Hairy refresher

 Morning all,

A bank holiday weekend coming up like no other I suspect.

We still have so much to get done before the autumn sets in for good, it's difficult to know what to do next. As sales slow up I am always hopeful that the jobs will fly by and we will tick off loads of stuff really quickly, but with cooler weather and talk of ground frosts not far away from us time is slipping by. It's dark when I wake up and dusky when I come in, which seems to have sneaked up on me really fast.

We had an educational week with three of us taking our refresher forklift training on Thursday. An all day session with practical and theory tests in the afternoon, the time flew by. I can't say I enjoy being tested anymore (if ever) especially as I now have the memory span of a gnat, and there were a few quite challenging questions which weren't common sense, they were straight memory recall. Anyway we all passing with (low) flying colours and are refreshed with a flush of righteousness in our updated fork-lifting techniques.

We are still waiting to hear at what level our nursery electric charges are going to be capped, we know it's coming but no idea at what rate. Hopefully it will be at a similar level to the domestic cap, which would still more than double our bill, but not quadruple it, which was on the cards a fortnight ago. Perhaps the caps will calm things down a bit on the inflation front and we can look forward with a bit more positivity, especially as we move into a new era.

We are rapidly approaching the end of the month and the end of our financial year, so stock sheets are being prepared for the big count. I'm pretty sure stock levels are up on last year, due to some earlier late summer potting and several early and large stock purchases chasing the best price deals. Plant sales usually do pretty well in troubled economic times, as people forgo big money purchases but still treat themselves to a little something for the garden or windowsill. Fingers crossed those plant sales are there in the coming spring as we have a lot of stock to get through.

It's been a good week for local wildlife spotting with hedgehogs up and about, Red Kites cruising over the nursery multiple times a day, Pied and Grey wagtails feeding in the tunnels, bats hunting along the hedges and big numbers of frogs, toads and newts being spotted in the tunnels despite the hot summer. But the highlight of the week was a massive flock of feeding house martins and swallows diving about over the house and nursery. There must have been way over 100 birds but impossible to count as they moved so fast, chaotically and over quite a big area. They hung about for an hour or two then headed off south. Hopefully one day they will return and breed here again. We used to get loads of house martin nests on the house and the odd swallow nest in the shed and barn but have had nether for two or three years now and we really miss them.

Wooden box returns

We are collecting up lots of our wooden boxes at the moment, so if you have some ready for collection, just drop me a line and I will add you to the list for a visit. It may take a week or three to get round to you as we will be trying to tie them in with deliveries at the same time, to keep those transport costs in check. Thanks.

Availability list highlights

Time flies and we have our dwarf Chrysanthemums in bud, showing flashes of colour. Japanese Anemones are flushing nicely with the occasional flower stem already. Erigeron Stallone is back in flower. For us it is often still showing colour at Christmas!

Cyclamen hederifolium are nearly gone already after bumper sales. An autumn flowering type just a few white ones left, Autumns flowerers are on the march with more and more fresh Asters coming into bud and colour.

We have a range of Helleborus in stock to stretch those Autumn sales. No flower yet but full of winter promise. Tiarella with it's pretty and short 'foam flowers' are looking great.

Just a few of the purple/pink Erodium Bishops Form left. Neat, tidy and in flower. Goes on for ages. Gaura looking fab with lots of buds. Verbena Lollipop in flower again on nice compact plants. Lovely coloured foliage on Ajuga's and Heuchera.

Take care out thrre,

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries