Good Friday which is great. Just need to go and finish the watering in before it gets dark and we can get ready for a mega weekend. Potting again tomorrow morning and then preparation and packing begins for our biggest micro-propagation module sales week of the year. Not great timing but can't do much about it. We have a team in on Monday morning to get despatch off to a quick start next week and the vans full from day one (Tuesday) as well as delivering the microprop packed up over the weekend by Caroline, with some minor assistance from yours truly. Even had to turn down Easter Sunday lunch this year which is a shame as we all missed it for the last couple of covid affected years. Hoping to get a quick visit in for tea on Sunday just to show our faces and gather in a share of Easter goodies.

Hope your Easter is equally relaxing and you are able to fit in a bit of post-restriction socialising, it will help take our minds off all the other stuff in the news. One nursery in our business group has just been quoted 50p per kWhr, up 300%, that was a shock!

Wooden box returns appeal

We are eating our way through our new stock of wooden boxes scarily quickly, I can't believe how all that winter work has started to disappear so fast out of the barn. Can I make an appeal to anyone using our empty boxes as part of their display constructions, to try and find some alternative materials to use. Each box costs us £10 to replace and it doesn't take many to disappear into such a display for large amounts of valuable box stock to be left unused by us. Not only do we have to buy and construct more boxes to cover our needs, but those empty boxes sitting there are not earning their keep with us, which increases our costs and consequently our prices to you.

Availability list highlights

After a hectic run we are quite short of stock in bud at the moment. Overall stock levels for the perennials are still ok, just short on flower action. The herb stock is definitely low for the coming week and is likely to be so for 2 or 3 more weeks as we end the overwintered batches of some stock and await the arrival of the new stock. Demand for herbs has taken us by surprise again after a quieter year in 2021 when I got carried away and over produced in the summer after such a busy 2020 (once it started).

We have a couple of Camassia showing bud, with the excellent blue Maybelle a week or two behind. Very late flowering Narcisuss Sun Disc are now in bud. A small flowered beauty it is worth the wait. So late it is almost a novelty!

Low growing Erodiums in both colours are budding now, ready to flower all summer long. Spring favourite the Erysimum's are now in bud. We have some lovely batches of Salvia nemerosa varieties bulking up well with several varieties already in bud. A spring flush of healthy shoot growth on our overwintered Phlox range, all looking very strong. Best crop ever. Fresh crops of Lupin just starting again this week.

Happy Easter, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries