Hairy economy

Morning all,

It feels like September out there today, lovely warm sunshine and a gentle breeze, a perfect day for a bit of light autumn gardening. Hopefully there are still a few active gardeners out there who have not run out of cash yet. I know there will be plenty of retailers out there hoping that the pre Christmas spending isn't dented too hard, as this has become such a busy time for many centres and we don't want anyone to start the New Year in too much of a negative mood. All the indications are that many growers are taking an understandably cautious approach to next year's production targets, with so many challenges already in the system let alone whatever else is going to pop up.

Having recently finished our annual stock-take and seeing all the costs lined up in one document it feels pretty scary when I think of the implications that has on prices and shrinking margins. Just as we start making a sensible recovery from the Covid disruption it all gets threatened again by cost increases the like of which we have never seen before. The danger, as an aging nurseryman, is that I fail to react in a sensible commercial manner. I don't really get out much and witness on a daily basis just how much everything costs nowadays, so I can very easily undervalue the products we sell and fail to allow for any reward for the work undertaken over the year, or worse still, return to making a loss and then finding it difficult to justify continuing. This in turn puts not just our nursery jobs at risk, but the financial wellbeing of the village in Sri Lanka that make our pots. In a nut shell this is building up to announcing a fairly weighty price increase for 2023 which I will let you know about by email over the next few days. I am going to keep it as low as I can, at a lower rate than our costs are actually rising and we will try and make up any shortfall with increases in efficiency and reducing waste. It's going to be achallenging season for everyone, consumers, staff, retailers and suppliers, but hopefully the inflation pressures will ease in the not too distant future with settling energy and food prices and we can get back to some sort of normality, if we can remember what that was like!

I have just got back from two weeks out in the real world and come back with having lost too many pounds in currency and gained too many in weight, thank goodness for elasticated waistbands. Sharing a big rented house near the sea with friends was just the break we needed, despite wind and rain on all but 2 days. We saw some fantastic seas, views and wildlife as well as a lot of menus, empty plates and crumpled pasty bags. Can't believe it's over already and we are back on the nursery, but I don't think there's much more give in the elastic so it's just as well.

Between the showers the light was brilliant and we had some great sightings including, feeding Blue Fin Tuna leaping out of the sea just off the coastguard station in St Ives, multiple Black Redstarts in the garden of the house, a Water Rail running across the road near Lands End, a peregrine falcon attacking a flock of starlings and masses of waders in Hayle Estuary. Now time to knuckle down to minimal meals and less beer, otherwise I am going to have to up size to a new wardrobe.

The nursery is looking pretty smart on our return, the wood store got rebuilt with a fresh cladding of matching pallets and a new floor, the broken trolley shelves are all sorted and repaired where we can. Doors, vents and blinds have been repaired and re-clad, lots of plants mulched and wooden boxes made and I can see the office floor, I had forgotten it was that colour! With my mum is residence the house got a spring clean too so I am thinking we must go away more often.

Wooden Box returns.

We have a barn full of dried, cleaned and stacked boxes which is very satisfying. If you have any more empties you would like us to pick up just drop us a line. It may take a little while to get there as we are not on the road very much now, but we will get there eventually.

Availability list highlights

The range is getting quite low now as the autumn lines sell out or finish flowering.

Winter and spring flowering Cyclamen coum are now available in small numbers with more coming on stream for later. Most are in bud with some colour showing, even the Silver Leaved have some bud, but not quite as many which is why I haven't yet marked them as flowering on the main list.

We have a good range of Helleborus in stock, to stretch those Autumn sales. Not a lot of flower yet but full of winter promise. Evergreen Lithodora are still looking smart, as are the Liriope.

Erigeron Stallone still in flower although quite big plants now. Likely to still be in flower at the end of the year if we don't hit a sudden mini ice age. Ours outside the back door, is usually still showing colour at Christmas.

Best wishes  from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries