Hairy Targets

Morning all,

Sales are ramping up now after another busy week. The steady weather pattern has helped I'm sure and we are hoping the cooler weather coming up won't turn out to be too disruptive.

We had a hectic week on top of those sales, with a big visit from a group of National Trust folk from different sites across the south east on Tuesday. I managed to 'entertain' them for two hours, well I say entertain, none fell asleep (it was too cold for that and they were standing up the whole time) and nice things were said at the end. I was awarded a tin of NT shortbread as well, which unfortunately wouldn't stretch round the whole team, so I bit the bullet and polished them off myself. The lengths I go to for the team.

Wednesday saw a visit from our solar man to do another site assessment now we have shown serious interest. We don't have any suitable roof space, so they will be ground mounted, which I quite like as it means I can get my hands on them (for cleaning if nothing else). I'm trying to get them to look into mounting them onto a frame that we can do some manual tilting on, allowing us to chase the lower winter sun and increase the output. We don't need anything fancy, just something like the old manual glasshouse venting systems that we can wind up and down a bit, once a month. I suspect it will be too much to ask, but if you don't ask you don't get. We sensibly pencilled in digging a big cable trench for the panels while the water recycling team are here, which would get the most disruptive job out of the way quickly.

Thursday was National Trust Net Zero seminar day, adding more challenges to my limited understanding of all the 'net zero speak' currently doing the rounds. The session was nicely done and did introduce to all the suppliers attending, how vital it was going to be to set off on their 'journey' towards net zero as soon as possible. The people telling us about how to do it were very honest about the dubious nature of a lot of the data currently being used to calculate carbon footprints, especially when you get into the minefield of Scope 3 emissions which I may have mentioned before, but we have to start somewhere. One phrase that has been doing the rounds recently is 'Science Based Targets' and how we all need to be using these to work out if we are doing the right thing, but I must admit it sounded to me like one of those wishy-washy phrases like 'environmentally friendly'. However I was wrong. Working everything out yourself and declaring yourself Net Zero in no longer acceptable, you need to do it using 'SBT's. Although a meaning for 'SBT's was read out it didn't really help: 'Targets are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with what the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement – limiting global warming to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C'. Ok have you got that, or have you dropped off?

Having Googled this afterwards it now makes a bit more sense, In theory if you want all figures properly verified EVERYONE has to sign up on the 'SBT initiative' website pay your dues (SME 's = $1,000-£2,000) to be confirmed as yes you are doing the right thing.

In theory there should be a competitive advantage by jump though all these hoops, but I have sore hips, knees and feet and I'm wondering if my hoop jumping days may be coming to an end.

Sadly dancing at the Guildhall has been delayed until late April, hope I'm Still Standing. Best wishes, Elton.

2023 Retail price reviews

In view of our price increases for 2023, don't forget to review your own retail prices and let us know ASAP if you want us to pre-price at new rates. I will have to update our records and make sure I have the printing plates ready to roll. Thanks. 

Availability list highlights

Definite signs of spring showing now with rampant shootiness just around the corner. There is a definite feel of 'fresh and green' this week after a pleasant week on the weather front pushing some more growth.

Polemonium Heaven Scent is a stunner and looking great just at the moment. Finely cut bronzed green foliage is really smart and the pale blue flowers are now budding up. Grown in our own micro-prop lab it's not one you see everywhere.

Also from our lab are some very smart Brunnera varigata with nicely marked new leaves. Flowers will follow very soon. We don't have many this year, but the Primula denticulata and now shooting and showing bud.

Dicentra spectabilis are pushing through and instantly showing early bud. Spring bulbs are well on the way. Only a few dwarf Narcissus left now so don't hang about. Muscari Blue Magic now in bud.

Anemone blanda Blue Shades has suddenly made an appearance and already in bud. Only a few ready at the moment. Scilla sibirica with it's fabulous blue flowers are just poking through with the odd bud showing. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy Spring

Mornign all,

That was a very busy week. One of those early weeks when lot's of sites decided that was the week to make a move. Last year it happened a week earlier, just before storm Eunis hit and everything went a bit quiet again! Hoping the same won't happen this year, I think the far north had a brush with a big one this week but we just had a nice stiff breeze, not enough to worry about but strong enough to get the turbines generating nicely.

We have been working on a small solar project over the past few weeks to back up our wind generation, so I can feel good about the weather sunshine or rain. We have just agreed to take it to the next stage of drawing up some proper plans and getting an accurate quote. I am hoping that the whole thing won't be too disruptive to the nursery operations, just as I was hopeful the water recycling would be a breeze. That was due to start in early February, but has now been delayed until late Feb/early March, which of course moves it into our busy season. I'm sure it will be fine!

Having a such busy week in despatch highlighted how we weren't quite ready for full-on action, with a few label shortages and organisational ruffles to smooth out. We had a bit of a get together this afternoon with some of the bright young things and myself, to re-jig a few things ready for next week. We applied a little bit of our Lean Management training, did a bit of a de-clutter and redesigned the layout. They are fairly small changes but will hopefully add up to making life a little easier for everyone when the pressure is on. With luck an easier workplace brings more efficiency, and we need as much of that as we can find.

We had quite a bit of work done on one of the Fiat vans a couple of weeks ago, as part of its service. Nothing worrying but things that needed doing ahead of its successful MOT this week. As a special treat for the garage I foam cleaned it, just before the service, so the mechanics could at least find the wheels and bonnet. It had suffered over the winter, but cleaned up amazingly well. I'm not sure if it was worth it in the end as it is now hard to tell which one I cleaned.

The end of February is when our CC trolley annual contract renews. It's an interesting scheme that works ok most of the time, although some of the participants, like us, do suffer quite a hit on the shelf repair front. Every member who rents the CC trolleys and shelves is given an allocation each year of the number of shelves they are allowed to return for repair. Some people will exchange their broken shelves but apparently quite a lot don't take up the option, having found an easier way of 'losing' the shelves, by slipping them onto the trolleys returned to their suppliers. Consequently some growers, not us of course, have so many broken shelves above their allowed allocation, that they end up mending them themselves and only exchanging those that are beyond repair. Our full allocation went in this week, although we didn't quite clear the backlog sat round the back of the barn. There is another way. If you only have a small shelf exchange allocation and it isn't worth transporting them to the exchange depot, or you just don't use it, then you can go onto the CC website and transfer your allocation to the nursery of your choice. Our nursery CC Number is 600423 just in case you need it for the, very easy to use, online shelf transfer page. 

Getting onto more serious stuff, the first Winchester Guildhall jive date is booked March 14th, with another nine dates on offer for the rest of the year. Whoo-hoo! Not quite the full return to weekly lesson orientated sessions that are needed to maintain a healthy flow of fresh blood, but it's a start. We have still got to push the council to reverse their booking policy changes which scuppered the dance bookings in the first place. It's frustrating as I'm sure it would be self-funding. One year's bookings would account for about £30.000 which you would have thought would be enough to pay someone for five hours once a week, to be there 'just in case ' and to lock up at the end. They can be working on other things at the same time, they don't have to be in the room, sounds like a no-brainer to me, but then I'm not a councillor.

2023 Retail price reviews

In view of our price increases for 2023, don't forget to review your own retail prices and let us know ASAP if you want us to pre-price at new rates. I will have to update our records and make sure I have the printing plates ready to roll. Thanks. 

Availability list highlights

Definite signs of spring showing now with rampant shootiness just around the corner.

Polemonium Heaven Scent is a stunner and looking great just at the moment. Finely cut bronzed green foliage is really smart and the pale blue flowers will be budding up very soon. Grown in our own micro-prop lab it's not one you see everywhere. Spring bulbs are well on the way and buds are appearing on many of the short Narcissus we have.

Anemone blanda Blue Shades has suddenly made an appearance and already in bud. Only a few ready at the moment but lots more to come.

Scilla sibirica with it's fabulous blue flowers are just poking through with the odd bud showing. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy Display

Morning all,

Can't believe another week has flown by and I've still got a list of jobs as long as my arm I'm supposed to have got done, I might get a few done over the weekend as there might be fewer interruptions. It's been pretty cold again here with hard morning frosts and fog, which frustratingly holds back the plant growth. I'm just looking for those fresh spring growth spurts to herald some warmer days coming and get those gardening juices running. Not mine, mine ran out years ago, but those keen folk out there who are just waiting to unleash their purse strings in their desire to create a little bit of heaven at home. Just hoping there is enough left in those purses to keep us all afloat.

Not only have the orders started to build up but I had some big distractions this week, with a little trade show to attend as a exhibitor being the main cause of panic and a critical meeting on Friday at the Winchester Guildhall trying to secure a return to some regular evening exercise after a 3 year pause for covid.

It's been many years now since we exhibited at any trade shows as I'm not really very comfortable at pushing sales, it all seems a little showy and a bit too loud to fit easily within my comfort zone. I always thought, rather naively, that if we made the product good enough it would sell itself, although luckily over the last few years that has proved to be the case. So to be invited to a suppliers show for a chain of centres was a reawakening of all the joys of putting together a stand, sorting out how to get it there, manning it and getting it home again. When you see the display you might wonder what all the fuss was about, but it took a lot of farting about to get it to come together, especially after such a long break since the last one.

Luckily last year we put together a little training display bench on a converted trolley which was tastefully called 'The Trolley of Knowledge', and with a bit of remodelling it made a perfect focal point, acting as a hub for three trolleys of a fine collection of our plants. We selected a whole range of 'interesting' photos and extras to decorate the 'ToK' and it worked a treat. A few minutes to put together on site and quick to dismantle, we sold off most of the plants the following day, so not too much to sort out on our return. A lovely sunny day, meeting centre staff and senior management was, I'm sure, very worthwhile, although my back would probably beg to differ. How can standing about be so debilitating? Luckily I do have an effective cure, lie on your back with a tennis ball under the big muscles running up the side of your lower back. Try to relax the muscles allowing them to stretch around the ball and repeat on the other side. It breaks the tension build up in the muscles, elongating them while relaxing the whole area. Even better, use yoga style breathing techniques to increase the relaxation of the muscles for quicker and more effective relief. Our yoga teacher used to drive me to distraction when we first started on breathing exercises, I had been breathing for as long as I can remember without too many issues, why on earth would I need to learn how to do it again. Even worse was to come when we were asked to breath in through the top of the head and out through our toes, complete madness. There were many internal stubborn conversations about there being a lack of orifices to achieve this, but I must admit that when I let myself picture it mentally rather than fight it, it did relax and reduce pain in those areas I was supposed to be breathing out of. So do try it, breathing out of your back as you lie on your balls, as it were!

Fridays Guildhall meeting was to try and revive the Modern Jive classes and dances that used to be held there pre-covid. There is huge demand for a return but the Council changed the booking rules and staffing levels after covid, which stopped them from taking place. There used to be an average 110 dancers each week, with big weekend events and quarterly balls (breath out) of over 300. I have been helping out with an application of pressure on some of the councillors running the hall, to try and get some action and today was the culmination of  months of inactivity on their part. The hall manager Chris was a joy to talk with and a huge help, despite the fact that he initially couldn't see a way to facilitate a return. Eventually we compromised on a staggered return with the group allowed into the hall if there was other council activity going on elsewhere in the building. It's not perfect but it's a start and hopefully a full return will follow one day. Can't wait for the first return event, it should be a great party, just what I was hoping for when covid restrictions ended, but it never happened.

2023 Retail price reviews

In view of our price increases for 2023, don't forget to review your own retail prices and let us know ASAP if you want us to pre-price at new rates. I will have to update our records and make sure I have the printing plates ready to roll. Thanks. 

Availability list highlights

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.

Spring must be on the way, the Pulmonaria are up with most varieties showing bud with the odd flash of colour.

Spring bulbs are on the way and buds are already nicely on show on both the little hooped petticoat Narcissus varieties. 

Best wishes  from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

 

Hairy energy

Morning all, 

It's definitely still a bit wintery out there, with limited fresh plant growth on some lines that I had hoped would make an appearance by now, despite the slightly improved weather. I think those two cold snaps have really slowed some lines up and a few look like they might suffer more permanent damage. I won't panic just yet, many have a habit of rising to the occasion when spring properly arrives, so I must be patient.

We are bowling through the over-wintering plant tidying and trimming, with some tunnels now being revisited for a final tidy up, ready for spring. The top up stock of wooden marketing boxes is now under construction. Box printing finished last week and the POS boards are also now done, they just need attaching to their backing lattice and treating to protect them from the worst of the weather. The screen printing trolley has been cleaned off, wrapped up and tucked away in the barn until it's reappearance next winter, so another seasonal milestone passes. I think I have removed all the remaining ink smudges from my person, it's surprising where you find the odd splatter.

Being a relatively quiet time of year for growers, this is a popular time for conferences and I did attend one, via Zoom, this week. It's not an ideal medium, but as it was really for greenhouse growers rather than hardy stock folk, it was just fine. At least on Zoom I get the chance to slip away and do something productive if and when I lose the plot. You never know quite what you are going to pick up at these events and although some of the technical stuff was beyond me, I did harvest some reassuring advice. The presentation by the CEO of Fargro (the sundries supplier) was positive and concise, reminding us what great opportunities our industry has at the moment, we are 'right on trend' with so much focus on wellbeing, health, fitness, nature and the environment. Although we all need profit to operate, the most important aspects are the plants and the people, especially the team operating the business. He felt that rather than being 'goal focused', which can sometimes be rather black and white in its outcome (good if you win, bad if you don't), it is far more motivational in the long term for people to be to be 'purpose orientated' and focus on achievements rather than goals. People with a purpose often feel part of something positive and achieving stuff is a nailed on feel good factor.

It was interesting and quite hard hitting when he pointed out that unless energy is constantly added to a business or team, then order gradually turns to disorder. I know that part is supposed to be my job but sometimes it's quite hard to keep up that energy input, especially when you get as wrinkly as me.

Are we there yet? Unfortunately no, you never arrive, you just try to keep in the game and hopefully enjoy the journey.

Had a very interesting chat this week with a commercial heating engineer who came to have a look at the heating system in our propagation unit. We are looking to ditch our 3 small oil boilers which currently provide the heat in there, in favour of greener air source heat pumps. It all looked feasible and fairly easy to install as a basic unit. However we then introduced the wind turbine and potential solar output into the equation and things got a bit more exciting. We had already dismissed putting in battery storage to use up some of our excess electric production, because of the high cost and lack of return on the investment, but he suggested putting in a large highly insulated hot water store instead, which heats up when there is spare power and transfers the heat into the tunnels when required. So you have different phases of heating; first; run the air source heat pump with surplus turbine power to heat the tunnels, second; use any surplus power to heat the hot water store, third; when the surplus power runs out use the stored hot water to heat the tunnel and finally; when there is no surplus power or hot water, revert back to importing power to run the air source heat pump. The heat pump is super efficient even with imported power, so with the other options installed we would save even more AND he says it's not too expensive (much cheaper than a battery store and more eco-friendly in material use). I've not seen the quote yet!

2023 Retail price reviews

In view of our price increases for 2023, don't forget to review your own retail prices and let us know ASAP if you want us to pre-price at new rates. I will have to update our records and make sure I have the printing plates ready to roll. Thanks. 

Availability list highlights

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. Spring must be on the way, the Pulmonaria are up with most varieties showing bud with the odd flash of colour.

The Aubretia Regado Red are in bud now with the odd flower opening. Do remember we are growing cold here so the cold snap next week may reduce the colour showing. The blue variety is close behind but will be fractionally later budding up. Spring bulbs are on the way and buds are already nicely on show on both the little hooped petticoat Narcissus varieties.

Best wishes  from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.